Day: November 25, 2005
“We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality — judiciously, as you will — we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.”Gov. Bill Richardson Commits Political Suicide for Baseball
Another Democrat saves Republicans a bullet by shooting himself in the foot so they won’t have to. New Mexico’s Gov. Bill Richardson has established a credibility issue which will make great late night fodder now and in the 2008 presidential race, if he decides to enter it.
“After being notified of the situation … I came to the conclusion that I was not drafted by the A’s,” Richardson said.
For nearly four decades, Richardson has maintained he was drafted as a pitcher in 1966 by the Kansas City Athletics.
But an Albuquerque Journal investigation found no record of Richardson being drafted by the A’s, who have since moved to Oakland, or any other team.
Richardson’s explanation for the claim is even lamer than the issue of whether he was drafted by the A’s.
“After being notified of the situation (by Journal reporter Toby Smith) and after researching the matter … I came to the conclusion that I was not drafted by the A’s,” Richardson said.
Well there you go. With those feeble words, another one bites the dust, and without even having to be smeared by Repug goons.
Richardson included the fact in a brief biography released when he successfully ran for Congress in 1982. The Clinton White House mentioned it in a 1997 news release, when Richardson was about to be named U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
Over the years, several media organizations have reported it as fact, including The Associated Press, the New York Times and New Republic magazine, along with political almanacs.
Richardson, who was a star right-handed pitcher in high school and played at Tufts University, maintained, though: “I was actively scouted by several major league teams.”
Yeah, blah blah, Ginger. Look, it’s really simple: don’t lie, don’t embelish, don’t go there. It will absolutely bite you in the ass sooner or later, and now the Dems — and Latinos — stand to lose a great candidate. Thanks Bill. You pitched a real no-hitter this time.
Following the Money to Scooter Libby
Know who’s pitching in to help Scooter Libby beat the rap on charges of grand jury perjury and obstruction in the CIA leak case? The list is pretty interesting.
[St. Petersburg, Fl.] developer Mel Sembler, a former U.S. ambassador, is taking a leading role in raising millions for the legal defense fund of I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby…
The fund, which was formed several weeks ago, has received assistance from friends, colleagues and former government officials, according to former Justice Department spokeswoman Barbara Comstock, who is helping Libby. That group includes former United Nations Ambassador Jeanne Kirkpatrick.
Other contributors include investor Howard Leach, lobbyist Wayne Berman, both of whom help raise money for President Bush’s campaigns; Richard Carlson, president of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, 1992-1997; former presidential candidates Steve Forbes and Jack Kemp; and former Sens. Fred Thompson of Tennessee and Alan Simpson of Wyoming.
Ex-CIA director James Woolsey also is helping, as are magazine publisher Philip Merrill, a former president and ex-chairman of the Export-Import Bank of the United States, and Mideast historian Bernard Lewis…
Sembler, a longtime Republican fundraiser, has helped candidates at all levels, from St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker up to both President Bushes.
From 1997-2000, he was the Republican National Committee finance chairman. He served as ambassador to Australia and Nauru from 1989 to 1993, and most recently as ambassador to Italy.
If Scooter needs to put up a multi-million dollar defense, maybe a presidential pardon isn’t a slam-dunk. I’d say it depends on how poll numbers are at the end of his trial. Pres. I Don’t Pay Attention to Focus Groups will let him go as long as it doesn’t cost him any political capital.
Michael Moore Answers White House Attack, ‘Confesses’ Scandalous Affiliations
Lightning rod: Speaking at the first annual Paul Wellstone Memorial Dinner, filmmaker Michael Moore returned fire against a recent attack by the Bush White House – and helpfully provided fodder to his critics by confessing to associations with groups accused of scandalous, even murderous, behavior.
The White House recently attempted to smear Rep. Jack Murtha, a decorated Vietnam vet, by comparing Murtha’s proposal to withdraw from Iraq to Moore’s position. The smear didn’t stick, Moore said, because it was misdirected:
If they really wanted the American people to hate Congressman Murtha they should have compared him to Scooter Libby. Put that name in there. Then people would dislike him. Put Karl Rove’s name in there. Put Dick Cheney’s name in there.
Another reason the smear failed, Moore said, was the fact that a “majority of the people agree with me now” that the war should be ended. He then stated his position on withdrawing from Iraq, which is not substantively dissimilar to Murtha’s – and is in line with about two-thirds of Americans, according the latest polls:
GOP to California: ‘Drop Dead’
Arnold is screwed: Gov. Schwarzenegger evaporated immediately after he was trounced in his own special election earlier this month. He embarked within a day or two after his drubbing to China on a trade mission and hasn’t been heard from since. We had early reports that the Chinese were treating him like a movie star, which must have been a relief after so many months of being treated by his constituents like the lying, conniving tool of corporate special interests that he is.
At the urging of California’s congressional Democrats, Schwarzenegger sent a letter to the state’s delegation in the House expressing concern about the proposal’s impact on the state. Every California Republican in Congress voted for it nonetheless.
He may want to stay evaporated because the leaders of his party in Washington have drafted legislation that will cost California taxpayers billions of dollars. If it passes, the bill could end the governor’s floundering political career in November of next year – and convert the GOP from a meager opposition party to permanent minority party status for years to come:
Republican-backed budget cuts moving through Congress threaten to hit California with billions of dollars in lost aid, putting some state social services in jeopardy and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger at risk of yet another political setback.
State and federal budget analysts say California, because of its reliance on some of the specific programs targeted, would suffer more in coming years than most states from the package of reductions approved by the House last week.
The bill includes provisions that, in California, would make it tougher to get child support from tens of thousands of deadbeat parents, would strip food stamps from legal immigrants, and would make less money available to doctors who treat low-income patients.
Amid pressure from Democrats in the Legislature, Schwarzenegger had sent an extensive letter to California’s congressional delegation earlier this month, expressing concern about the proposal’s impact on the state. Every California Republican in Congress voted for it nonetheless.
The spending bill was ultimately approved by the House, 217 to 215. While the [Republicans in the] Senate passed a smaller cuts package, that version would still cost California billions in the future. The bills now head to a conference committee, where members of both houses will attempt to reach a final agreement.
Republicans in Congress are pushing ahead with the budget reductions as they struggle to pare down the federal deficit while paying for the Iraq war, hurricane relief and an extension of the tax cuts championed by President Bush.
The governor, battered by the defeat of his special-election initiatives just weeks ago, is under pressure to draw concessions from Washington … He has long promised to get more federal money for California, vowing that he would come to be known as the “Collectinator.” Democrats say his inability to garner votes from California Republicans in Congress suggests that he is failing.
Hint to Arnie: Maybe one reason no one takes you seriously – and why in fact voters find you to be so irritating – is your propensity for coming up with annoying words like “Collectinator.”
