"The Defining Issue of the 2012 Campaign"

It is almost Halloween and Bill Richardson is offering up the scariest notion of the current presidential campaign.

The various candidates for the Democratic nomination have been asked to submit "Vote for Me" email messages to members of Democracy for America who are voting in the final "DFA Presidential Pulse Poll."

Richard's message explains that: "Ending the war is the issue that distinguishes me from the other candidates in this race. It seems simple -- yet I am the only leading candidate who is unequivocally calling for the removal of all troops now. No half-measures. No rhetorical games about 'combat troops' versus 'non-combat troops.' No residual troops. No one left behind."

It may be possible to debate Richardson's assessment of himself as a leading candidate, although his poll numbers are edging toward those of John Edwards in key states. And it is important to note that another candidate, Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich, is even more anti-war than Richardson.

But there is no debating the New Mexico governor comment that, "From the other leading candidates we're hearing poll-tested pieties about ending the war. But when you ask them what they'll actually do, none of them will commit to getting all of our troops out of Iraq now. They won't even commit to getting all the troops out by 2013. I've committed to ending the war my first day in office, and getting all the troops out in 2009. You can hold me to it."

Here's the scary part: "If we don't elect a candidate who will get all of our troops out now, the war in Iraq may still be the defining issue in the 2012 campaign," Richardson explains.

Here's the even scarier part: If the direction of the Democratic presidential campaign does not change soon -- either with a strong shift toward a tougher anti-war stance by a front-runner or the rise of an outsider -- Richardson is very likely to be proven right.

Comments (12)

1. The money...that's the key.

   Presidents "Hillary", "Barack", even "Mitt" can't keep (despite the HAPPY fiscal liberals) shoveling HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS into Iraq.

   They will HAVE to cut it back, or suicidally raise taxes enough to pay for it. Wall Street and the financial guys (as well as the Federal Reserve) will send them a secret memo in 2009-2010 telling them that as we plunge into a full TRILLION spent, "off the books" and unpaid for....that "the investors" (China) are getting nervous and that ol' Euro is looking more and more stable.

   They will HAVE to pull the plug on Iraq (atleast 90% reduction in forces...even if that means holing up in fortresses out in the desert with 20,000 troops and lots of air cover)....or face financial disaster.

   Morally and politically Richardson is right now...the others not.

   Monetarily....they'll come around to his point of view before 2012!

   They'll have to.

   Posted by Mask at 10/25/2007 @ 2:28pm

2. You know, if I figured he'd really do it, I swear I'd vote for him. I've spent a lot of time on here talking about the need for another TR, another Truman, someone with balls who takes action, doesn't explain or complain or apologize for his beliefs & actions. So if Richardson would do it, really turn the current situation on its head and really do it, I'd vote for him, no matter what his politics or mine, just to get someone in there like that.

   Posted by CHIP THORNTON at 10/25/2007 @ 3:03pm

3. ...someone with balls who takes action, doesn't explain or complain or apologize for his beliefs & actions.

   Posted by CHIP THORNTON 10/25/2007 @ 3:03pm

   Aren't those the reasons we're in this mess? That sounds more like the hsuB/cHeney admin disqualifications for being in the exec.

   I'd rather pick Richardson for his smarts and experience which direct him to make the right choices as the exec.

   Of course when one compares him to 'the others', as in candidates, not all on the DFA list are opposed to Richardson's position. Look at the top of the DFA polling list:

   http://democracyforamerica.com/

   Posted by hsuBfools at 10/25/2007 @ 4:24pm

4. Look at the top of the DFA polling list:----Posted by HSUBFOOLS 10/25/2007 @ 4:24pm

   CHIP, one guess as to who's at the top of the online poll?

   Hint---He said this....Pressed on whether he believed that impeachment is a good use of time, he replied, "I don't think it is. I don't think it would be successful."

   Posted by Mask at 10/25/2007 @ 4:30pm

5. http://current.com/items/84986481_get_the_troops_home

   Posted by hsuBfools at 10/25/2007 @ 4:38pm

6. No, I don't think those traits got us into this. Bush is a naieve obstinate, dig in his heels type. He won't take advise or change even when the inadequacy of a policy stares him in the face. And he's not smart or farsighted like the others: TR and Truman would NEVER have been foolish or dishonorable enough to have legitimized torture, then dance around it. No HSUB, no comparison between the traits OR justification for actions based on them.The notion that he could turn cultures where religion is still so incredibly interwoven with their politics into a republic where it is separate from lawmaking demonstrates ignorance in the decision making process. Another thing neither predecessor would have done

   Sorry, the paragraphs got jumbled and I gotta go

   Chip

   Posted by CHIP THORNTON at 10/25/2007 @ 4:43pm

7. Posted by MASK 10/25/2007 @ 4:30pm

   Frita, Frita, Frita, he said that because the votes weren't there to move it foreward. But like your Frito proves, you can't say 'never' to Pelosi putting impeachment on the table-- aye Frita.

   But he also said:

   "The fact that our normal safeguards have thus far failed to contain this unprecedented expansion of executive power is deeply troubling. This failure is due in part to the fact that the executive branch has followed a determined strategy of obfuscating, delaying, withholding information, appearing to yield but then refusing to do so, and dissembling in order to frustrate the efforts of the legislative and judicial branches to restore our constitutional balance. After all, the other branches can't check an abuse of power if they don't know it is happening.

   This administration has not been content simply to reduce the Congress to subservience. By closely guarding information about their own behavior, they are dismantling a fundamental element of our system of checks and balances. A government for the people and by the people should be transparent to the people. Yet the Bush administration seems to prefer making policy in secret… insulated from any meaningful participation by Congress or the American people…

   ....

   If the president has the inherent authority to eavesdrop, imprison citizens on his own declaration, kidnap, and torture, then what can't he do? After analyzing the executive branch's claims of these previously unrecognized powers, Harold Koh, dean of Yale Law School, said: "If the president has commander-in-chief power to commit torture, he has the power to commit genocide, to sanction slavery, to promote apartheid, to license summary execution."

   The principle alternative to democracy throughout history has been the consolidation of virtually all state power in the hands of a single strongman or small group that together exercises that power without the informed consent of the governed… Democracies are rare in history. And when they fail, as did Athens and the Roman Republic upon whose designs our Founders drew heavily, what emerges in their place is another strongman regime.

   ...

   It is deeply disturbing that the administration so frequently uses the word dominance to describe its strategic goals. It is disturbing because an American policy of dominance is as repugnant to the rest of the world as the ugly pictures of those helpless, naked Iraqi prisoners being so "dominated" has been to the people of our country. Dominance is as dominance does. Dominance is… a seductive illusion that tempts the powerful to satiate their hunger for still more power by striking a bargain with their consciences…

   I believe it is important to focus specifically on what exactly happened in Abu Ghraib prison and ask whether or not those actions were representative of who we are as Americans. As noted, many of these captives have reportedly died while being broken and humiliated. In the notorious Abu Ghraib prison itself, investigators who documented the pattern of torture estimated that more than 90 percent of the victims were innocent of any charges…

   ...

   The top-heavy focus on dominance as a goal for the U.S. role in the world is exactly paralleled by this administration's aspiration for the role of the president to completely dominate our constitutional system…

   The administration has also launched an assault on the right of the courts to review its actions, on the right of the Congress to have information on how the public's money is being spent, on the right of the news media to have information about the policies that it is pursuing, and on anyone who criticizes its excesses… This same pattern characterizes virtually all of the Bush administration's policies… and its appetite for power is astonishing…"

   Posted by hsuBfools at 10/25/2007 @ 5:01pm

8. They'll have to.

   Posted by MASK 10/25/2007 @ 2:28pm

   You are still too young!

   Posted by Happy at 10/25/2007 @ 6:08pm

9. Vote for the BEST President possible. The one with the stature, vision, experience and the policy for America.

   Vote for Al Gore!

   You can vote in the DFA Pulse Poll.

   Al Gore isn't listed as a candidate, because he hasn't declared yet, but you can show your support by voting for him. CLICK on "OTHER" and write in Al Gore.

   http://democracyforamerica.com/pulsepoll?s=1

   Time for a COOL change, Gore 2008

   Posted by LDP at 10/25/2007 @ 8:13pm

10. You are still too young!

    Posted by HAPPY 10/25/2007 @ 6:08pm

    You figure out if you care or don't care about federal deficit spending "old man"?

    (BTW, I was just old enough to have voted for Reagan vs Carter)

    Posted by Mask at 10/25/2007 @ 9:45pm

11. Posted by LDP 10/25/2007 @ 8:13pm

    HSUB nick change?

    Posted by Mask at 10/25/2007 @ 9:45pm

12. Nope not me.

    Frita, you figure Al must have another fan other than me in the world...?!?!?

    Bwahahahahahahah

    Is that too great a paradigm shift for you?

    Posted by hsuBfools at 10/26/2007 @ 01:30am