I’ve not been all that excited about Fred Thompson of a presidential candidate simply because we don’t know enough about him. For most people he’s an actor - and oh, by the way, he used to be a Senator. Everybody has a past and Thompson’s no exception.

This week’s Newsweek, begins the MSM assault on Thompson by pointing to points of his prior record:

“In the June 25 issue of Newsweek (on newsstands Monday, June 18), Correspondent Holly Bailey reports that the charismatic and down to earth potential GOP candidate has avoided the kind of scrutiny his rivals have faced. But as he prepares to become an official candidate, his record in Washington will be given a closer look, and conservative voters disappointed to find that Thompson has been on the other side of some of their most important issues, including abortion and campaign fund-raising.

Combing through Thompson’s archive, Newsweek found several files on his campaign strategy on abortion that could roil his 2008 bid. On a 1994 Eagle Forum survey, Thompson said he opposed criminalizing abortion. Two years later, on a Christian Coalition questionnaire, he checked “opposed” to a proposed constitutional amendment protecting the sanctity of human life. In a campaign policy statement filed in the archives, he also said he believes “the decision to have an early term abortion is a moral issue and should not be a legal one subject to the dictates of the government.” During an interview with the Conservative Spectator, a Tennessee newspaper, he claimed to be pro-life but also said that, “The ultimate decision on abortion should be left with the woman and not the government.”

Thompson drew the ire of his party in 1997 when he was appointed to lead hearings into Democratic fund-raising abuses in the 1996 campaign, and then broadened his investigation to look into alleged abuses by Republicans as well. This probe left him on the outs with GOP heavyweights and it is still unclear whether his public efforts to make amends will be accepted or backfire. ”

One could imagine Newsweak “combing the files” of Hillary Clinton or Barak Obama. Nevertheless this frontal assault which may or may not points of validity seems to testify to the fact that the left and enablers in the MSM seem quite concerned about Thompson.