Romney Adviser Linked to Nasty Anti-Thompson Website

Today's Washington Post reported:

"A top adviser to former  Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney appears to be behind the launch of a new Web site attacking  GOP presidential rival Fred Thompson during his first week on the trail.

"The site, PhoneyFred.org, painted an unflattering picture of Thompson, dubbing the former TV star and senator Fancy Fred, Five O'clock Fred, Flip-Flop Fred, McCain Fred, Moron Fred.... Shortly after a Washington Post  reporter made inquiries about the site to the Romney campaign, it was taken down.... [Hmmm.]

"Under the heading 'Playboy Fred,"'the site asked the provocative question: 'Once a Pro-Choice Skirt Chaser, Now Standard Bearer of the Religious Right?'"

The Romney campaign disavowed knowledge of the Web site after it was tied to J. Warren Tompkins, Romney's main consultant in South Carolina (WaPo).

Here's an uncanny coincidence: Tompkins was President Bush's chief strategist in South Carolina in 2000, during an anonymous but well-orchestrated campaign to trash John McCain, which included push-polls that falsely implied that McCain had fathered a black child out of wedlock (Sourcewatch).