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Don't Repeat Error of 2004 - Reward Experience
Cross-posted here
I recently attended a “Presidential Candidates Forum” hosted by one of our local Democratic Legislative District organizations (Washington State will conduct precinct caucuses on February 9th). While the forum featured local surrogates for the actual candidates, the answers to a pre-determined list of questions were required to be from specific policy statements of the candidates themselves and not simply the opinion (or spin) of the surrogate. The questions ranged from Iran/Iraq, to Immigration, to Healthcare, to Energy/Environment, to restoration of the Constitution. While I went into the forum a Richardson supporter, I left even more convinced than before that we need experience in the oval office. Although there were many good ideas and plans laid out before us at this forum, the one thing that kept running through my mind was the truism, “Actions speak louder than words.” Having served at every level of government, Bill Richardson is the only person running for president this year who has actually produced results in the areas that impact our country the most at this time in history.
As a congressman, Richardson introduced successful legislation to expand national park lands in his home state of New Mexico. At the behest of a constituent, he traveled to hostile territory in Sudan to successfully negotiate the release of US hostages being held there. During the Clinton administration he served as this country’s ambassador to the United Nations and as Secretary of Energy, serving with distinction in each of those areas. Currently in his second term as Governor of New Mexico (an arguably “deep red” state), Richardson has brought differing sides together to establish New Mexico as a model for other states in the areas of energy, education and healthcare.
Being bi-cultural (having spent the first 15 years of his life living in Mexico) Richardson is uniquely qualified to address the issues of immigration and trade with our neighbors to the south and elsewhere. In fact, Gov. Richardson has been successful in convincing the government of Mexico to do more to enforce security on their side of the border and to start cracking down on the make-shift villages that crop up to serve as the staging areas for illegal drugs and human trafficking into New Mexico. A skilled negotiator, Richardson has traveled the world to help negotiate the release of Americans held captive in Saddam’s Iraq, to secure the release of the remains of American Korean War casualties from North Korea, to secure a cease fire in the hostilities in the Dafur region of Sudan, and was instrumental in negotiating a halt to the nuclear weapons program in North Korea. In fact, this year, Gov. Bill Richardson was nominated for the fifth time for the Nobel Peace Prize. Try as I might, I am unable to find anything close to the level of accomplishment of Gov. Richardson in any of the other candidates. As much as I might love the “ideas” and “plans” that many of them have, I simply do not see results that convince me that they will be able to step into the role of President of the United States on the first day and begin to pull the country together to move forward on the important issues.
Unfortunately, I believe that the Democrats are on the verge of repeating the self-defeating strategy of the 2004 election cycle. Rewarding style over substance, rhetoric over results, it seems that, just as with Gov. Howard Dean before him, the experience of Gov. Richardson risks being overshadowed by the glitz and glamour of celebrity. Being fed by the media’s desire to report on a “horse race”, polling numbers are broadcast almost hourly reflecting a set of “front runners” while in fact almost half of the voters questioned signify that they have no preference at all. Rather than enabling people to know what any candidate has “done” the political “reporters” dwell on vital issues of “grooming” and “celebrity endorsement.” At media sponsored “debates” the time for candidate responses (indeed, even the opportunity to give a response) is based upon the “horse race” mentality, thus denying the voters to right to make a real choice based on direct comparison between all of the candidates. And, perhaps most harmful to our democracy, the nightly news (the place where most American still receive their news) seem to only be capable (or willing) to acknowledge that there are more than the two or three candidates they view as “viable.”
With just 4 weeks to go until the first caucus goers in Iowa cast a real vote, I can only hope that the voters there will stop for a moment before caucus day and reflect on our shared experience of the last seven years and how “inexperience at the helm” has steered the ship of state so dangerously into the rocks. I hope they look closely at the people who are seeking this office and the opportunity to serve the nation – examine closely the qualifications of each. I hope they will measure actions against words. We can’t afford four more years of On the Job Training.
Gov. Bill Richardson - Experience for a Change.
Peace,
Chad (The Left) Shue
Show: Expand All Reply
John
Yes, it DOES have an answer of yes or no. At the ballot box you only make one decision and that is: Do you support a Democrat or don't you? Nothing hard or involved about that John. You just simply can't answer it.
You wrote:
I hate the thought of 8 more years of Republican rule, but if that happens, the Democrats have no one to blame but themselves
Most of your comments are geared toward defeating the Democrats, occasionally interspersed with posts meant to muddy the waters by posting something less defeatist. Either you are a Republican or a lousy Democrat. If you are the latter, then you are one of those Democrats we have to blame.
Joan, you seem to be chanelling Fred here. I shouldn't have to remind you that BFA is not a Democratic Party Blog.
I'm neither a Republican nor a "lousy Democrat".
Like millions of Americans, I'm a proud Independent who votes his conscience and certainly not the party line. And there's nothing wrong or subversive about that.
Most of my comments are not "geared toward defeating Democrats". I would love to see the Democrats win, and win big, but they're behaving in a manner that will bring about defeat. That's what my posts are about.
They're scared silly to challenge a two-bit thug who has the lowest ratings of any president in memory. And of course, the Congress they control has lower ratings than Bush because of their cowardice.
So go ahead and attack anyone who doesn't think that your precious DLC-controlled, spineless Democrats aren't the greatest thing since sliced bread. I won't enjoy saying "I told you so" when the fecal metter hits the rotating blades, but I'll do it.
Susan, sorry to bump your firsty with my lengthy reply to Joan. Not my fault, but Sitka and others will defend to the death the right of the blog techies to be incompetent!
DEMOCRATS TRADE OUR TROOPS IN IRAQ FOR DROUGHT RELIEF AND DOMESTIC SPENDING INCREASES
http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/diarypage.php?did=5121
In a complicated deal over the war funds, Democrats will include about $11 billion more in domestic spending than Bush has requested, emergency drought relief for the Southeast and legislation to address the subprime mortgage crisis, Hoyer told a meeting of the Washington Post editorial board.
Double-dealing is always complicated and Democrats have shared a "wide stance" on this matter. Gone are the timelines they claimed were sacrosanct, gone is the refusal to fund (which is the Constitutionally mandated power of the Congress over the Executive) and in place of that they have given us, essentially, earmarks in place of our kids' lives.
And Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid think there will be no price to pay at the polls. They are wrong.
I agree with Chad Shue about Governor Richardson. He does have the right experience and abilities to be the best president among the crop of candidates that we have.
The Iowa caucuses are a few weeks away and eventhough Richardson is running in 4th/5th place. That is the same place where Kerry and Edwards were running four years ago. So the field may change greatly by January 3rd.
Should one of the demented repugs be elected, we'll go down fast. It will be our only chance to wake up the dems and the people.
It's time for our own shock and awe. If the dems think I'll vote for Clinton and will do anything to keep a repug from getting in office, they are wrong.
The question is this: What will best wake up the opposition party and the lethargic voters? What will save our country? Answer: Four years of a Huckabee. And then Gore steps in........
Pelosi etc think we'll all come around. This voter won't. I won't vote for Clinton. Besides, she'll lose, even with my vote.
We are the base and we're pissed off. We need to start some action that lets the DLC know that we've had enuf of their sh*t.
Oh, and Gordon Smith is up for re-election. I'll work to dump him, but won't give a penny to Clinton or Obama...maybe to Edwards....certainly money and work for Dodd.
THE SCIENCE OF LYING
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_len_hart_071208_the_origins_of_ameri.htm
Successful lying has become a science. Highly paid consultants taught Bush officials the new science of effective lying at the outset of Bush's new regime. The cost, however, will be picked up by US taxpayers; it is no coincidence that new studies show US prestige declining as the world learns the truth about Bush's hidden agenda.
Typically, the US responds with promises of more spin and PR, more ludicrous attempts to put a smiley face on torture, lies, and aggressive war. The US will try to spread the guilt around and "reframe" the issue.
They've wasted no time. As I write this, Colleen Graffy, of the US State Department, is telling Stephen Sackur, of BBC's Hard Talk, that other nations maintained GITMO-like facilities where people are held indefinitely in legal limbo. She failed to name one. It's unfortunate, she says, that some people ought not be afforded what Americans have always called Due Process of Law.
Because the GOP often thinks backward from conclusions to premises, GOP types have failed to grasp the essential nature of "Due Process of Law", that is, either it applies to everyone or it doesn't apply at all. Any exception is arbitary and no one may be presumed guilty in advance of Due Process. It just doesn't work that way. The GOP has apparently institutionalized post hoc ergo propter hoc.
America has an "image problem" because the rest of the world knows America by the lies Bush tells the world.
Sorry, Safari doesn't seem to like paragraphs.
Seashell:
Pelosi etc think we'll all come around. This voter won't. I won't vote for Clinton. Besides, she'll lose, even with my vote.
We are the base and we're pissed off. We need to start some action that lets the DLC know that we've had enuf of their sh*t.
I second that emotion
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/120807Y.shtml
Dan Eggen and Joby Warrick, reporting for The Washington Post, write: "Democratic lawmakers yesterday angrily demanded a Justice Department investigation into the CIA's decision to destroy videotapes of harsh interrogation tactics used on two terrorism suspects. The White House said that President Bush was unaware of the tapes or their destruction until this week, but administration sources acknowledged last night that longtime Bush aide Harriet E. Miers knew of the tapes' existence and told CIA officials that she opposed their destruction."
It's now 6:52 pm EST
11 is the new 1!
HABEAS WHAT?
http://www.lewrockwell.com/hornberger/hornberger28.html
One of the most deeply rooted principles in American jurisprudence is the concept of due process of law, which is enshrined in the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: “No person shall . . . be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”
Due process of law actually stretches back to the year 1215, when the great barons of England extracted an admission from their king that his powers over the citizenry were not unlimited but instead were limited by fundamental principles of fairness and justice. Included among the restrictions on power to which King John acceded in the Magna Carta – the Great Charter – was a prohibition against the exercise of arbitrary seizure of people or their property by government officials:
No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any other way, nor will we proceed with force against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgement of his equals or by the law of the land.
Over the centuries, that phrase – “the law of the land” – gradually evolved into the phrase “due process of law,” the same phrase our American ancestors insisted be made
Hey Kevin
I formed an official link to the DNC called Claytondems. we can cross link the Congressional website with out county site and the DNC listserve feature.
Kevin
what I get a kick out of is Hillary and Obama fighting over who has the most "experience" with Biden and Dodd in the race as well as Richardson
MEMO
TO: Tim Watson, DFA HQ Technology Director
FROM: Susan Rowe
DATE: 11/08/2007 4:06 PM PST
RE: BUG REPORT
Mr. Waston,
Please fix the Blog's clock and count.
Susan Rowe
---
Tim Watson Technology Director at DFA HQ
Questions or Bug Reports? Contact Us HERE: http://www.democracyforamerica.com/conta... or email Mr. Waston HERE: suppor[AT]democracyforamerica[Dot]com
whoa
the local news had a report of a man who froze to death last night after getting his car stuck and walking for help he didn't reach
aren't you orange hattees glad Howard isn't running this round?
Joan* In*Florida
Sat, 12/08/07
6:34 pm
..Oprah and Obama were outstanding as was the huge crowd.+++Joan -Thanks for the commentary.
I second this article and I am voting and campaigning for Richardson. The mean reason is that his foreign policy experience makes him the best able to extricate the US from the Iraq mess and rebuild aliances with other nations. Also, he is very experienced politically. This includes winning by 70% in a Western state and having the ability to get programs through the legislature. Richardson's positions on foreign affairs are more progressive than those of Obama. Many people in the East Coast do not know how important water rights are in the West, and many people in the East are not aware that as givernor, Richardson gave the Native Americans their water rights, though this infuriated the right wing. Richardson has placed an emphasis on trying to bring jobs into New Mexico. Also, while Biden and, I think, Obama, voted for the bankruptcy bill - part of what is causing the current foreclosure crisis - the state government in New Mexico was prosecuting payday loan sharks. (By the way Hillary voted against the bill, making her more liberal than Obama on both Social Security and the credit industry). Richardson does engage in saber rattling. He knows what to say and what not to say on foreign affairs. On energy, I don't anyone can name another state that is more advanced in solar energy than New Mexico. A light rail line is proposed between Albuquerque and Santa Fe.
On health care, Richardson has already commissioned Mathematica Policy Research to develop three health care plans for New Mexico. There is already a state plan for anyone unemployed for more than a year. Low income people can get health cards at UNM. Possibly as many as 2000 people per day get low cost prescriptions from the UNM non-profit pharmacy. UNM and community health clinics care for a large number of people. While this is not a universal single-payer system, the seeds of non-profit health care exist in New Mexico and the state supports this. Some examinations can be obtained for free. The state government is building up the cancer treatment center at UNM.
On border issues, again Richardson has the most experience and is in the best position to strengthen the alliances with Latin America. He is correct on the drivers' licenses issue. How can organized crime and drug rings and drive-by shootings be busted if there is no information on who is living at what address and who owns which car? Downtown Albuquerque was cleaned up a lot after these drivers' licenses went into effect. New Mexico is very aware of what the real border issues are: keeping out the drug rings and the gang warfare.
I hope voters will examine who is really the most progressive candidate in the race.
16 (AT LEAST IT WAS)
Susan:
I've sent several messages to tech support, and have had no reply (and ,ore importantly, no action)
For the umpteenth time:
It aint Rocket Science!
Unfortunately, Chad, many citizens of New Mexico are not as impressed with their Governor as you are. They're not keen on his crony politics, although that seems to be endemic in the New Mexico culture. Some are not keen on the new nuclear fuel enrichment plant he's pushing. Others are not keen on the coal plants in Indian territory. I'm not keen on the Department of Energy having privatized the enrichment process and retained all the liabilities of the plants for the public.
Then there's the sense that he's really angling for a VP slot with Hillary.
Clinton trade policies, promoted by his old friend McLarty on behalf of David Rockefeller have been disasterous for Mexico's farmers. Keeping Mexicans out of New Mexico is hardly praiseworthy. I personally would like to know how cars stolen in New Mexico end up as car bombs in Iraq. Perhaps a little more attention to what's going out rather than who's coming in was in order.
Oh, and that nuclear deal with North Korea. Didn't that involve a promise of a reactor for which the enriched fuel would be supplied?
A SunMt Video: First in the series reporting Elizabeth Kucinich's visit to Fresno, CA
----- Original Message -----
From: SunMt
To: SunMt Maia & Elfie Ballis
Sent: Saturday, December 08, 2007 1:22 PM
Subject: Elizabeth Kucinich tells us about Dennis
See her on SunMt Chronicles:http://www.sunmt.org/dec8chron07.html
Smiling Seriously,
Maia & George Elfie Ballis
SunMt
Prather, CA
when "travel not advised" warnings are issued by the State Highway Patrol does the Oprah and Obama entourage ignore it or try to keep crawling toward the next stop through the freezing drizzle because "the show must go on".
the crowd is assembled ahead of the sudden ice
stay tuned
Mainly, I guess I'm fed up with the whole Clinton crew. Democrats resent Republicans saying that "Clinton did it" but the fact is that he did. Clinton's administration bombed used depleted uranium bombs on Bosnia, bombed Iraq from time to time, enforced an embargo that caused a million children to die, prevented doctors and academics from traveling to conferences for professional advancement,etc. And what for? To get basing rights in Iraq which the DoD is working up now with that "status of forces agreement" that Maliki said he'd negotiate.
The fund raising scandal in the 1996 election wasn't just about people sleeping in the Lincoln bedroom. It was about the DNC being taken over by the Clinton campaign to raise soft money that was used to promote his re-election while he was claiming to comply with public funding. Two-faced.
I'd forgotten that Fred Thompson did the investigation in the summer of 1997 when the Administration refused to turn over documents, people pled the fifth and others fled the country. Which may be why Thompson is in the running; he didn't get his pound of flesh. And, fair or not, I blame Clinton for Bush. They were staked by the same people.
I'm not sure Hillary was involved with any of that Monica, but the politics of such an administration would be hobbled by the bad associations people have.
That is weighed against the impressive amount of good work
Do you support a Democrat or don't you?
There are some Democrats I support. But none of them happen to be running for president this year.
Re Monica Smith's comment on people in New Mexico, I lived in New Mexico for more than a year, so this is not an outsider's viewpoint. If any New Mexico citizens are dissatisfied with Richardson, try living in other states, such as California. Can you name any other state whose government is better than New Mexico's? There is crony politics in every state. New Mexico is amazing at doing more when starting with less.
what's wrong with california besides too many repugs?
I second this article and I am voting and campaigning for Richardson.....I hope voters will examine who is really the most progressive candidate in the race.
Actually, based on record and proposals, that would be Kucinich.
I'm sorry, there was a typing error before. I meant: Richardson does NOT engage in saber rattling.
that's odd --
Andy Young is saying that Barack Obama is too young to run for U.S. President --
and that he might be crucified --
-- wow, Andy you sure know alot of stuff, don't you ?:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071208/ap_po/obama_young_2
Civil rights icon calls Obama too young
By ERRIN HAINES, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 13 minutes ago
ATLANTA - Civil rights icon Andrew Young says Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is too young and lacks the support network to ascend to the White House.
In an interview posted online, Young also quipped that Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton has her husband behind her, and that "Bill is every bit as black as Barack."
"He's probably gone with more black women than Barack," Young said of former President Clinton
...
Obama campaign officials declined Saturday to comment on Young's remarks.
...
Young said. "You cannot be president alone. ... To put a brother in there by himself is to set him up for crucifixion.
...
Kucinich has many good positions on the issues. But I think he needs to be more of a team player and needs to stop his wholesale put-downs of the other candidates. He does not seem to be very diplomatic.
So go ahead and attack anyone who doesn't think that your precious DLC-controlled, spineless Democrats aren't the greatest thing since sliced bread.
When "DLC controlled, spineless Democrats" are criticized, some who support them think they themselves are being attacked.
Kucinich has many good positions on the issues. But I think he needs to be more of a team player and needs to stop his wholesale put-downs of the other candidates. He does not seem to be very diplomatic.
What with the rest of them (and their supporters) tearing each other down, I have noticed Kucinich doing it. But if he's doing like Dean and speaking truth to corrupt and entrenched power, then I applaud him for it.
22.
Also, while Biden and, I think, Obama, voted for the bankruptcy bill - part of what is causing the current foreclosure crisis - the state government in New Mexico was prosecuting payday loan sharks. (By the way Hillary voted against the bill, making her more liberal than Obama on both Social Security and the credit industry.)
Linda,
Obama did NOT vote FOR the bankruptcy bill.
Nor did Clinton vote against it -- she was the only senator who didn't vote on the bill at all.
And Hillary is hardly more liberal than Obama on anything at all.
Andy Young is saying that Barack Obama is too young to run for U.S. President --
That's no wonder. Young is a corporate shill for no less a force of evil than Wal Mart.....
Today, Young is co-chairman of Good Works International, a consulting firm "offering international market access and political risk analysis in key emerging markets within Africa and the Caribbean." The company's Web site also notes that "GWI principals have backgrounds in human rights and public service. The concept of enhancing the greater good is intrinsic to our business endeavors." Nike is one of Good Works' most visible corporate clients. In the late 1990s, at the height of controversy over the company's labor practices, Young led a delegation to report on Nike operations in Vietnam. Anti-sweatshop activists derided the report as a whitewash and raised concerns that Nike was trading on Young's background as a civil-rights activist to improve Nike's corporate image. Young also is a director of the Drum Major Institute, and also is the chairman of the board for the [Global Initiative for the Advancement of Nutritional Therapy]* Working Families for Wal-Mart, a grass-roots organization sponsored by the corporate giant as a public response to widespread criticism that many of the company's American employees and their children are on public assistance, that the company uses child labor, that the company discriminates against female and African-American employees, and that workers manufacturing Wal-Mart products are subjected to abusive conditions and sub-poverty wages.
It was kind of heartwarming to see Hillary smiling today while on the trail with Chelsea and her mother.
37.
Andy Young is wrong on a lot of things these days.
Obama is 46 years old.
JFK was 46 years old when he took office as prez.
Maybe being young is better for being prez these days, since the job is going to be a real humdinger of a workload.
What with the rest of them (and their supporters) tearing each other down, I have NOT noticed Kucinich doing it.
One is white and female, the other black and male.
Alike as two peas in a pod.
Obama seems capable enough. I still think this is a strong field, and you can pick someone that represents your point of view.
It was kind of heartwarming to see Hillary smiling today while on the trail with Chelsea and her mother.
I can almost hear the violins in the background.
likeableness (is that a word?)
I think were supposed to stick "able" at the end of everything.
- electable
- viable
- likeable....
One is white and female, the other black and male.
Alike as two peas in a pod.
Those are superficialities. Hopefully we're talking about records and proposals.
I think they're peas from differents pods, but the same plant, in those regards.
sitka,
I was using the word as a noun, not an adjective. But I may have coined a new word. If it fits. . .
53.
Sitka
Sat, 12/08/07
8:59 pm
Reply to this
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Just when you think it can't be F'd up any worse, they develop a new twist, lol!
Too bad Hillary didn't try smiling when Howard was speaking at the last convention. It's sort of like when Obama turned his back on Howard and wouldn't shake his hand. They have a way of letting their DLCers know what side of the fence they are on, and that they can be trusted to speak the line.
53 now = 54.
But I may have coined a new word.
I've coined one for the "which would I rather have a beer with?" crowd.
Drunkability.
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By Susan Rowe on Dec 8, 2007 6:52 PM ESTDNC Chair Gov. Howard Dean M.D. is first!