Via e-mail:

Mr. Lowry, Fred Thompson is letting this abortion story get out of control, which is entirely avoidable and unnecessary. I hope you post this to the Corner, because the Thompson people ought to take note. While in the Senate, Fred Thompson voted to restrict abortion every chance he got. That is a more solid basis on which to judge him than anything else. He ought simply to say, “It is true that in the early 1990s, I had mixed feelings about abortion and in some ways I was basically pro-choice. But over the past 15 years, I’ve become solidly pro-life, and and I have the voting record to prove it.” This contrasts noteably with Mitt Romney’s position in two crucial ways: (1) there are deeds to back up the words, and (2) Thompson wasn’t preparing for a presidential bid at the time of his change of heart. I honestly don’t know why he isn’t taking this approach, but it would be far better than the kabuki dance we’re going through with each new client and questionnaire the media unearths from 15 years ago.

UPDATE

Another e-mailer hits back:

This contrasts notably with Mitt Romney’s position in two crucial ways: (1) there are deeds to back up the words, and (2) Thompson wasn’t preparing for a presidential bid at the time of his change of heart.
Romney vetoed Plan-B legislation, fought removing restrictions on parental notification, and opposed embryo-destroyuing research. These are deeds. I am concerned that the timing of Romney’s conversion as mighty convenient, but I’m even more concerned that Thompson hasn’t had a conversion at all. Everything he’s done in the past is consistent with him being a pro-choicer (i.e., someone who opposes outlawing abortion) but one who, to his credit, takes federalism seriously. Thompson calls himself pro-life now, but his actual position seems to be that the abortion issue should be returned to the states and that the states should not outlaw abortion. In other words, Thompson is still a pro-choicer who takes federalism seriously. Hopefully this abortion-lobbying flap leads to a convenient conversion on his part too.