Just a few minutes ago, Gov. Bill Richardson was on Heading Left's Blog Talk Radio show. Among other things, he directly addressed Trapper John's criticism of him as characterizing Democrats as always wanting to raise taxes. Please see my notes below, but basically Richardson said, roughly, "I have a lot of respect for Trapper John...the perception of the general public is that Democrats will always raise taxes but I’m a tax cutter for middle class."
In other news, Richardson said that he would shut down Abu Ghraib and Gitmo. Again, please see my notes below...they're a bit rough, but I wanted to get this out quickly.
The show should be available shortly in archive. is now available in archive. Check it out!
Richardson is in NH, on his third day of shaking thousands of hands. He says he's about to be endorsed by former Red Sox pitcher Luis Tiant.
Deauthorization of war: Best way to go because it’s clear, it’s decisive, there would be a national movement behind it...public would easily understand it. Benchmarks, spending resolutions, etc. confuse the public and we don’t have the votes. The authorization is now invalid because there were not WMD as that language indicated. Set a timetable of all troops out by the end of the year. I would have no residual forces, except for an embassy detail of Marines which is traditional in our diplomatic represenntation. Our troops have become the target, we are viewed as the occupier, this is a civil war, what is needed is a political not a military solution. Congressional reaffirmation of its power to declare war. This would probably go to the Supreme Court. It’s decisive, strong, direct, specific, easy to understand by the public, that’s the course we should take. I don’t care who gets credit, I’ve been talking about this for three months. Benchmarks of diplomacy – reconciliation of religious groups, all-Muslim peacekeeping force, including Iran and Syria in negotiations, donor conference, Iraq has to start taking over, they’re not helpless, the time has come for us to preserve our interests to withdraw with dignity, with a plan, move to repair our relationships in the ME and around the world.
Bush veto – Democrats were trying to find out where their votes are. Now that that vote is over, now that veto has happened (another indication President is out of touch, not willing to listen) it would be a mistake to continue these funding resolutions. We need to contest President on foreign policy and constitutional grounds. Most importantly, there could be a national movement of people out in the streets on this resolution to end the war, it WOULD end up in the courts but the President can not veto it.
Foreign policy – North Korea and Sudan
My approach to foreign policy is negotiation, diplomacy and dialogue before military action. Talk to our enemies around the world to see if there’s common ground. I would talk to Iran, Syria, North Korea. We made some progress with North Korea. Important to talk directly to Sudan. I got a 60-day ceasefire. I would not just emphasize Iraq and areas where there is oil, I would care about areas where there are human tragedies. Stand up for Democracy, shut down Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, reintegrate into International Criminal Court,. International convention on human rights, Geneva Convention.
An Executive Order can shut down Abu Ghraib. Restore habeus corpus, eliminate policy of torture. There are also secret prisons. I think there IS an international terrorism threat, I would be strong. I would rebuild our homeland security strategy. I would not do that at the expense of civil liberties, eavesdrop on our citizens without court order, signing statements that subvert the law.
Very emotional to bring back remains of American soldiers from North Korea. North Korea is like a time warp, into the 50s, hardly any cars, hardly any people on the streets, people mainly working in the army or for the state or farmers. No mechanized equipment, didn’t see one tractor. Isolated. Kim is a deity. Nation that needs to join the 21st century. We don’t want them to have nuclear weapons. In exchange, give them food, energy assistance, promise we won’t attack you, remove sanctions. Diplomacy and negotiation and dialogue. People to people programs. That’s what I’d do in Iran. Real opportunities to open a dialogue with them. North Korea is a country we can eventually work with. But what do we want, we don’t want them to have nuclear weapons, we don’t want instability there.
Domestic policy – Trapper John critical of his performance in debate ("Democrats always want to raise taxes; I’m a tax cutter"). I have a lot of respect for Trapper John. The perception of general public is that Democrats will always raise taxes. I’m a tax cutter for middle class. With health care, you’ve got to find ways to have universal care by fixing the existing problem, large percent of costs is bureaucracy, HMO’s... We spend more on health care yet our statistics on life expectancy, other indicators, aren’t great. Need to use technology, health information system. My point is let’s focus on existing inefficiencies first. That’s what I was referring to. The other candidate says the opposite, "any candidate who says you pay for health care without a tax increase, I’m ready to sell you the Brooklyn Bridge." I was referring to the public perceiving Democrats. This was a debate. I had difficulty hearing because I was on a corner. I don’t want to give Republicans ammunition. I ‘m a pro-growth Democrat. I’m pro-science, pro-stem cells. I don’t just want to say we want to tax the rich as all the solutions.