Bill Richardson: Economic Opportunist

Erza Klein continues the deflation of the Richardson-as-libertarian hype:

I no longer think Richardson is an economic conservative. I was misled by his support for a balanced budget amendment, his attempts to contrast himself with anti-growth politicians, and his constant comments that "[t]he Democratic Party, our first solution is to tax, but I'm not of that school." In our interview, he shredded the implications of every one of those comments, often to the point of incoherence. He stipulated that his balanced budget amendment wouldn't apply during recessions or war and would allow him to better preserve our safety net; he admitted that current tax revenues are insufficient and would have to be increased; and he refused his opportunity to attack some visible strain of economic thinking in the party.

Rather, Richardson is an economic opportunist. He's adopted the conservative's rhetorical critique of liberal economic thought in order to distinguish himself from the other candidates, most of whom are responding to this moment of mortgage crises and insecurity with a forthrightly progressive vision. Richardson's vision, which ticks off the same checkboxes as all the other candidates (crumbling infrastructure, rising college debt, 45 million uninsured, Social Security under attack, etc.), comes couched in a superficial critique of anti-growth Democrats he won't name and a strain of economic thought he won't specify.

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Quote of the Day

"He could be more pro-growth if he were only willing to be less anti-deficit."

—Ezra Klein, of the American Prospect, on Bill Richardson.

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Veep Watch

RCP's Reid Wilson thoroughly runs down the various running-mate scenarios. Two of my favorite analyses:

Mike Huckabee for veep! "If the Democratic nominee is Hillary Clinton, who better to serve the role of attack dog than a former governor of a state closely affiliated with her? Huckabee's debate performances have been uniformly strong, and his stump speech—delivered without notes in Ames as others used a teleprompter—makes even some liberals nod along in agreement. He's a conservative from the South, but one who defies stereotypes and whose easygoing manner and message of compassionate conservatism will resonate well beyond Dixie."

Bill Richardson for veep? "Richardson's past raises some question marks. Whether it's the constant rumors (which he claims John Kerry's people tracked down, finding nothing of substance) or inconsistencies in some stories he tells (being drafted by a Major League Baseball team; a quiet conversation with the mother of a slain soldier she denies ever took place), or even his record (security problems at Los Alamos under his watch; a dramatically altered position on Iraq), choosing Richardson would seem to invite danger."

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The Daily Digest

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Jonathan Martin and Dave Keene read Bob Novak's memoirs so you don't have to.

Is Bill Richardson the much-hyped but little-confirmed libertarian Democrat? Dave Weigel investigates.

Mickey Kaus "hears rumblings" that the NYT will soon scrap its TimesSelect experiment.

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The Logistics of Withdrawing from Iraq

Last night, Joe Biden returned to his old self, overpowering his opponents with knowledge and passion on the most important issue in this election: Iraq. Example:

It's time to start to tell the truth. The truth of the matter is: If we started today, it would take one year, one year to get 160,000 troops physically out of Iraq, logistically.

Time's Michael Duffy elaborates:

The reality is that it's difficult to get out fast. It took the Soviets nine months to pull 120,000 troops out of Afghanistan. They were simply going next door, and they still lost more than 500 men on the way out. Pulling out 10 combat brigades—roughly 30,000 troops, along with their gear and support personnel—would take at least 10 months, Pentagon officials say. And that's only part of the picture. There are civilians who would probably want to head for the exit when GIs started packing. They include some 50,000 U.S. contractors and tens of thousands of Iraqis who might need protection if we left the country.

Slowing things down further is the sheer volume of stuff that we would have to take with us—or destroy if we couldn't. Military officials recently told Congress that 45,000 ground-combat vehicles—a good portion of the entire U.S. inventory of tanks, helicopters, armored personnel carriers, trucks and Humvees—are now in Iraq. They are spread across 15 bases, 38 supply depots, 18 fuel-supply centers and 10 ammo dumps. These items have to be taken back home or destroyed, lest they fall into the hands of one faction or another. Pentagon officials will try to bring back as much of the downtime gear as possible—dining halls, office buildings, vending machines, furniture, mobile latrines, computers, paper clips and acres of living quarters. William (Gus) Pagonis, the Army logistics chief who directed the flood of supplies to Saudi Arabia for the 1991 Gulf War and their orderly withdrawal from the region, cites one more often overlooked hurdle: U.S. agricultural inspectors insist that, before it re-enters the U.S., Army equipment be free of any microscopic disease that, as Pagonis puts it, "can wipe out flocks of chickens and stuff like that."

I'd like to hear why Bill Richardson, who wants to "bring all the troops home . . . in six months, with no residual forces," thinks his knowledge of military matters trumps that of the guys doing the heavy lifting.

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In Praise of Bill Richardson's Ad Team

Patrick Hynes doesn't like John Edwards's new ad, but Bill Richardson's new one, which continues the job interview theme, is catchy and substantive:



If you like this, you'll love Richardson's previous two (for what it's worth, Matt Bai, of the NYTM, thinks they "feel more like a cry for help than a campaign pitch"):

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Gotcha!

To both protect oneself and to target one's opponent, David All has proposed "five essential tips for the YouTube campaign trail." His suggestions are groundbreaking and thoughtful, but I'd like to add one more, albeit unrelated to YouTube: Develop software to download your opponent's Web site once a day. You need not download the whole site, but, like a good backup program, only the pages that have changed since the last download.

Savvy readers will point out that Google already caches pages for free. In fact, Google's cache was the source of this gotcha blog post by the Politico's Ben Smith. This method is fine if you know that a change occurred within the past week or so, but if you don't, your only other option is the Wayback Machine, which archives entire sites, but only twice a year.

Hence the aforementioned software. As Ryan Lizza of the New Republic reported yesterday, a rival campaign of Bill Richardson's dug back a month and a half to document a change in the governor's seven-part plan for Iraq. In short, as of May 12, Richardson explicitly supported the Feingold-Reid amendment, which would cut off funds for the war next March. Today, the same page has been scrubbed of such support.

After-the-fact editing, whether of a Web page, a profile of oneself or even the congressional record, is all-too-common. What's new is the increasingly comprehensive ability to play gotcha! This is not a necessarily healthy development—such microscopic scrutiny promotes perfunctory rather than spontaneous campaigning—but it's a fait accompli.

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Gunning for a schedule C position (i.e., a political appointee), but been critical of the administration? Befriend Bill Kristol.

The New Yorker's press critic, Ken Auletta, profiles the WSJ's technology critic, Walter Mossberg.

Ryan Lizza does what he does best: profile a politician. First it was George Allen. Recently it was Jim Webb. Now it's Bill Richardson's turn in the hottest seat in print journalism.

Charles Krauthammer finds meaning in the perpetual presidential campaign. "The first two [purposes]—testing the candidates' managerial and consensus-building skills—are undeniably useful. But like most Americans, I find it is the third—the gratuitous humiliation of our would-be kings—that makes it all worthwhile."

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Bill Richardson: Libertarian Democrat

Liz Mair (via Dave Weigel):

Richardson scored third best of any Democratic governor for overall current-term performance on Cato's 2006 Fiscal Policy Report Card on America's Governors. He earned a better grade than 37 other Governors, including 20 Republicans, in part because, during his tenure, New Mexico's top marginal income tax rate has dropped a remarkable 35%.

Mr. Richardson also brings good credentials where immigration, guns, and social issues are concerned. He declared a border emergency in his state in 2005 (so he's no immigration softie), and he voted against the Brady Bill and other gun control initiatives while in Congress. Yet, Mr. Richardson also has solid, moderate, pro-choice credentials, and is not a proponent of constitutional bans on gay marriage or civil unions.

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The Daily Digest: Smile! You're on Google

Reasonoids will need a new happy-hour hangout. Dragonfly, on 12th and Connecticut, has shuttered its doors.

Just as Mitt Romney is picking up steam in the polls, the Huffington Post republishes three, powerful TV ads from 1994, in which a series of laid-off workers blame Romney's leveraged buyout of their company for their reduced wages.

John Fund and John Dickerson agree: Bill Richardson is the Democrats' Tommy Thompson: a self-destructing candidate in public with a stellar behind-the-scenes resume, who would otherwise make an excellent veep.

Bill Richardson and Chris Dodd have announced that they won't participate in the Fox News/Congressional Black Caucus debate, which means that Joe Biden will have the stage all to himself (Kucinich and Gravel will also be there, but c'mon).

Depending on your viewpoint, the geniuses at Google have either brought us one step closer to a surveillance state, or are heralding what Tom Friedman calls the world's "flattening." Either way, check out Google Maps' newest feature, Street View, which allows you to spy 360-degree images of locations as seen from the ground, instead of the usual overhead satellite vista. So far, it covers parts of five metropolitan areas—San Francisco, New York, Las Vegas, Denver and Miami—but the images, taken with a 11-lens camera, are static, and it is unclear how often they will be updated.

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Rosie O'Donnell vs. Elisabeth Hasselbeck

You've heard of book reviews. Now get ready for Web site reviews. Alan Rosenblatt of techPresident reviews Bill Richardson's, a redesigned version of which the candidate unveiled concurrent with his official, presidential announcement. Rosenblatt's verdict: the site is "clearly good and potentially great."

Rudy's position on Roe v. Wade may be "perfectly reasonable," as Charles Krauthammer argues, but John Dickerson points out the difference between being pro-choice and very pro-choice (my links): "He supported public funding for abortion in New York, made donations to Planned Parenthood, and backed partial-birth abortions."

Considering that the name "Jerry Falwell" probably raised far more money for the left than for the right, liberals may come to mourn Falwell's death. John Pitney explains: "[H]is name remained a fixture in liberal speeches and fund-raising letters long after his actual power had shrunk. When he endorsed school choice and opposed abortion, liberals cited his position as a reason for taking the other side. When he supported Samuel Alito's nomination to the Supreme Court, Senator John Kerry mentioned him and other conservatives in a floor speech: 'This right-wing reaction can only mean one thing: They know what kinds of opinions Judge Alito will issue in line with their extreme ideology.'"

Steve Chapman explains why Monica Goodling's recent congressional testimony was so appalling: "Considered in the most flattering light, the [U.S. Attorney] firings showed a process that was sloppy, amateurish and poorly informed, with no one in charge and no one responsible for the ultimate decisions. At worst, it revealed a highly politicized atmosphere that elevated partisan goals above fuddy-duddy concerns like honest law enforcement."

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The Daily Digest

The Club for Growth jumps on board the Republicans for Richardson bandwagon, pronouncing his official presidential announcement earlier today "a nice change from the militant tax-and-spend diatribe that we have been hearing from the Democratic front-runners."

Continuing his new-media beat, the Post's Jose Antonio Vargas shows how and why the Democrats dominate the online world.

Ryan Lizza, the reporter who brought down George Allen, profiles Jim Webb, who insists that he himself deserves some credit, too.

David Broder declares Harry Reid the Democrats' Alberto Gonzales: "a continuing embarrassment thanks to his amateurish performance."

Jerry Falwell and Larry Flynt. Preacher and pornographer. If Falwell could befriend Flynt, after having sued him for libel in a case that ultimately reached the Supreme Court, then surely you can bury that hatchet with even your worst enemy.

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BREAKING: Richardson to Announce He's Officially Running

In case you missed it :). From America for Richardson:

Tomorrow, at the historic Biltmore [sic] hotel in Los Angeles . . . Governor Richardson will make it official and announce that he is running for president.

Update: Here's the video (turn up the volume):

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The Daily Digest

White House staff and presidential aides disembarking from Air Force One in New York City

Bill Richardson describes himself a "market-oriented Democrat." Certainly, he's the most conservative D running for president. By contrast, his party's front-runner, Hillary Clinton, in 1996, said she agreed that "[t]he unfettered free market has been the most radically disruptive force in American life in the last generation."

Before he decided run for president, Tommy Thompson boasted an impressive resume and reputation. But each time he appears in a debate, he diminishes himself.

Approximately one-third of Americans describe themselves as evangelicals. But I often wonder to what extent these people share the views of their alleged political leaders in the religious right? In short, is the influence of the Robertson-Dobson-Falwell axis overstated? Fortunately, Right Wing Watch, a blog from People for the American Way, dug up the evidence for me. Its conclusion: at least with respect to Robertson, these guys are still very much a force to be reckoned with.

Interesting footnote: Falwell disapproved of Martin Luther King Jr.’s civil-rights activism because “preachers are not called to be politicians, but soul-winners.” The “secular” excesses of the 1960s, however, were much too much for him, prompting him to found Moral Majority Inc.

Update (6/4): The Post reports that "[i]n the view of many social conservatives, their organizational structures—from megachurches to Christian colleges, broadcasting networks and public interest law firms—have never been stronger."

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Bill Richardson's Latest Ads

If you're a young conservative or libertarian in the DC area, you should know about America's Future Foundation.

As is his wont, Radley spotlights the big picture surrounding a current event: prosecutorial zealotry and botched convictions go far beyond the exonerated Duke lacrosse players. "It's likely of no coincidence that the one jurisdiction [in Dallas, TX] where blood samples have been preserved is also one that's finding a shocking number of convictions of innocent people."

Another victory for transparency and bloggers (especially considering how expensive ShadowTV is): CNN has agreed to make its presidential debate footage available without restrictions at the conclusion of each debate.

The NYT reports that Rudy is "planning to offer a forthright affirmation of his support for abortion rights in public forums, television appearances and interviews in the coming days." This should be interesting, though let's hope that Rudy (1) drops the "hate!" declaration and (2) refrains from his other oft-repeated line that his position on abortion has always been "consistent." Even if that were true, I think it's better to admit the complexity of the issue rather than aver consistency in the face of a huge perception otherwise.

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Clinton-Richardson

"Hillary Clinton is the most conservative" Democrat running for president. So says columnist Bruce Bartlett, who argues that Hillary’s policies would resemble Bill’s: “Outstanding” on trade, “far better than George W. Bush” on the budget, and “no worse than” W on regulatory policy.

We should add, as Michael Crowley did recently in a cover story for the New Republic, that Hillary "has always been more comfortable with the military than many of her liberal boomer peers." She comes from the Truman-Kennedy foreign-policy wing of her party, and despite enormous pressure from her base, she refuses to recant her vote authorizing the Iraq war. She is also cosponsoring a bill to sanction U.S. companies that do business with Iran.

Equally to the ire of primary and caucus voters, Hillary deplores violent and sexual content in video games—though because she's not a knee-jerk leftist, she has proposed a voluntary ratings system rather than a mandatory one. Indeed, she talks more about our national morale and faith, which are far common from the mouths of Republicans than Democrats, than she does about gay marriage and abortion. A few months ago, she even declared that the latter is a "sad, even tragic choice."

In short, Hillary has left behind her HillaryCare days and embraced the political center. She focuses more on consensus than partisanship. And if you think I'm exaggerating, well, just ask such adversaries-turned-allies as Rick Santorum (on restricting graphic media for children); Sam Brownback (protecting refugees fleeing sexual abuse); Lindsay Graham (expanding health care services for the National Guard); and Newt Gingrich (reforming health care).

And yet, pace Bartlett, Hillary is not the most conservative Dem. That honor belongs to Bill Richardson, about whom Reason magazine sums up the case nicely (not yet online):

[As governor] Richardson cut New Mexico's income tax from 8.2 percent to 4.9 percent, halved the capital gains tax, and eliminated the gross receipts tax. He frequently and explicitly drew a link between lower taxes and economic growth. . . . [He] not only supports the right to carry a concealed weapons but holds a concealed-carry permit himself. He . . . endors[es] charter schools (but not vouchers) and medical marijuana (but not decriminalization).

And in case you think a presidential run has caused Richardson to revisit his views, as it has done to others, two things he said last week should quell your fears. First, on taxes: "Democrats, whenever we have a solution, we want to tax. I'm different. I'm a tax cutter." Second, on guns: "I'm a Westerner. . . . The Second Amendment is precious in the West." In fact, Richardson has the highest rating from the National Rifle Association of any candidate for president, Democrat or Republican.

Finally, Richardson’s resume stands heads and shoulders above those of all his Democratic challengers: Governor, U.N. ambassador, congressman, cabinet secretary. As Karen Tumulty of Time puts it, “He has rescued hostages and negotiated with some of the toughest characters on the planet."

Others have noted that Congress is now in the hands of Democrats largely because Democrats ran blue-dog candidates in November. A Clinton-Richardson ticket would entrench this conservative trend.

Update (5/4/07): Citing various quotes from Hillary, but no specific policies, the Club for Growth calls Bartlett "crazy." Comments Club President Pat Toomey:

Her distrust of individual freedom, her distaste for the capitalist system, and her faith in government control places her at the far left end of the political spectrum. A President Hillary Clinton would do everything in her power to make America look more like our neighbors across the Atlantic and less like the capitalistic free-market enterprise that has made this country great.

And in case Karen's quote about Richardson's diplomatic successes left you curious, the Las Vegas Review-Journal elaborates: He's pried free a journalist from Sudan, concessions out of Kim Jong Ill, prisoners from Castro and Americans from Saddam.

Update (11/10/07): Rich Lowry joins the conservatives-for-Hillary club:

It's a paradox of this election season that the most conservative candidate in the Democratic presidential field is the one most hated by conservatives. Hillary Clinton will not make extravagant promises about pulling American troops from Iraq, defends declaring elements of Iran's Revolutionary Guards a terrorist organization and won't endorse massive new payroll taxes to fund Social Security.

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