Richardson Refuses to Liken Bill Clinton to Joe McCarthy
The Democratic Party needs to wrap up its presidential nominating contest and quickly, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson told “FOX News Sunday.”
Richardson declared his support for Barack Obama on Friday despite being a longtime ally of the Clintons and even serving as former President Bill Clinton’s energy secretary. He refused to say that Clinton’s questioning of Obama’s patriotism was on par with the 1950s-era senator who led investigations into “anti-American” activities by prominent actors, authors and even Army officials.
That claim had been put forward Friday by retired Air Force Gen. Merrill “Tony” McPeak, an Obama adviser after Bill Clinton suggested Hillary Clinton and John McCain are devoted to the country but Obama is not.
Instead, Richardson argued that the two candidates are tearing each other apart while John McCain travels around Europe and the Middle East casting himself as presidential.
“I think it reaches a point where the leaders of the party, the voters in the Democratic Party, have to see that this bloodletting that would go between the last primary and the convention is not serving us well. I mean, it gets negative proportionately more every single day,” Richardson said. But Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, a Hillary Clinton supporter, say the Obama campaign is trying to have it both ways.
“They say the campaign’s too negative, and they go out and turn an innocent remark — Bill Clinton was saying what a lot of us feel. … And instead they launch this all-out attack trying to take an inference out of President Clinton’s words that no fair person could take. It’s an example of the negativity that Governor Richardson is talking about,” Rendell said.
“If they want to tone it down, don’t accuse someone of McCarthyism,” he said.
Both campaigns had wooed Richardson since he dropped his presidential bid in January. Richardson even watched the Super Bowl with his old boss and the former president was convinced that while he may have not cinched an endorsement for his wife, if nothing than the governor would remain neutral. Two weeks ago, however, Richardson called Obama and said he was almost sure he would back the Illinois senator.
Rendell, whose state is the next big contest on April 22, pointed out that Clinton leads there by 12-26 points.
“I think Senator Clinton is going to win a solid majority. And when you combine that with Ohio, and Texas, and Florida, and Michigan and all of the other key states that we have to win in November, it sends a very important message that if we want to win — and I think that’s what Democrats care most about — that Hillary Clinton’s our best candidate to win,” Rendell said.
Richardson argued that Pennsylvania isn’t the only critically important state. Afterward comes North Carolina, Kentucky, Indiana and Oregon.
“You’ve got many other bigger states. And then the time has come for Democrats to come together and say, ‘We need to end this. We need to get ready for November. We need to be positive.’ We have to stop these personal attacks. They’re reaching excessive amounts,” he said.
Richardson stopped short of telling Clinton she should drop out of the race, but made it very clear that he believes the superdelegates should not overturn the will of the voters, even if she is picking up momentum at the end of the race.
“I believe the sooner we end this race — and I’m not suggesting anybody get out, but maybe after the remaining primaries, the 10 primaries that are going to be very important in the days ahead, the Democrats come together and look at who’s ahead when it comes to delegates, when it comes to the popular vote, the number of states,” he said.
FOX News’ Caroline Shively contributed to this report.
Calling Bill Richardson disingenuous is an understatement. I guess that was big of him to not compare Bill Clinton to McCarthy … just days after throwing HIllary under the bus. I think Richardson is nothing more than a self-serving opportunist. He says that the democratic candidate should be based upon the popular vote, instead of delegates … then, he gives Obama his delegate vote, even though Hillary won the popular vote in his own state of New Mexico. And, now that Pastor Wright has been replaced with Pastor Moss … who is just as bad, if not worse … perhaps Richardson … and the rest of America should revisit Obama’s 20 year attendance in the anti-American, anti-white, racist Trinity church … instead of blaming it all on the recently retired Pastor Wright … implying that this has distanced Obama from the controversy … even though Obama has maintained his membership in Trinity … but, I guess he’ll just claim that he wasn’t there on the days that Moss spewed racial hate.
Why does Bill Richardson want Hillary to drop out of the campaign ASAP! … Because, he has tied his own political future to Obama … and, he knows that because of the Obama/Wright debacle, Hillary will dramatically lead over Obama in all the up-coming democratic primaries.
Obama and his supporters keep saying that the democratic nominee should be the one who gets the most popular votes … not super delegates. But, in addition to Obama accepting Richardson’s delegate vote, even though Hillary won the popular vote in New Mexico … it’s apparent that if Obama’s 20 year association with racist Wright (and indirect association with Farrakan) had been known a year ago by the public … Obama would not have gained a lead in the popular vote … in fact, he probably wouldn’t even still be in the race at all!
The current political situation is exactly why super delegates should vote for Hillary. Obama might have gotten this far, because we didn’t know about his racist affiliations for an entire year … but, from this point on, there’s no way Obama could win in the general election.
I’m a democrat, but I’ll vote (and campaign) for McCain if Obama becomes the democratic candidate!
i find this so funny i made 2 comments on this issue and the only one that fox showed was the one which I said my bill of rights were violated, What was it that offened them, All i said was there was a lot of suspicious things that Hillary Clinton had done and said in the past that a lot of the voters if they had known which was against what she is saying now may have voted differently.
“Richardson stopped short of telling Clinton she should drop out of the race, but made it very clear that he believes the superdelegates should not overturn the will of the voters, even if she is picking up momentum at the end of the race.”
- What is this looser talking about - His state voted for Hillary and he being the Governer and SuperDelegate is backing Obama.. How come he say such things when he himself is not following it.
I guess he is just trying to be in News for nothing.., People kicked him out of his race and now he wants to be in some way or the other..
In my view he is a looser… and I strongl beleive that if Obama becomes the nominee… Democrats better sit in the opposition in the house because Whitehouse will be taken by Republicans…. Its not just the race but the preacher who preached and gave spiritual advice to the nominee for 20 YEARS.. Comeon if someone can ask if hillary is a right candidate and if her experience is real experience .. How come the same questions wont be asked of OBAMA… He stayed for 20 years with his pastor.. his uncle.. and one can only guess how much brain washing was done in the name of hatered of this person…
Wait till the general elections ads come on the tv sets…. WIll be fun to watch Obama scrutinized for a change…
Umesh.
He spoke highly of both Clintons! He made his decision on who would get his vote. The Clinton campaign didn’t like it so they likened him to “Judas”. To his credit Gov. Richardson would not comment directly on the comment.
I’ve had enough……Both candidates make me sick to my stomach…..I’ll hold my nose and pull the lever for McCain in 08…….
BILL RICHARDSON IS NOT THE ISSUE!!!
THE ISSUE IS THAT BILL CLINTON WAS ABSOLUTELY RIGHT IN SUGGESTING THAT FROM THE POOL OF CANDIDATES THAT REMAIN—JOHN MCCAIN AND HILLARY CLINTON ARE THE ‘ONLY’ CANDIDATES THAT TRULY LOVE THEIR COUNTRY.
I AM KEENLY AWARE THAT MY REMARK WILL AROUSE MANY NEGATIVE RESPONSES…BUT REGARDLESS OF THAT, IT IS THE TRUTH. AT THE VERY LEAST, THE PAST WEEKS EVENTS HAVE REVEALED BARACK OBAMA’S (INCLUDING HIS STAFF, PREACHER AND WIFE) ‘DISDAIN’ FOR AMERICA. AT THE VERY WORST, THE PAST WEEKS EVENTS HAVE REVEALED BARACK OBAMA’S (INCLUDING HIS STAFF, PREACHER AND WIFE) OUTRIGHT HATRED FOR AMERICA.
THE FACT IS–YOU BARACK SUPPORTERS/DEFENDERS HAVE MORE THAN PROVEN THAT YOU WILL EXCUSE ‘ANYTHING’ (HOWEVER OUTRAGEOUS) AN/OR DEFEND ‘ANYTHING’ (HOWEVER OUTRAGEOUS) IT MAY BE.
THERE IS NO DOUBT THAT BARACK (AT SOME LEVEL) ‘HEARD’ AND BOUGHT INTO HIS PREACHERS HATEFUL, RACIST RANTINGS AND PHILOSOPHY–OH THAT’S RIGHT, IT WAS MERELY ‘SOCIAL GOSPEL’ ACCORDING TO BARACK–YEA RIGHT. AND THERE IS NO DOUBT THAT YOU (YEA–YOU SUPPORTERS/DEFENDERS OF BARACK) ALSO AGREE (AT SOME LEVEL) WITH THE HATEFUL, RACIST RANTINGS AND PHILOSOPHY OF THE WONDERFUL PREACHER.
THIS SURELY IS AN ‘HISTORICAL’ ELECTION CAMPAIGN–IT’S THE FIRST TIME IN US HISTORY THAT WE COULD HAVE A CANDIDATE WITH A DEEP DISDAIN (AT LEAST) FOR HIS OWN COUNTRY.