The Westboro Baptist Church is disgusting. I, actually, feel bad for Thompson. Who would want their support? But then again, why would he work for them in the first place? Well, I certainly don't support Fred Thompson.
The Associated Press...
Members of the anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church are urging Fred Thompson to support their stance on homosexuality — a position on which they say the Republican presidential candidate once "saw eye to eye" with them.LINK: Anti-Gay Church Says Thompson AgreedThompson was hired for a mid-1980s legal case in Kansas on the recommendation of Margie Phelps, daughter of Westboro founder Fred Phelps.
The Topeka, Kan.-based church is now best known for protesting at soldiers' funerals, claiming their deaths are retribution for the nation's acceptance of homosexuality.
Thompson campaign spokeswoman Karen Hanretty on Wednesday dismissed the church as "a radical fringe group, looking to draw attention to themselves."
"Their behavior at the funerals of fallen soldiers is disgraceful and reprehensible," she said. "In no way do these people share Fred's values."
Church members released an open letter to Thompson this week, saying he had discussed his views on homosexuality with them while handling the case of a woman who had sued the state's Republican attorney general for sexual harassment.
"We know what your position used to be on the homosexual question — and it was wonderful, and we saw eye to eye," church members said in the letter to Thompson.
That statement appears to conflict with comments made by Margie Phelps to the Journal-World of Lawrence, Kan., in June about her interaction with Thompson.
"I'm quite confident he would've completely disagreed with everything about my faith," she told the paper.
Phelps' sister, Shirley Phelps-Roper, said in a phone interview Wednesday that while Thompson might disagree with the church today, he didn't disagree then.
And yet, Phelps-Roper said, "He wouldn't dare stand up and say that when he's running for president."
Thompson, a former Tennessee senator, has said he favors a constitutional amendment that bars judges from legalizing gay marriage but would leave the door open for state legislatures to act.
Thompson was hired in 1985 to represent Marcia Tomson Stingley, who sued Kansas Attorney General Bob Stephan, accusing him of violating a confidentially agreement on a sexual harassment case she had filed against him.
Margie Phelps, the original attorney on the harassment case, could no longer represent Stingley because she was now a witness. She recommended Thompson because she had just read a book about his representation of Marie Ragghianti, a Tennessee official fired by the state's governor because she refused to go along with a cash-for-clemency scheme.
Thompson won a $200,000 judgment against Stephan, who abandoned plans to run for governor because of the controversy. Stephan avoided paying by declaring bankruptcy.
A campaign spokesman this summer said that Thompson's firm did not make any money off the case.
Ridiculous.
-Mr. Joseph
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