WaPo Blog: Jeri Thompson Is NOT a Lawyer, And Yet The Thompson Campaign Was More Than Willing To Let You Believe She Was

Scandal!

It is a measure of how rapid Jeri Kehn Thompson's rise to prominence has been that there has been widespread confusion about a basic fact of her background: whether or not she is a lawyer.

Several major news organizations -- including USA Today, the Associated Press, Chicago Tribune, and The Post -- have in recent months referred to Jeri Thompson as both a political consultant and lawyer in articles about Fred Thompson's nascent presidential campaign, in which his wife has taken a leading role.

...

Well, presumptuous as it may be to challenge the holy writ that is Google, the hard fact is that Jeri Thompson is not a lawyer. There is no trace in public records of Thompson holding a license to practice law in D.C. or any of the states in which she has resided. And today, campaign spokeswoman Linda Rozett said conclusively, "Jeri Thompson does not have a law degree."

A possible cause of the confusion is that at the time of Jeri Kehn's 2002 wedding to Fred Thompson, she was working at the D.C. law firm Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson & Hand -- but as a political and media consultant...

Whatever the source of the mixup, one thing is for sure: until today, the Thompson campaign has not exactly made a concerted effort to knock down the notion that Jeri Thompson is an attorney. Until now, the campaign has as a policy declined to answer any questions about her background or role with the campaign.

I'm sure the Washington Post blogger will note that Markos Zuniga has been misleading fellow reporters at the Post into believing he is a Gulf War vet, which in fact he is not.

As of yet their story remains with one correction -- about the misspelling of a conference attendees name. It remains official writ, according to the Washington Post, that Kos is a "Gulf War vet," when, you know, he's not.

As the update to that Post, Kos has done this before -- he has implied he's a Gulf War vet by stating he served "during the Gulf War," making reporters (naturally) report he's a Gulf War vet, when in fact the closest he got to Baghdad was Frankfurt.

I trust this WaPo blogger will be similarly contemptuous of Kos for having repeatedly, actively misled the press on this point.

I'm sure we'll be seeing a correction, and a peevish notation of the actual facts in the WaPo blog, any. minute. now.

posted by Ace at 04:25 PM

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