Why I will not vote for Bill Richardson

I live in San Diego, which is the northern most state of Mexico. It must be because about a quarter of the people I meet out in town every day speak Spanish not English.

Where I live there are two of the same fast food restaurants about equal distance from my house. One is on my way to the highway and has a huge parking lot. The other is in the opposite direction and has a very small parking lot.

My wife and I refer to the as “the Mc Donald’s with good parking” and “the Mc Donald’s with good English”.

Trust me it’s worth the inconvenience to got to “the good English” one.

Because far to many of the illegal and legal immigrants from the south fail to learn English, living in San Diego sometimes feels like living in a foreign country.

Speaking of living in foreign country, that brings me to my topic tonight: Aquí es porqué no votaré por Bill Richardson. Which is Spanish for:

Here is why I will not vote for Bill Richardson.

So, who is Bill Richardson? Well, he is a Clinton insider, a snot-nosed surrender monkey, and a deceitful weasel. He’s the Governor of New Mexico. He’s the only Hispanic candidate for the 2008 presidential election. He is the only candidate that was raised in Mexico. He is the only candidate who’s parents live in Mexico.

So, what are his qualifications?

Up bringing:

Well, to figure out his family history I had to reread his website three times. Here’s the boiled down version of it. His mother, María Luisa López-Collada Richardson Márquez, is a Mexican banker born in Mexico City, D.F., Mexico. She still resides in Mexico City where Bill was raised. His father, William Blaney Richardson II (AKA William Blaine Richardson) was born in Chinandega, Nicaragua. His parents were married in Colonia del Valle, Mexico City, D.F., Mexico. His father has passed away and is buried in Mexico. According to Bill Richardson, the reason his mom was always sent across the border to have her kids was that his father “had a complex about not having been born in the United States." (I think it almost goes without saying which side of the immigration debate this guy will fall on.)

Schooling:

His parents sent him to Massachusetts at age 13 to attend a Boston-area preparatory school. While still in high school, he met his wife, Barbara Flavin. They married in 1972, and have no children. Richardson played baseball in high school at Middlesex School in Concord, and was a pitcher. Richardson went on to play for Tufts University, (where he was said to have developed a wicked left-sided curve ball.) He claimed to have been scouted, recruited and drafted in the 1966 Major League Baseball amateur draft. (Although, this turned out to be a lie. It is true that he was heavily scouted, recruited and told that he would be drafted, which did not occur. He later claimed he chose to attend college rather than play professionally. “Arm trouble” would later further prevented him from pursuing a professional career in baseball.

At Tufts, he majored in French (which explains his stance on the War on Terror) and political science and was a brother and president of Delta Tau Delta. (Other famous Delta Tau Delta’s include Halliburton CEO Thomas Cruikshank, Devon Energy Chairman J. Larry Nichols, ARCO President Robert Wycoff, NBC-TV Reporter Bob Dotson, and MSNBC Host Dan Abrams of The Abrams Report, to name a few.

He then earned a master's degree from Tufts' Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.. Although the Vietnam War was raging during the years Richardson was in college, and although Richardson was a good athlete, he did not serve in the military.

Early Career:

After college, Richardson worked on congressional relations for the State Department. He was later a staff member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. In 1978, he moved to Santa Fe and ran for Congress in 1980, losing narrowly to longtime 1st District congressman and future United States Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan (R). Two years later, Richardson was elected to New Mexico's newly created third district, taking in most of the northern part of the state.

Richardson spent a little more than 14 years in Congress. As a congressman, he kept his interest in foreign relations. He visited Nicaragua, Guatemala, Cuba, Peru, India, North Korea, Bangladesh, Nigeria, and Sudan.

Richardson served one term as Chairman of the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Native American Affairs in the 103rd Congress (1993–1994). While in the House, Richardson sponsored bills such as the Indian Tribal Justice Act, the American Indian Religious Freedom Act Amendments, the American Indian Trust Fund Management Reform Act, the American Indian Agricultural Resource Management Act, the Indian Dams Safety Act, the Tribal Self-Governance Act, the Indian Tribal Jurisdiction Bill (commonly known as the “Duro Fix”) and the Jicarilla Apache Tribe Water Rights Settlement Act.

Clinton years:

In 1995, he traveled to Baghdad engaged in lengthy one-on-one negotiations with Saddam Hussein to secure the release of two American aerospace workers. He became a member of the Democratic leadership, where he worked closely with Bill Clinton on several issues.

Bill Clinton rewarded him by making him U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. As ambassador, he represented the United States in UN proceedings regarding the Palestinian National Authority and the State of Israel, the completion of negotiations that strengthened the role and mandate of the United Nations Environment Program regarding ecologically sustainable development, as well as other duties of an ambassador to the UN. Richardson served there until 1998, when he was appointed U.S. Secretary of Energy, a post that he held for the remainder of the Clinton administration. According to his autobiography, Richardson was asked by the White House in 1997 to interview Monica Lewinsky for a job on his staff at the UN. Richardson did so, and offered her a position.

The Senate confirmed Richardson to be Clinton's Secretary of Energy on July 31, 1998. His tenure at the Department of Energy was marred by the Wen Ho Lee nuclear espionage scandal. Richardson was also criticized by the Senate for his handling of the espionage inquiry by not testifying in front of Congress sooner. (Decietful Weasel.)

Post Clinton years:

With the end of the Clinton administration, Richardson took on a number of different positions including a lecturer at the very socialist friendly Armand Hammer United World College of the American West. He spent about a year researching and writing on the negotiations with North Korea and the energy dimensions of U.S. relations with North Korea. (North Korea again hmmm)

Richardson also joined Kissinger McLarty Associates, a "strategic advisory firm" headed by former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and former Clinton White House chief of staff Mack McLarty, as Senior Managing Director. He also served on the corporate boards of several energy companies, including Valero Energy Corporation and Diamond Offshore Drilling. He withdrew from these boards after being nominated by the Democratic Party for governor of New Mexico, but retained considerable stock holdings in Valero and Diamond Offshore. He would later sell these stocks during his campaign for President in 2007, saying he was "getting questions" about the propriety of these holdings, especially given his past as energy secretary, and that it had become a "distraction".

Governorship:

Richardson was elected governor of New Mexico in November 2002 and took office in January 2003 as the only Hispanic Governor in the United States. In a bizarre move for a Democrat, in his first year, Richardson proposed "tax cuts to promote growth and investment" and passed a broad personal income tax cut and won a statewide special election to transfer money from the state's Permanent Fund to meet current expenses and projects.

He supported the gay agenda during his career as governor; he added sexual orientation and gender identity to New Mexico's list of civil rights categories. During the summer of 2003, he met with a delegation from North Korea at their request to discuss concerns over that country's use of nuclear energy. He also flew to North Korea in 2005, and met with another North Korean delegation in 2006..

In December 2005, Richardson announced the intention of New Mexico to partner with flamboyant British billionaire Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson to bring space tourism to the proposed Spaceport America located near Las Cruces, New Mexico. According to an Associated Press report, it currently consists of "a 100-foot by 25-foot concrete slab" and has been a colossal waste of government money. To date only two launches have occurred from Spaceport America. The first launch from the site was the unsuccessful maiden flight of the SpaceLoft XL rocket. It veered off course shortly after lift-off. A second Spaceloft XL was successfully launched however, the primary payload failed to maintain orbit and crashed back to earth. (The payload consisted of the cremated human remains, including those of astronaut Gordon Cooper and Star Trek actor James Doohan.

On September 7, 2006 Richardson flew to Sudan to meet Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir and successfully negotiated the release of imprisoned journalist Paul Salopek. Salopek had been charged by the Sudanese with espionage on August 26th, 2006 while on a National Geographic assignment.

In January 2007, at the request of the Save Darfur Coalition, he brokered a 60-day cease fire between al-Bashir and leaders of several rebel factions in Darfur, the western Sudanese region. The cease-fire never became effective, however, with allegations of breaches on all sides.

During New Mexico's most recent legislative session, Richardson signed a bill into law that made New Mexico the 12th state to legalize marijuana for medical reasons. When asked if this would hurt him in a Presidential election, he stated that it did not matter, as it was "the right thing to do."

OK, So what are Richardson’s Political views?

Domestic issues:Richardson is pro-choice like every other Democrat and wants socialized health care. However, in a rear break from Democrat policies, he supports the death penalty and gun rights. He is a big supporter of affirmative action policies.

Immigration: I think it goes without saying he is very much for giving citizenship to illegal immigrants. He also gave driver's licenses to illegal aliens and sought to give monetary help for college tuition to the children of illegal immigrants.

Gay Agenda: Richardson opposes the "don't ask, don't tell" policy and does not believe homosexuals choose their orientation.

Education: Richardson has called for completely scrapping the No Child Left Behind Act.

Foreign Policy: Richardson is buddy-buddy with North Korea and Cuba. He initially supported the war in Iraq but has now called for the withdrawal of all U.S. troops from the region by the end of 2007. Richardson has stressed that he would leave "zero troops" in Iraq. He denies that the surge worked and we are winning in Iraq. Richardson takes the liberal talking point position that only political progress is measurable. Apparently, reduced violence can have no bearing on the ability to have political progress and reconciliation to Billy and the Leftards. He is oh so fond of saying one American life is too many to bring peace and freedom to the rest of the world.

My Take?

Richardson’s one big issue is Immigration. And when it comes to immigration, he and I stand on different sides of the fence. (Ha I made a pun.) ....It's unrealistic to think we're going to deport 12 million people,'' Richardson said. ....We ought to create a path to legalization.'' As New Mexico governor, Richardson allowed illegal immigrants to earn drivers' licenses and attend public colleges at in-state tuition rates. (That's right. Wave the white flag and surrender. A cowardly liberals' favorite course of action. Simply legalize and reward people for breaking our laws. The "One time" amnesty of 1986 worked so well, didn't it? “)

I think Richardson should move back to his home country and run for president of Mexico. Most of his policies would work there … no wait … Mexico’s Southern border is shut down tighter than a ant’s bung hole.

It’s unrealistic to think any of Richardson’s policies would protect America.

No votaré por Bill Richardson.

I will not vote for Bill Richardson.