Fred Thompson got hit twice in the media over the weekend, once in a stupendously awful New York Times article about his wife and again in a Los Angeles Times article about his lobbying career.

First, NYT reporter Susan Saulny wrote a particularly obnoxious article about whether Thompson's wife, Jeri, was a "trophy wife," and what that might mean for his campaign. Claiming "serious people" have been "wrestling" with this, Saulny goes on to quote Internet chat rooms. Somehow this all about how Thompson might turn off "values voters."

On a more substantive note, the LA Times reported Saturday that in 1991 Thompson lobbied for a pro-choice group looking to ease the "gag rule" restriction that barred abortion counseling at clinics that received federal money. It's very much a "he said, she said" kind of story, with the group's president saying definitively that Thompson lobbied for them and Thompson's folks saying definitively he did not. Reporter Michael Finnegan also obtained minutes from one of the group's meeting stating that "the association had hired Fred Thompson Esq. as counsel to aid us in discussions with the administration" on the abortion counseling rule. John Sununu, however, who was the White House official the group wanted Thompson to lobby about the rule, says he never met with Thompson.

Finnegan also recites Thompson's not-quite-pure pro-life history. It's beginning to be clear that Thompson was not an ardent pro-lifer earlier in his career, either as a lobbyist or senator, even though he received top marks on his voting record from pro-life groups. Will this become a problem for Thompson as he officially enters the race? Probably, but the attacks will most likely come from the second-tier. Thompson faces little to no threat on the life issue from Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani, both of whom have their own problems on the subject, though John McCain could conceivably try to exploit the issue against his old friend if he chose to go that route.

Ed Morrissey digs into the LA Times story.

UPDATE: Jim Geraghty is wondering: "Why are sections of that L.A Times Fred-Abortion group story disappearing?"