Fred Thompson the Lawyer

Fred Thompson hasn't announced that he's running for president yet and The Washington Post has already started the process of picking Thompson apart.

Just as The Post and other media outlets picked and picked at George Allen until so much damage had been done to his character that Virginia voters actually elected the bizarro Jim Webb, the media are exposing the "real" Thompson.

Today, The Post offers what's probably just a beginning installment of a campaign to derail Thompson's political future.

John Solomon writes that a review of Thompson's past as a lawyer reveals behavior that runs counter to conservative principles.

In a lengthy piece, "No Easy Verdict on Thompson the Lawyer," the conservative credentials of Thompson are called into question.

Before he was elected as a tough-on-crime U.S. senator from Tennessee or played a New York prosecutor on TV's "Law and Order," Fred Dalton Thompson worked as a lawyer who argued against the government's authority to regulate drug paraphernalia or to search a boat packed with 14 tons of marijuana.

Once, two decades ago, he urged that more witnesses refuse to testify before grand juries by invoking their constitutional right against self-incrimination, boasting that "I start on the assumption that my client will not testify." And over the years, lawsuits he filed helped a state worker win reinstatement to her job while exposing a parole bribery scheme and won money for the family of a Marine pilot killed by a helicopter blade when the family could not sue the Defense Department.

Thompson's work as a lawyer from the late 1970s to the early 1990s is one of the least explored aspects of a career that has taken the Tennessean with the imposing frame and deep voice from early fame as a Watergate lawyer to a Senate career, Hollywood stardom and now the brink of a campaign for president.

His work representing white-collar criminals, drug defendants and lawsuit victims has given Thompson an affinity with one of the Republican Party's perennial targets, trial lawyers, and he carries that connection with him even today as he prepares to seek the GOP presidential nomination. It also helped shape a view on lawsuit reform that has frequently put him at odds with his own party.

Although Thompson's work as a lawyer is one of the least explored aspects of his life's work, I'm sure every detail that could turn conservatives against him will surface.

I think it's insulting to conservatives that they tend to be considered incapable of making value judgments and grasping nuance. The condescending lib media assume that conservatives view people and the world in black and white, with no subtle shades.

As a lawyer Thompson argued against the government's authority to regulate drug paraphernalia and to search a boat packed with 14 tons of marijuana.

And when the unsophisticated, religious, rednecks hear that, libs expect them to be so horrified that they'll bail on Thompson.

I doubt that what Thompson did as a lawyer 15-30 years ago will erode his support.

Just because Thompson argued a case about privacy that happened to involve pot doesn't mean that supporters will consider him to be a liberal masquerading as a conservative. It doesn't mean that Thompson is a friend of criminals.

...Officially, Thompson and his aides declined to answer questions about his legal work on the grounds that he is not a declared candidate. Privately, his advisers said they are acutely aware that GOP opponents could try to paint Thompson as too liberal, based on his legal work, his support from the trial lawyers' lobby and his votes on liability legislation that conflicted with those of most Republicans.

"There will always be a concern that he wants to be the leader of the cobra party, and he was, for a while, a mongoose," said Grover Norquist, head of the Americans for Tax Reform, which supported tort reform and is influential in GOP circles. "He needs to articulate not where he was while practicing law under the tort laws at the time but where he think those laws should go now."

I don't think it's only GOP opponents that will try to paint Thompson as a lib. I'm sure the campaign workers of Dem candidates are busy looking for anything that will diminish Thompson in the eyes of conservative voters.

To counter that, Thompson has to be clear about where he stands now and what his views are on the issues. A presidential candidate is an entirely different role than a lawyer.

Moreover, if Thompson has to answer for what he did as a lawyer, then so should every other candidate with a legal background, including Hillary Clinton.

It's taken for granted that after all these years, we know all there is to know about Hillary.

I think relatively few Americans are familiar with specifics of her legal career and her radical activism when she was a student.

If Thompson is liberal, then Hillary must be labeled a Leninist.

As a conservative, there's no question that I'd rather support a liberal like Thompson than a liberal like Hillary.
_________________________

This protester challenging Thompson's conservatism doesn't seem like a conservative to me.

She's out of control. She's acting like a lib.

A woman screaming “you’re not a real conservative, sir” was removed by police from a welcoming reception for likely GOP presidential candidate Fred Thompson Wednesday morning. A second protester was also taken from the room.

Houston police officers escorted the woman — as well as a man — from the hangar at Hobby Airport, where Thompson was shaking hands with a crowd of supporters. They were not arrested.

...After the woman interrupted Thompson by questioning his conservative credentials, the likely candidate said, “Don’t fuss at me. You asked me a question. Let me answer it.” He told the woman, “I try to learn as much as I can from all viewpoints.”

Later, she shouted at Thompson as the news conference ended. Police officers took her outside a fenced area near the hangar, and stood with her until the former Tennessee senator departed.

I think this woman is a lib who wanted to get on camera and sway conservatives with her message that Thompson isn't a real conservative.

I think she's probably a lib pretending to be a conservative upset with Thompson.

Watch the video. There's something insincere about the woman.