Paul Weyrich Shoots Romney in the Foot

Mitt Romney supporter Paul Weyrich, one of the founders of the Moral Majority, is pretty upset that Fred Thompson got the endorsement from the National Right to Life Committee. He's so mad he's made a spurious charge against the Thompson campaign and the NRLC which is bound to hurt Romney:

Fred Thompson's campaign lashed out at Mitt Romney Wednesday after one of Romney's key supporters suggested Thompson's recent endorsement by the anti-abortion National Right to Life Committee was traded for cash.

In an article in The Washington Times on Wednesday, Paul Weyrich — the socially conservative co-founder of the Moral Majority who is backing Romney for president — is quoted saying that Thompson's endorsement from NRLC "makes no sense" and speculated that it had been motivated by a pecuniary relationship.

"I think in all probability the Thompson people were engaged with the National Right to Life people in financial dealing," Weyrich told the newspaper.

Neither Thompson's camp nor the anti-abortion group itself took the charge sitting down.

"It is unseemly for the Romney campaign and its supporters to suggest that NLRC-PAC's coveted endorsement is based on a bribe. Second, this unfounded accusation is as outrageous as it is ironic, given the Romney campaign's long history of spreading money around to anyone who will take it," said Thompson spokesman Todd Harris

"The Romney campaign was clearly hoping for this endorsement and are now clearly upset. But being denied an endorsement is no excuse to impugn the integrity of the very organization they were just days ago trying to woo," Harris continued.

NRLC Executive Director David O'Steen told FOXNews.com that Weyrich's claim was "totally, totally false."

“There's no financial arrangement with the Thompson campaign. We never asked the Thompson campaign for any financial consideration. They have not given us any financial consideration. We’re not going to ask them for a contribution," he said. "There is absolutely no basis in fact for that."

That accusation against Thompson smacks of sour grapes, and blasting a major pro-life organization is not a winning move for Romney.