Presidential Candidate Thompson Standing by His $$ Man For Now

ABC News - November 04, 2007

Republican presidential hopeful Fred Thompson says he will stand by his friend and campaign fundraiser, Phil Martin, who, in the past, pled guilty to drug charges and whose past financial dealings may have been questionable.

"Nobody's made any accusations that he's done anything illegal with regard to our campaign," Thompson said on NBC's "Meet the Press" this morning, adding, "I know Phil is a good man. He is my friend. He is going to remain my friend."

Thompson –- who says he read about reports of Martin's past last night in the Sunday's Washington Post said he is "going to have to talk to Phil, make sure I understand the nature of the situation and figure out what the right thing is," while adding "I'm not going to throw my friend under the bus."

During his Sunday morning appearance, the former Tennessee senator was also asked to clarify many statements he's made on the campaign trail, specifically on 9/11 mastermind Osama Bin Laden, who he said "is more symbolism than anything else."

Thompson stated this morning he's "never been accused of being soft on Osama Bin Laden."

"What I think sometimes happens in this country is we fixate on a personality -- and even someone as evil as this man -- we need to understand if he goes, if he's killed, someone will take his place. It's almost like the focus is on him that we think our problem will go away if we get him," Thompson said.

Citing that the "stakes are too high," Thompson says the country must stay in Iraq, and believes there has been "substantial progress" and "things have started turning" in the past couple of months.

"This would be the worst time in the world to start talking about deadlines, cutting off funding … I would like to see nothing more than our troops start coming out of there, but as part of a success scenario," Thompson said.

He said the U.S. needs to learn all it can about the state of emergency in Pakistan so the country "knows what (President Perez Musharaff) knows and the reasons why he's doing what he's doing."

On domestic issues, Thompson said he would not support a "human life" constitutional amendment banning abortion or a federal ban on same-sex marriages, falling back on his federalist stance.

Thompson –- who is in remission with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma –- also batted away questions on his health and weight-loss. Thompson said he's on a diet ("if it tastes real good, don’t eat it") and says recent health tests show he is in "good shape."