I remember a day when pro-lifers complained that National Right to Life cared more about fighting campaign-finance reform than they did abortion. It was an unfair criticism — they were in many ways fighting for their right…to fight for life. But the fact that Thompson co-sponsored McCain-Feingold paired with Thompson’s unimpressive talk on abortion of late (on Meet the Press, on Hannity and Colmes, etc.) sure does make him an odd choice.

But as one pro-lifer who doesn’t endorse their decision but who is familiar with how the decision-making process went down just said to me, “you watch the YouTubes of Romney defending Planned Parenthood then vs. on stem-cells now, and you think ‘what a salesman’ — he could sell anything.” But then they look at Fred and say, “he may not be the most articulate, but they know Fred is not going anywhere.”