It's not surprising to me that CNN doesn't have numerous political stories about the Clintons still taking illegal campaign money from Chinese nationals.

so we start with the unkown history of phillip martin fred thompson in my opinion you did know his past a drug dealer but you liked his bent advise. like karl rove like phillip martin like g.w. bush like fred thompson same old same tune fred you walking on thin ice we the people are smater than that!

Fred Thompson is qualified…..Hillary Clinton is not as a NY resident i have emailed her about different concerns and she or her staff have not replied once except for the generic letter saying how busy she is, she doesn't do anything for NY she only votes the way Schumer does

Hey, slimegreen… learn how to spell congratulations.

Fred Thompson is a political blowhard, stuck in the past, who has a proven record in US government. He has proven to be a lazy, nasty, smug, rule-bending buffoon.

Ok well first of all I would like to say that everyone does something in thier life that we regret but we get over that and move on because we are all humans and we all make mistakes on our actions in life. This issue was dealt with 24 years ago! Why is the press bringing it up now? We arent all perfect so just because there is a release of something that happened in Fred Thompsons life 24 years ago doesnt mean he doesnt have the qualifications of being our next president it just means the press is getting tired of picking on Sen. Hilary Clinton, so they decide to switch things up and turn the tables on Fred Thompson! All I have to say is that "Dont let your happenings, ruin your happiness"!

Well I'm not surprised that the staunch Republican Supporters find nothing wrong when a Republican Candidate has a Top Adviser that was previously convicted on drug charges!

After all this is Old Hat and Old News for the Republican Party and it's contenders! It's almost expected! Just another headline in a day in the life of a Republican.

Politicians tried it, but those who were arrested for it have no hope in politics, in the spotlight or the sidelines. Period. I don't think it's right, but we expect some sort of "perfect record on paper" from those in politics.

11 pounds is not a trivial amount to be dealing…and cocaine trafficing is completely out of the question for someone "advising" one of the top Republican contenders.

How could the Republican party not know about this???Maybe is was okay if he sent money to fund the Contras or donated to the party.

This is not a misdemeanor…but mulitple felonies for drug traffiking. First Guiliani's SC chairman is caught dealing while in office, now this guy with a rap sheet is one of the top advisors?

If when President you may have homosexual children, alcoholic children, and a series of other socially questionable behaviors as the child of the President, what little difference it should make when a close friend for many years tells you, before I met you I had a drug interest? It has since been cleared, both legally and socially; he has moved on with his life – and became a successful public servant of sorts since then to boot. How many of us can say that? Mr. Thompson is at issue, not the early adulthood mistakes we have all made at one time or another. His friend who goes under the premise of an "advisor", had a "prior". Rather, is he still doing it should be the question. He resigned, Mr. Thompson acknowledged his part in the resignation process, and is moving on. Shouldn't we?

While I'm not a Thompson supporter, some of you are blowing this way out of proportion, as if these allegations were about Thompson himself, rather than someone on his campaign staff.

Yes, they probably should have run a criminal background check and then not hired him, but… of all the reasons to vote for someone else instead, this has got to be among the most petty.

If it was a "minor" drug charge from 20 years ago, forget it, everyone has done at least one dumb thing. But trafficking – wouldn't these things make him a felon? Why does he even have a job? If Mr. Thompson is in the dark about his top advisors, how is he goign to be capable of securing a our country?

What great fun! People accuse Stephen Colbert of making a mockery of the election process. How rich!!!!!! We Americans only need the front runners of each party to do that. I honestly am a bit disappointed that Thompson wouldn't stick up for the guy, although I think Thompson is an idiot. And to all you supporters of this hollywood elitist clown, Thompson, who are calling Martins actions from 20 some years ago "a mistake", I think you should re-think what a mistake is. A mistake is something on the order of knocking over your water glass or shooting your elderly hunting buddy in the face (and having him apologize for it). Selling 5 kilos of pot and cocaine conspiracy is not a mistake. I think Martin was fully aware of what he was doing and did it purposely.

Anonymous – You appear to be one of the hacks from moveon.org that prowls the comment sites to spread your tripe! If you want to make an impact,
why don't you list the web sites that are organizing movements to have Hillary arrested for campaign finance fraud (for starters)?

Thompson did exactly what he should have done. He still calls Martin his friend despite the damage he caused, yet recognizes that the American people will not trust Martin and therefore he must go.

It's quite sad to see a couple of posts dragging Thompson's religion into it. I will expect to see plenty of these in the future.

These Hollywood types always get the best drugs…

I wasn't planning to vote for Thompson, however, in all honesty I don't believe Thompson knew about his friends past. And Martin, as a friend, should have disclosed this to Thompson long ago.

I know this is not true republicans don't do drugs, don't have homosexual relationships, know no one who has had an abortion, don't cheat on their spouses, don't lie or steal or take bribes are not hypocrites…remember they are the compassionate-religious conservatives who are holier than thou & do not wrong. This article can not be true…

People –

It's just not Philip Martin's old drug arrests that's an issue here – he's also in tax trouble with both the IRS and the State of Tennessee:

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=3820598&page=1

I wouldn't vote for Thompson under any circumstances, but it makes me worry a great deal about our country when a person has to resign from a political campaign over a 20 year old drug arrest. Unfortunately, we know that this old arrest will hurt Thompson, especially with Republicans, but what does it say about America that we have two wars going on, China about to buy us lock stock and barrel and people actually care about a 20 year old drug bust. God Help US!!

Bush,Clinton,Clinton,Bush,Bush,Clinton

This is America's brain on drugs..

Fred you are too late my friend. Endorse Mike Huckabee while you still have some supporters. HE is the one candidate that is less like a politician and more like a human being.

It must be a slow day in the news.
This guy made a mistake 20 plus years ago. I would venture to guess that Hillary has a few ghost of her own and Obamaa can't remember that cameras are running and say the pledge, Giulaini doesn't have the hair Rommney is a Morman etc etc. Let the one with no sins throw the stone.

What exactly are the issues again???

Go Fred

One more smear "tacktick" by guess who. My, oh my, Yes, can you believe it was the "washington post" hole diggers that manageed to smear a person who paid his dept to society 2 and 1/2 decades ago. What a low life thing to do. The drive by media has it eyes in the gutter. When are they going to apply the Golden Rule to themselves.

The Good News is seldom reported by the post as they have agenda to seek and destroy any thing that threatens the clinton campain. When they report they dig throught the dirt first.

My wise old MOM always told me if you can't say something nice about something then keep your mouth closed.

Focus on the real issues and you might be surprised how many Americans will be for Fred in 08. I know I don't know who I am voting for as of yet, but I
don't count Fred out. The canidates who preach out of both sides of the mounth have been droped from my mind however. You know if you don't stand for something you won't stand for nothing.

"A liberal smear job"?!? What a load of crock. Liberals couldn't care less about what someone did 24 years ago, especially if they did the time for it. Conservatives, on the other hand, never forgive and will always have a knee-jerk reaction to drug dealing, for some reason. Look to the Guliani or McCain camps for any smear on this one.

Politically speaking, Fred the Head is Dead anyway.

However, both races are fascinating and something dramatic is bound to occur in either or both parties.

Big deal,I can not believe CNN would even mention this. So what if some "goofer" for a pwerson running for president did something stupid over 20 years ago. He got caught paied his debt to society and its OVER forget it CNN and everyboby else too!!

Posted By P.J. midland TX. : November 5, 2007 5:10 pm

We're not talking about a low-lever "gofer" here, PJ. Philip Martin was part of Fred Thompson's "inner circle" as a top adviser, and he's also accused of tax evasion – and he hasn't paid his debt for that, yet.

And the tax evasion continues to this day.

Sen. Thompson is VP material if there ever was one. Nominate a centrist, make the right wing cipher the VP as a nod to the base. He's ideal for sending to funerals and the Army – Navy game.

But in all seriousness, he would be a heartbeat away, and not even this country should be so cynical as to entertain the idea of Thompson occupying national office. Why not Jesse Ventura, while we're at it.

Poor Fred. If he had stayed out of the race longer, he would be more popular now. The way the campaign is run is an indicator of how the guy would run the federal government. I imagine him sitting up there in the White House like Reagan, working on speeches and writing sweet letters to little girls but having no clue regarding the policies of his administration or their impact on real people.

You Dems that suggest that Thompson should resign take note:

As a judge, Alcee Hastings was impeached by a Democratic-controlled House for bribery and perjury; Nancy Pelosi voted for impeachment. But right now Alcee Hastings is a senior Member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence where he chairs the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.

Yes, that's a mouthful, but the point is that leaders in your own party reward criminal acts of the highest nature with leadership positions of the highest nature.

Lets not forget about Marion Barry who was re-elected after being caught on video smoking crack with a street-hooker.

(And maybe the CNN Gestapo will leave my comment up this time!)

All these folks who say this Phillip Martin guy paid his debt to society should explain to me how the man pled guilty to selling 11 lbs of marijuana in 1979, got probation, was convicted in 1983 of violating his probation by conspiring to sell $30,000 worth of cocaine, and never spent a day in jail. Show me just one black american with those convictions and that few days in jail. Something is very rotten in the case of Mr. Martin – though I don't think it says much of anything about Fred Thompson.

Insane to punish a person yet again after a drug case some 20+ years ago. I do not see how this outing" has benefited anyone. Now we get to play for his unemployment. We, US tax payers,are compelled to spend $100,000,000,000.00 per year for drug enforcement; now that is really stupid! Your neighbor gets caught smoking pot and now MY TAXES will support him; with 3 meals a day, Sunday paper, "babysitting" guards, clothing, lawyers, laundry service, TV, and a place to sleep. I am old and I see the problem like a Mayberry rerun always the same. Never have I seen drunks coming out of the woodwork because alcholal is readily available. Taxes on a drugs makes money and we do not have to pay for someones lifestyle choice. A drunk loose her children to social services, an addict gets jail time & her children are wards of the state. Taxes on drugs would at least put our money to better use. Would you ever want someone who had never had any problems in life?

This is truly a bizarre story. The guy was a co-chairman of Thompson's campaign. The guy had multiple convictions for drug trafficking, including selling $30,000 of cocaine. This was not somebody who smoked some weed in college. It seems that Thompson knew all this and just didn't care. Fred says it was OK because Mr. Martin just got probation, but the reports I've read state that he has multiple convictions and violated his probation. Now the guy has megabucks and owns a private jet that Thompson uses. Plus, the guy is currently in trouble with the IRS. Geez, is he some kind of wannabe Columbian drug lord–cocaine deals, tax problems, treating politicians to rides on his jet.

Although I think Thompson is a total fraud in terms of his candidacy, I agree with his response to this. This is almost a 30 yr old crime – who really cares? It's not a fraud case, it's not a violent crime. It's a stupid mistake (or 2) by a young guy. Romney or Giuliani would've "thrown the guy under the bus," even it is was their own child.

There's plenty of other hypocrisy around FT that we could focus on. God knows that if Obama ever worked as a lobbyist for two Libyans who eventually hijacked the PAnAm plane (like FT), we wouldn't hear the end of it from the self-righteous, god/allah-fearing, brown-skin-fearing right.

But hey, the double standard is no longer surprising and at the end of the day, it's not a big deal to reasonable, level-headed Americans who actually look for substance as opposed to sensationalism when examining the candidates.

I dont understand how CNN doing this story and Thompson firing this man has anything to do with liberals. Looks like it was handled internally by the Thompson campaign and liberals had nothing to do with it. Cnn was just doing there job. This is news worthy. Typical of right wingers to blame everything their party does wrong on someone else. Republicans seem to have a problem accepting accountabilty. Just the other day someone was blaming Bill Clinton for high oil prices. He has been gone 7 years now. It is time to place the blame where it really goes.

Big deal,I can not believe CNN would even mention this. So what if some "goofer" for a pwerson running for president did something stupid over 20 years ago. He got caught paied his debt to society and its OVER forget it CNN and everyboby else too!!

hope your all happy you libral snipers, cause you might just have awoke the sleeping giant. You guys and cnn have all stooped to a new low.Look in the mirror at your own past,, bet you could remember somthings you did when you were young and dumb !!!! remember all the things you didn't get caught doing you idiot's !!!!

Just a thought regarding Fred Thompson and his presidential bid. He's Hollywood!

And this, dear reader, is exactly why it is so hard for the ordinary citizen to run for office any more, be it national or local. Is there anyone out there who didn't do something stupid/illegal/immoral before the age of 25? If so, please tell me why that is a reason to prevent you from being a contributing member of society now. I don't think the press should cover up one's past when it unearths it. I do think we could be a little more forgiving, however. "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone" comes to mind.

So the guy was a young entrepreneur. Big deal.

Bushies have done worse, but they get appointed to cabinet positions.

Why, this is nothing new…He should fit right in!

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/Aug1999/081699/criminalclass1-081699.htm

"In recent years, members of Congress have gone to jail for child molestation, fraud and other charges.

Our research found 117 current and recent members of the House and Senate who have run at least two businesses each that went bankrupt, often leaving business partners and creditors holding the bag. Seventy-one of them have credit reports so bad they can't get an American Express card on their own (but as members of Congress, they get a government-issued Amex card without a credit check).

Fifty-three have personal and financial problems so serious they would be denied security clearances by the Department of Defense or the Department of Energy if they had to apply through normal channels (but, again, as members of Congress they get such clearances simply because they fooled enough people to get elected).

Twenty-nine members of current and recent Congresses have been accused of spousal abuse in either criminal or civil proceedings. Twenty-seven have driving while intoxicated arrests on their driving records. Twenty-one are current defendants in various lawsuits, ranging from bad debts, disputes with business partners or other civil matters.

Nineteen members of current and recent Congresses have been accused of writing bad checks, even after the scandal several years ago, which resulted in closure of the informal House bank that routinely allowed members to overdraw their accounts without penalty. Fourteen have drug-related arrests in their background, eight were arrested for shoplifting, seven for fraud, four for theft, three for assault and one for criminal trespass."

it is amazing just how stupid the political behaviour is in the USA considering the PRESIDENT himself admitted having used drugs in his past. WHEN is it going to be OK to be HUMAN having had made a mistake &/or having EXPERIMENTED in legal &/or Illegal practices.

I agree with Kate – wouldn't it be the Christian thing to forgive… Heck, isn't that what our Justice system is supposed to be about? The guy did something bad, even he understands that. But it was a quarter century ago, he served his time, he repaid society what we deem he should; then why continue to punish this guy for that?

Yes, I never had any intention of ever voting for Fred Thompson, and if I needed evidence to say why, I'd list this firing.

Whats silly is in live in a country that preaches forgivness and rehabilitation.

Yet this man's occupation is now jepordized to some mistakes he made 20+ yrs ago and has since paid his debt to society.

a sad state of affairs…

I will admit up front that I do not think Mr. Thompson would be a good President, nor will I vote for him. However, I believe it is time to stop with the sniping and looking for ways to discredit politicians in ways that have nothing to do with his/her positions on specific issues and track record related to those issues. The man made a mistake 24 years ago, didn't we all? He deserves to put his past behind him and continue to work in a productive manner. EVERYONE needs to give up the politics of personal attacks.

Don't anyone think that its only a Republican or Democrate problem. It will keep happening to each of them. Each have people that have done things in their lives and it can and does often come out. He whol throws the first stone

There's soooo much corruption in the GOP these days its really hard to keep up with who's done what to whom anymore!!

I think it's ridiculous that what this guy did over twenty years ago is an issue. There are people voting today who weren't even alive in 1983, he's had a lifetime to overcome those mistakes.

Of all the reasons not to vote for Thompson, this is the least of them.

Thank goodness his campaign is self destructing. It would be horrible to have Tim Griffen, the guy responsible for voter caging in Florida in 2000 and in Ohio in 2004 working for Thompson to steal the 2008 election. Tim Griffen is a senior advisor for Thompson, and Karl Rove is Griffen's mentor.

David Iglasius, a US attorney, was investigating Griffen for election fraud, until he was replaced… by Tim Griffen.

For more details, read "Armed Madhouse", by Greg Palast, well respected American reporter for Air America and the BBC.

We don't need more cheating, stealing, lying, and corruption in the mold of Fred Thompson, George Bush and Hillary Clinton.

Support Barack Obama, the only honest candidate running that has a chance of being the next leader of the free world.

Thompson, Griffen, and his ilk would take this country further down the dark path of dictatorship, fear and war.

Tune in to Rush Limbaugh tonight as he and Philip Martin get high together and talk trash about those lawbreaking Clintons.

I am really confused. Doesn't Thompson market himself as a conservative Christian? If he is so Christian then why not stand up for your friend and tell the press to be a Christian means to forgive. The man was convicted of his crimes and served the time. This is the hypocrasy that goes on in this country everyday. So should this man who has already paid his debt to society (over 20 years ago) be only permitted to sweep floors or cut lawns? I really don't get these so-called Christians. Have any of them really ever read the bible? or asked themselves, what would Jesus do?

Another strong day for the Thompson campaign, which really, truly appears to be catching fire all across this nation…

Not.

So disappointing…..when will our elected officials (or hopefulls)get the hint that the people they serve are sick and tired of all this cronyism. Whether it be (e.g. Harriet Miers, Michael Brown or Rudy's endorsement of Bernie Kerik for Head of Dept. of Homeland Security. etc.) We need to trust that they will make appropriate personnel decisions at every level (e.g. Supreme Court nominees, Cabinet posts, staff, etc.)

Congradulations CNN, the progressive agenda's smear tactic worked, well done…

11 POUNDS? You have to be joking…where do they find these people from?

Fred should drop out immediately, or be forced to.

While the other item is used by a lot of people and, depending on the state – such as Ca – people can be somewhat/more tolerant, cocaine is a lot more serious and to be trafficking in it??? That should preclude *anyone* from being able to run, imho.

Go Mitt Romeny! Fred Thompson is not qualified enough to win, and he can't be the Democrats!

Fred should just drop out anyway. Just because he played a President on TV doesn't mean he can be one.