To hear the big media outlets natter, you'd think that the only questions remaining before the '08 election are who is going to headline the Clinton/Obama and Giuliani/McCain tickets, and who's going to be the veep candidate. Almost on the QT, however, two other candidates seem to be stepping forward who have the important benefit of not being complete tools.
Bill Richardson, Governor of New Mexico, comes off as a traditional Democrat, free of the shrill Leftie dogma that hangs over the rest of the Democrat candidates like a cloud. He's come out in favor of tax cuts and income tax reform, is strong on the illegal immigrant issue, and signed New Mexico's CCW law.
Fred Thompson, former Senator from TN, is no libertarian, but compared to McCain or Giuliani (or Dubya, for that matter) he looks like Ronald Reagan. Pro-trade, pro-business, fairly hawkish, and socially conservative; if you liked the Eighties GOP, presumably you could vote for Fred and get seconds.
After the Jerry Springer circus dwarf drag show we've been treated to thus far, these two both look like actual presidential timber...
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I'm from New Mexico, and Richardson has always been pretty solidly pro-gun and moderate.
They are politicians, therefore they suck.
True, but they suck less than any of the other remotely electable choices thus far.
They do both seem to suck far less than those who have put hats in the ring so far. Have to research them both more...my concern with Richardson is he would be subject to a lot of agendas from the Dems.
I'm sorry, Tam, but I've really got to disagree with you on this one. Another New Mexican weighing in, and Richardson vs. Hillary is like "Getting punched in the nose" vs. "Getting kicked in the crotch." Anonymous there calling him a politician is the most accurate I've seen yet. Handshakes and favors are his stock in trade, not progress and sound governing, as evidenced by some of his recent appointments around the state.
His tenure as Secretary of Energy, and thus as point man for the National Laboratories during the Clinton era and through the Wen Ho Lee fandango, is a non-trivial (though in fairness, not sole) part of why Los Alamos National Labs is on the ropes with congressional talks of closing the place entirely. They're just now starting to un-do the convoluted web of suck and obfuscated chains of command he helped weave to put the place back on the rails. And let's not mince words, closing that lab would destroy the entire city and a large portion of the economy of northern NM (not to mention the intense and personal screwing anybody in Los Alamos owning a house would suffer).
If that and his close Clinton ties aren't frightening enough, look at some of his local projects. In an effort to combat the state sport of drunk driving, out of $750K allocated for the fight, roughly $500K went to the media campaign alerting people about how much he was doing to fight dui, while only $250 went to actual law enforcement for checkpoints, etc.
Next up, the "Railrunner." This ill-conceived boondoggle has wasted millions of tax dollars to construct a commuter rail line between Santa Fe and Albuquerque. After several months of operation (the first few of which were offered at no fare to the public to encourage riders), they've just finally gotten their 300,000th passenger. With a project cost millions of dollars over budget and finally weighing in at about $390 million (according to the railrunner's site), forgive me if I consider this less of a viable "greenhouse gas reducer" than "industrial powered porkbelly pump attached to my wallet." 300,000 riders on a 390m train so far? That must be one hell of a ride at $1300 per pop. His record goes on in this general vein for quite a ways.
As for signing our CCW law, I'll grant you he's more pro-gun than Hillary, Barak, or Rudy, but at the time failing to sign it would've largely hamstrung his career within the state. As a politician first, political survival trumps all. I strongly suspect that if he had places like Chicago, New York, and San Francisco weighing on his mind, that pen might move a little differently.
-Tom
Saw Thompson on Wallace's FOX show yesterday; the man says where he stands, almost all of which is very supportive of conservative/libertarian positions. No commit from him yet, but Thompson definitely holds promise.
Richardson may as well, but has the problem of Dem baggage: As a Dem, he'd have to fill a lot, if not most, of the patronage slots in his administration (about 3K slots) with other Dems. Problem there is sooner than you realize he'd work through the non-crazy Dem pool and have to dip into the nutroots groups to fill positions.
The danger with Dems is not that they're Dems - Hillary by herself isn't that big a threat - but the thousands of dictatorial socialists from the left who would wind up filling so many decision making and upper administrative posts in any Dem administration.
What about John Cox. What never heard of him. Give his web site a lookie. Opinions wanted!!
Ron Paul declared and he's DA MAN
http://rattube.com/blog1/2007/03/12/ron-paul-cspan-interview/
http://rattube.com/blog1/2007/03/12/ron-paul-cspan-interview/
Ron Paul is the one.
No love for Huckabee?
homer, I don't know that there would be much difference from current. Bush blew it when he failed to clean house of all the Dems in places he could. He left so many in power, like at Justice and State, to name a few, it might as well be a Dem administration.
Ron Paul may be ideal, but I don't think he's mainstream enough to be elected. Fred Thompson truly has a chance, if he decides to run.
Will:
"Bush blew it...it might as well be a Dem administration."
The prosecution rests.
I've always found Fred Thompson appealing...
I hope Sen. Thompson lays back. It's good to be everyone's second choice.
By far the only real choices. I hope the contest comes down to Fred Thompson and Al Gore. I would love to see Al Gore cry again. I would trade all birthdays and Christmases just to see him lose a second time. I will never understand the love affair with Al Gore.
That is the Presidential debate I want to see, Fred vs. Al. Think Al will walk up to Fred in the debate and try to punk him out the way he did Bush?
If I wanted to live in England or France I would move. I am so tired of the far left trying to take the screwed up socialist democrat ideas that have failed in Western Europe and import them to America.
Number9
Richardson is Governer of a third world country and it's not gotten any better.
Thompson I have mixed emotions about, mainly because he has Hollywood ties.
If he were to come out and say something like Shwarzenegger is a "dick", well maybe then...
db
Another New Mexican with another fun fact about Richardson: at the start of his tenure as governor, he appointed an unprecedented number of convicted felons to various state posts, many of whom withdrew from service after their records were published. A list can be found here: http://larrycalloway.com/column.html?_recordnum=29
In his time in office as a Congressman and as Governor, Richardson has struck me as very Clintonian.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cN3z4mqRn7I
Fred T. on Fox.
Impressive.
Regards,
Rabbit.
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