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Thompson Cries Moral Foul on Huckabee Group

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January 17, 2008 2:59 PM

ABC News' Christine Byun Reports: Republican candidate Fred Thompson called moral foul on former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee for recent push-polling calls to South Carolina residents.

"I'm somewhat surprised that someone who espouses the values the Governor talks about all the time would find himself in the situation ... this is clearly improper activity that is going on right under his nose," Thompson said.

The Thompson campaign says they have been receiving complaints of push-polling calls to South Carolina residents with false information about the former Tennessee senator's position on partial birth abortion and illegal immigration. They campaign says the calls are being paid for by a group who supports Huckabee, who also push-polled in Iowa prior to the caucuses.

At a campaign stop in Prosperity, South Carolina, Thompson did some investigating of his own and asked how many people had received a push-polling call. About a dozen people raised their hands.

"Good gracious … who do they say is calling? Do they say anything good about a candidate?" Thompson asked.

Some audience members called out Huckabee’s name.

"They're picking the most outrageous, easily disproved things they could come up with," Thompson said.

"Desperate," a supporter echoed.

At a media availability, Thompson said he does not believe the push-polling calls would work, and repeated his call for Huckabee to disavow the tactic. He said he believed Huckabee was avoiding the issues.

"This is not a legitimate debate of the issues. I confronted him man to man, person to person at the debates with regard to the issues, this is the response I get, anonymous stuff," Thompson said.


January 17, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (25)

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What a shock. Dirty politics from the false prophet, the Huckster. This guy is a slimeball. He claims to be this clean, pure Christian but his campaign engages in filthy stunts like this one.

Posted by: bigred | Jan 17, 2008 3:42:41 PM

No surprise here at all. These similar push polling calls have been made against Fred in Iowa as well. Where's the Christian Leader, or is he too busy practicing his joke lines with Chuck Norris?

Posted by: redneck hippie | Jan 17, 2008 3:55:11 PM

If Huck didn't want them to do this stuff, he would make his point clear! We don't need more of the politics of personal destruction!

Posted by: Apple P | Jan 17, 2008 3:59:16 PM

Huckabee is a combination of Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton. He rides the evangelical horse and twists the facts.

Do we really want 4/8 years of this? Carter and Clinton BOTH damaged our country tremendously.

Wake up everyone. Huckabee is using the evangelical vote just to get in office.
But he will stab them in the back when he gets in just like Carter did.

Huckabee is a big government, higher tax, open borders guys. Look at his record

Posted by: Sue | Jan 17, 2008 4:01:42 PM

Jared,
Obviously the letter that the Huckster "wrote" was just to cover his own ### and make it look like he was "disavowing" the calls. The truth is that he likes this group making the calls smearing Fred and distorting Fred's record, all the while refusing to talk about his own record in Arkansas which is nothing short of a mirror image of that of any liberal Democrat.

Posted by: Stephanie Johnson | Jan 17, 2008 4:02:09 PM

Does any of this Republican stuff really matter anyway,....We all know that after the disaster of the Bush administration it will be a Democratic that wins the White house!!

Posted by: Jerry | Jan 17, 2008 4:12:12 PM

Don't be too sure the democrates are automaticaly going to get into office.

There are PLENTY of us that have HAD IT with the far-left adgenda. There are PLENTY of us that will not vote for any party that is actively working for us to loss the war, calling our military murders, declaring the war is lost (Harry Reid), going to foreign soil and kissing up to our enemies (Nancy Pelosi).

Believe me, there are plenty of us just waiting for these chickens to come home to roost!

Posted by: Sue | Jan 17, 2008 4:26:46 PM

Jerry,

Your'e right, the democrats get elected to the WH. screw things up for a while, (most recently Clinton on terrorism, Carter on everything) and the republican has to come in and clean it up!!!

Posted by: Michael Hood | Jan 17, 2008 4:27:22 PM

Some of you guys really crack me up! If Mike ignores the push-pollers, he is secretly urging them on to do their evil. If he issues a statement condemning the push-polling (AS HE HAS DONE NUMEROUS TIMES!!) he is lying and secretly urging them on to do their evil. This is especially laughable coming from Thompson. He sounds like the little kid who knows he doesn't fit in (is he over 10% in ANY poll??) and so he stands to the side and calls everyone else names. I'll be glad when SC is over and little Freddie realizes no one is interested in what he has to say. Then he can crawl over to McCain's camp and suck up to him. **YAWN** You're old (pun absolutely intended) news Fred!

Posted by: Terry | Jan 17, 2008 4:53:38 PM

Fred is over 10% in most polls, and is quite often the only candidate showing gains with every new poll. Fred has some momentum going. Somebody is seriously misinformed.

These push-pollers are pro-Huckabee groups. I wouldn't be surprised if he were steering big donors toward those groups, so he can continue to hypocritically claim he's running a positive campaign on a shoestring budget.

Posted by: Angela | Jan 17, 2008 5:07:51 PM

Run along now Terry and leave this discussion to the adults. That's a good girl...

Posted by: retro | Jan 17, 2008 5:26:41 PM

Why should we be surprised, Huckabee will sell and use his relationship with the good Lord for personel gain.

Why do you think he would obey the laws of man?

Posted by: Greg West | Jan 17, 2008 5:27:36 PM

Huckabee attended a fundraiser at the head of the push polling company's house weeks before the calls started. Shocking coincidence.

This guy is slimier than the Clintons, and although I'm a hardcore Republican, I will never, ever vote for the Huckster. GO FRED!!!

Posted by: bigred | Jan 17, 2008 5:32:12 PM

Thompson is McCains' surrogate. A vote for him is a vote for the liberal leaning McCain. He began his attacks on Huckabee solely for the purpose of pulling evangelical votes away from Huckabee so McCain can win S.C. Social Conservatives don't fall for this ploy.
VOTE FOR HUCKABEE.

Posted by: Billy10 | Jan 17, 2008 5:57:45 PM

If candidates could control push-pollers who insist on acting outside the campaign, then Ron Paul could control the crazies that claim to be his fans and then fill up the blogosphere with consiracy theories, or Romney could keep his supporters from tearing up signs from other candidates. Huckabee has repeatedly called for no push-polling, and McCain and Romney have both had to call for no push-polling on their behalf as well. Some push-polling is actually performed by the campaigns that are supposedly being attacked, so that they can get the good press as a victim and smear the opponent who was supposedly sponsoring the push-polling. Huckabee has no money to support push-polling, and his campaign is built largely on grassroots organizing of the most basic kind -- friends spreading the word to friends, one at a time. GO HUCK!

Posted by: Jim | Jan 17, 2008 6:19:17 PM

Sounds like something the Dem's woud do oh Huckabee is a liberal Democrat RINO go home!

Posted by: delburd | Jan 17, 2008 6:23:50 PM

Huckabee has been campaigning for McCain all along hoping for the VP spot he has not said one negative thing about John McCain the so called front runner yet he push polls Thompson Huckabee is a SCUMBAG!! P.S. and hes not funny yuk yuk yukabee DORK!

Posted by: delburd | Jan 17, 2008 6:26:58 PM

Michael,
I don't know what world you are living in to think that we are better off today than during the Clinton years? You are in serious denial!! This country is a mess like never before and it will take years and years to fix it!
Both Internationally and domestically.

Posted by: Jerry | Jan 17, 2008 7:12:04 PM

Clinton IGNORED the jihadist and STRIPPED the military while the Jihadist trained planned and attack us abroad....

Hukabee PARDONED murderers rapist and felons, gave scholarship to illegal aliens, raised taxes 1/2 $ $ $ BILLION DOLLARS $ $ $ in the state of Arkansas as governor with the help of his DEMOCRATIC legislature...

Just imagine what he would do as POTUS with a DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS...
VERY SCARY ! ! !

Fred Thompson is the only consistent TRUE CONSERVATIVE in this race and continues to be SHUNNED by the media who want a "NEW CONSERVATISM" ie moderate or liberal to that of the REGAN conservatism we grew up with and loved...

FRED THOMPSON is the ONLY candidate with a plan to FIGHT the Jihadist & Global War on Islamo-Fascism like we fought WWII...

FRED THOMPSON is the ONLY candidate with the experience & foreign policy KNOWLEDGE to deal with world leaders and foriegn policy on the world stage in a global war, HUCKABEE HAS NONE...

FRED THOMPSON is the ONLY candidate with "DETAILED & VIABLE PLANS" to deal with the future impending failure of Social Security and the economy when compared to the others...

FRED THOMPSON, like our founding fathers,wants to Constitutionally limit federal governmental growth giving more control to the state & local governments to better govern ourselves, where as the HUCKSTER wants to GROW the federal government with CRADLE TO GRAVE intitlements as he did with scholarship and medical care for ILLEGAL ALIENS and other programs in ARKANSAS as governor...

YEP, I'll take FRED THOMPSON over HUCKABEE ANY DAY AS MY PRESIDENT...

FRED THOMPSON is the ONLY true & Consistent conservative in this race...

Posted by: Sam T. Mullins | Jan 17, 2008 8:13:59 PM

Huckabee is the most phoney, disengenuous politician running for president.

He will say or do anything to get votes.

I think everyone knows he is hoping for a McCain-Huckabee ticket, and thus says nothing negative about McCain.

I am voting for Ron Paul, but I can see that Thompson is a good man.

Huckabee is a manipulating scumbag.

Posted by: Lee | Jan 18, 2008 4:26:15 AM

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