After all, when the best you can do in scandal mongering is turn up dirt from the public record on a friend/adviser that is probably a good indication that there is no dirt on the candidate.

Republican presidential candidate Fred D. Thompson has been crisscrossing the country since early this summer on a private jet lent to him by a businessman and close adviser who has a criminal record for drug dealing.

Thompson selected the businessman, Philip Martin, to raise seed money for his White House bid. Martin is one of four campaign co-chairmen and the head of a group called the "first day founders." Campaign aides jokingly began to refer to Martin, who has been friends with Thompson since the early 1990s, as the head of "Thompson's Airforce."

Yes, Martin engaged in some criminal behavior a quarter century ago -- and has completed his sentence. (Contrast this with Norman Hsu) And yes, Martin has had some involvement with business lawsuits -- something hardly unheard of in today's litigious business climate. But despite this, there just doesn't seem to be much to this story.

Probably the most telling aspect of this story is this little admission by the reporters -- one that makes it clear that this is a hit-piece, not a news article.

Martin could not be reached in the past week, and lawyers for him in Tennessee and Florida declined to comment on the criminal cases. [Thompson campaign deputy communications director Karen] Hanretty said she forwarded detailed questions from The Washington Post to Martin yesterday afternoon.

So let's see.

The reporter couldn't reach the subject of the story.

The lawyers followed the rules on lawyer-client confidentiality.

The questions only reached Martin in the last 24 hours before the story was run.

Am i the only one who views the publication of the story at this time to be moving with unseemly haste -- especially given that we are months away from the first primary and a full year away from the actual election? Or would waiting for the responses to the question have somehow compromised the story? I think we know the answer.

It seems to me that there is less to this story than meets the eye -- and is an effective admission by the Washington Post that Fred Thompson is dirt-free.

UPDATE: Captain Ed makes this observation.

In any other context, the Post would run this story as a demonstration of the success of Martin's probation. He cleaned up his act at age 25, began building small businesses on his way to a small fortune, and ended up participating in the political process. Nothing in Mosk's article gives any indication that Martin has committed any crimes since 1983, despite his attempt to use a couple of lawsuits at the end -- lawsuits which look rather routine for a man engaging in diverse, legal enterprises.

OPEN TRACKBACKING AT Outside the Beltway, Stop the ACLU, Perri Nelson's Website, The Virtuous Republic, The Midnight Sun, , , Right Truth, The Populist, Shadowscope, Wake Up America, Stuck On Stupid, Leaning Straight Up, The Amboy Times, Pursuing Holiness, Adeline and Hazel, third world county, Woman Honor Thyself, Pirate's Cove, The Pink Flamingo, CommonSenseAmerica, Stageleft, Church and State, Blog @ MoreWhat.com, A Blog For All, The Random Yak, 123beta, Adam's Blog, Grizzly Groundswell, Webloggin, The Bullwinkle Blog, Cao's Blog, Phastidio.net, Big Dog's Weblog, Conservative Cat, Nuke's, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, The World According to Carl, Walls of the City, Blue Star Chronicles, Wolf Pangloss, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Posted by: Greg at 02:09 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 603 words, total size 7 kb.