Rumors Of Thompson Quitting Traced to Romney Camp?
Posted on January 5, 2008
Jonathan Adler mentions the rumors fueled by the anti-Fred Politico on the eve of the Iowa primary that he would quit and endorse McCain if he showed poorly there. Fred supporters doubted and fought the rumors and Fred officials denied it.
Robert Novak reports the rumors have been traced to the Romney camp.
Published reports that Fred Thompson soon will withdraw from the Republican presidential contest and endorse Sen. John McCain have been traced in part to Mitt Romney’s campaign, trying to stir up strife between McCain and Thompson.
While Robert Novak is a well known, and trustworthy source, he provides no evidence. I’m reluctant to jump the gun and condemn anyone yet. Another question, with as big of a lead as Romney has….why? It seems the Romney camp is divided on how to take on McCain and this could have fueled things. It makes sense that Romney would want division between the two fighting for the spot at second.
Makes sense for Romney to want McCain and Thompson to mix it up in Iowa. It makes less sense to understand why the Politico got duped. Surely a rumor floated on the day before the Caucuses has to be considered a campaign trick and would merit some patience and good judgment.
I’m not a professional journalist and even I know that it’s highly unusual for a candidate to make noises about dropping out the day before an election. It’s a pretty amateur trick that shouldn’t have fooled anyone. The report from the Politico gave the story the air of legitimacy that it never should have had.
I’d be very interested in knowing how hard the Politico worked to verify the rumors and why they couldn’t get the very strong denial that National Review Online got the same day.
Still…while I see motivating factors…I see no evidence yet. The real scandal is from Politico spreading the rumors without any verification.
Oh, well, didn’t work, and this is politics as usual. If not true it still shows that The National Politico is just as I said, the political world’s version of The National Inquire and should be taken with as much salt on anything they put out.
Nevertheless if Novak is correct Romney can ill afford bad press right now.
Stephen Brainbridge, someone that has much respect from me, seems to believe the rumor:
It’s all part of the same personality package that prompts Romney’s incessant flip-flopping; namely, an ambition that lacks principles.
» Filed Under 1st Amendment, Elections, News, Politics As Usual
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7 Responses to “Rumors Of Thompson Quitting Traced to Romney Camp?”
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“The real scandal is from Politico spreading the rumors without any verification.”
Amen. While the MSM outlets have their paid subscribers and a board of directors, all we have as bloggers is our credibility. And that is hard earned.
Unfortunately, to some extent, when one fouls up, it reflects on the whole Blogosphere.
You’ve done a good job of jumping on the problem before it gets legs, and parsing the details.
It’s a shame that Fred Thompson lost momentum. He started so well. He needs to boost his camp by attacking a little more his competition, especially Giuliani and Romney.
His stands are impecable, he just needs to prove that he is strong by attacking and by overshadowing all of the others.
Iowa could be his if he starts to show his real character and that he is a hardcore anti-illegal immigration, pro-life, anti-gun control, fiscal responsible, anti-jihad, pro-troops, but especially he needs to show he is a master on foreign affairs and that U.S. interest will be accomplished not through vague multilateral agreements, but rather through pushing true genuine American foreign policy that is not dictated by Saudi Arabia.
At least George Stephanapolous said Fred Thompson had a great night at the debate.
It’s easy to assume Mitt passed the rumor, but I’ll wait for evidence.
I meant to say that Iowa could have been his…. sorry messup the tense.
I suspect Romney was responsible for the anti-Mormon push polling as well.
GO ROMNEY!!!!!!!
Politico is a hack news organization. The same guy who wrote this article has been caught before stretching/creating the truth. I support Fred, but am not going to condemn Romney until there’s proof. I believe it’s an honest attempt by Politico to unduly influence the election through one of their hacks.