Pres Candidate Gov. Bill Richardson wants a vote to de-authorize the Iraq occupation

[bigtree]

but not immediately cut funding for the troops . . .


Richardson: War vote should decide control

By JOHN DISTASO
Senior Political Reporter
Saturday, Feb. 17, 2007

MANCHESTER – Congress should stop focusing on nonbinding resolutions and should vote instead on whether to take back from President Bush its 2002 authorization for the U.S. participation in the war in Iraq, Democratic Presidential candidate Bill Richardson said yesterday.

The New Mexico governor and former United Nations ambassador, congressman and Clinton administration energy secretary said he favors a "withdrawal with honor and dignity and efficiency." A "de-authorization" vote "would be based on the War Powers Act, and it would be the first statement on the war," he said.

Richardson said a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq should be used as "leverage" for diplomacy. The United States should try to bring Iran, Syria, Egypt and Saudi Arabia into negotiations on "security and reconstruction."

At the same time, he said, the United States should convene a "reconciliation conference" in Iraq to include the Sunnis, the Shiia and the Kurds.

"You force them to have a coalition government, to divide up oil revenues, divide up the territory, not as separate countries, but territorial boundaries," he said.

Voting to de-authorize the war "would mean the President would lose the authority to conduct the war" but not immediately cut funding for the troops, Richardson said. "It would be the clearest legal message the President would get, and he would be forced to find a way to stop the war and engage in diplomacy.

more . . . http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Richardson%3A+War+vote+should+decide+control&articleId=9228423b-1b51-4baf-af5c-0cf689ddbf92



http://journals.democraticunderground.com/bigtree

[dkf]

1. I think I like this guy.

He might be my pick.

[Edweird]

2. Bingo! Now write the bill and get this show on the road!

[WritersBlock]

3. It's gone far beyond the authorization that was given

He's heading in the right direction, but I wish more media attention would be given to the actual wording of the IWR and the authorization to use force after 9/11. Neither one of them, as passed, apply in the current situation, so Bush is already waging a war without authorization.

I can't find the thread about Edwards saying the same thing earlier this week, but this is the link to a post I made last month on the subject:


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=3123284

[duhneece]

4. He's able to see the big picture, see long-term

He has proven he knows how to use diplomacy and negotiation...and, even in my right-wing, conservative county of NM, he is respected by many repubs.

[Benhurst]

5. Richardson is definitely looking better. Any supporters out there?

I got the feeling after the 2004 election that he did not support challenging the fraudulent results of New Mexico's electronic voting machines and pretty scratched him my list of potential candidates at that time.

Was I wrong about this? I would appreciate an informed view of what went on in New Mexico at that critical juncture in our history.

[Kahuna]

6. I like him. Of those declared I think I would cast my vote for Bill..

Sorry Obama. :shrug:

[skipos]

7. I like him alot

but I doubt we will ever be DU fave.

A big thing for me is that he appears to genuinely love diplomacy (he recently negotiated a cease fire in Darfur even though he is just a governor, he has received 4 Nobel Peace Prize nominations for his foreign negotiations), and we need someone like that to undo all the damage Bush has done to our foreign relationships. He is insanely popular in NM, and was just re-elected by the widest margin in NM history. He would certainly win NM and could put NV and CO in play, since those have been trending Dem for the last few elections. Maybe the big hispanic population in FL could put that in play? I dunno. Definitely has more experience than most other Dem candidates... congressman, US ambassador to UN, Sec of Energy, and governor. People think he didn't do enough about the election problems in 2004, but he has done a lot for secure voting since then...

SANTA FE - Governor Bill Richardson today announced that he will work with the Legislature to provide $11 million over two years to purchase new voting machines for all New Mexico counties. The Governor will propose a uniform system of machines with a paper trail that allow voters to verify how they voted.

http://www.verifiedvoting.org/article.php?id=5829

[Benhurst]

9. I fear voting machines even with paper trails are not the way to go,

but at least this shows he is concerned about the issue and might be persuaded to take an even stronger stand.

The Democratic party ought to take a stand for paper ballots, plain and simple.

Who knows where we'll be a year from now, and that includes members of DU. These are really scary times. Bush is crazy as hell.

[bigtree]

8. Richardson's moving in

New Mexico's governor says New Hampshire will be seeing a lot of him

By Margot Sanger-Katz
Monitor staff
February 18. 2007 10:00AM

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, making his first trip to New Hampshire since announcing his candidacy for president, opened his keynote address at the Concord Democrats fundraiser yesterday by talking about foreign policy. He closed by discussing handshakes.

"I hold the world's hand shaking record. Did you know that?" he said to the crowd of 100, who paid $20 to see him.

Richardson, whose 13,392 handshakes in eight hours in 2002 broke President Theodore Roosevelt's record of 8,000, told listeners that his accomplishment involved diplomacy - he talked the Guinness Book of World Records into requiring only three observers instead of the usual five - and good management - he instructed the board running the New Mexico State Fair to funnel all visitors to one exit so he had the largest possible supply of hands to shake.

The handshaking story was also Richardson's way of telling listeners that he expects to shake a lot of hands in New Hampshire. In a trip that included visits to Concord, Manchester, Tilton, Portsmouth, Hampton and Holderness, Richardson attended the Concord fundraiser, four house parties, a bookstore chat and a very public haircut at Concord's Creative Colors & Cuts. Richardson, who commands about one percent of New Hampshire's Democratic votes, according to a February CNN/WMUR poll, said he hopes to win voters over through face-to-face meetings in intimate settings.

"I don't come here, do one event in a gym and leave," Richardson said, a likely reference to rival candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, who came to Dover High School for a campaign event yesterday before quickly returning to Washington for a test vote on a resolution opposing the proposed troop surge in Iraq. "I've been here two days. I'm thinking about moving here."

Even at the larger Concord event, Richardson strove to make his visit seem homey and unofficial. Clad in shiny black cowboy boots, he chided his aides for calling a hallway in the IBEW Hall a "green room." When he swept in for his haircut on Friday, he seemed more at home making a few quick campaign remarks as surprised customers had their hair blow dried.

more . . . http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070218/REPOSITORY/702180411/1043/48HOURS