Thompson aide: Romney will 'do anything, say anything, flip-flop on any position' to win
An e-mail headlined "Statement on Romney's South Carolina Cover-Up" seems to have rocketed the Republican nomination race into a new, nuclear phase.
The statement from Todd Harris, communications director for Fred Thompson, accuses Mitt Romney's campaign of a "half-baked cover-up" of what he alleges is the association between a Romney consultant and a hastily pulled website that said nasty things about Thompson.
Harris concluded with the kind of rhetoric that tends to warm Democratic hearts: "This latest episode only serves to prove what many voters are already figuring out: Mitt Romney will do anything, say anything, smear any opponent and flip flop on any position in order to win. The American people in general and the Republican Party in particular deserve better than this."
Romney spokesman Kevin Madden's response: "We had no knowledge of the development or administration of this site. We also disapprove of the site and have made it very clear that the site does not have an affiliation with our campaign." Madden also said: "Today is a day of remembrance, and should be a day without political statements or attacks on opposing campaigns."
Update at 6 p.m. ET: Harris tells us that the Thompson campaign "felt compelled" to respond today, rather than wait until tomorrow, after hearing the Romney camp attempt to "cover up" its connection to the website. "They need to know that if they're going to hit us, we're going to hit back harder," Harris said.
Our friends at ABC News also are following the story about PhoneyFred.org. Jake Tapper writes that the man behind the site is Wesley Donehue, who directly works for Mitt Romney's senior South Carolina consultant J . Warren Tompkins and another Romney consultant, Terry Sullivan.
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It seems the Thompson campaign has no trouble and no hesitation when it comes to mud slinging. This clearly has nothing to do with the Romney campaign, but Fred Thompson's camp tries to make the connection anyways. The Thompson camp plays politics on the day of rememberence and grieving for 9/11 victims - showing a complete lack of class, not to mention forgetting Ronald Reagan's 11th Commandment: "Thou shalt not speak ill of a fellow Republican."
You can hardly blame them though, with Mitt Romney currently in 1st place in the polls in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and Michigan - it's only natural that the Fred Heads feel the need to attack him for something, anything they can think of no matter how reckless or irresponsible the allegations. After all, Thompson only leads in one state South Carolina and even there he is within the margin of error holding a slim lead over Rudy Giuliani. South Carolina is supposed to be the one state he should have in the bag, but he's in a virtual tie with a New York Yankee. Doesn't look good at all for Mr. Law and Order.
If Thompson's camp gets this bent out of shape over a website that has been described as "silly political satire" - they are not at all prepared to take on the Clinton machine. Whereas Mitt Romney has campaigned in the toughest state for a Republican and won. Fred Thompson ran as a conservative in Tennesse. That's more or less falling off a log. Should Thompson's unwarranted overly vicious attacks come back to bite him, we can only assume that he will be hiring yet another campaign manager.
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"Fred Thompson ran as a conservative in Tennesse. That's more or less falling off a log."
That's a good one! Gave me a good laugh.
This whole thing is so ridiculous.
FT's biggest weakness is his lack of executive experience.
I think they're threatened by Mitt - who wouldn't be? and are trying to use this extremely, insignificant event to distract people from FT's weaknesses.
It's like he's the Emporer with No Clothes, and his subjects are scurrying around trying to protect him so no one will find out.
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