I Think Only O.J. Would Be A Worse Endorsement

Fred Thompson gathers the picketing soldiers' funerals vote.

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.

Thompson 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 [...]

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.

The Westboro Baptist Church is so out there on the fringe that Fox News hosts tell them they're going to hell. They're the group that right-wingers use as a punching bag to prove their "independence." The Thompson camp is trying to distance themselves as fast as they possibly can. But having Fred Phelps on your side is a stench that doesn't easily wash off.

UPDATE: I shouldn't let a "Fred!" post go by without this statement from today's Values Voters Summit:

On what he would do in his first 100 days in office: "I don't really know." But, he says, "I know what I would do the first hour. I would go in the Oval Office, close the door, and pray for the wisdom to know what was right, and the strength to do what is right."

Wait, couldn't he get started on that now? Does God wait to come up with his plan for you until after you secure the Electoral College?

Man, this guy is saving loads of money on the campaign trail on stress pills and policy papers. He has neither.