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Regarding Bill Richardson
If you are anything like me, the name “Bill Richardson” fails to arouse any strong emotional reaction from you. As a matter of fact, until I saw him a few weeks ago on Bill Maher’s show, I had no idea who he was.
If elected, Richardson would become the first hispanic-American President in U.S. history. That seems like an interesting angle to me, so I was surprised to see no mention of it in the mass media this week. This seems especially odd to me in light of the new immigration bill making the rounds in Washington.
Consider this: in the past few weeks, how many times have you heard the following phrase-
- …Hillary Clinton- our first female President
- …Barack Obama- our first black President
- …Bill Richardson- our first hispanic President
Speaking personally, I hear the first two soundbites on a daily basis, however, I have not seen the latter in print or on television at any point in recent memory. This smells like some Grade-A bull$#it. Census numbers suggest that nearly 14% of all Americans are hispanic. If anything, I’m surprised we don’t see more hispanic people serving in public office.
Race issues (or non-issues) aside, what else can I say about Bill Richardson?
Richardson is keen on the death penalty. Consider this excerpt from his OnTheIssues.org page:
- Supports death penalty: zero tolerance for heinous crimes.
- Voted NO on maintaining right of habeus corpus in Death Penalty Appeals.
- Voted YES on making federal death penalty appeals harder.
- Voted NO on replacing death penalty with life imprisonment.
Forget keen, this guy is hardcore. He voted AGAINST habeas corpus. Personally, I consider the death penalty to be in violation of the 8th Amendment, but even if you disagree with me, surely you would agree that preserving habeas corpus is a good idea.
Can I say anything positive about Richardson? I can say two things: he opposes the War in Iraq, and opposes the Patriot Act…
… because he values your civil liberties…
…unless, of course, you’re sitting on death row.
Hungry for more?
Out of all the presidential candidates (Democrat, that is), I found Richardson most closely matched my views and priorities, as well as having excellent experience. Then, to my dismay, when reading the Wikipedia bio., I discovered Bill is a supporter of the death penalty!!! How can this be? What in the world is wrong with America that there are still so many “leaders” that back this most barbaric of practices? I moved to Canada from the U.S. in 1975, and I am so thankful that my adopted country, along with most other democratic nations, no longer practices legal killing. I am shocked and disheartened that I can no longer support a man who believes in gay rights and gay marriage and is pro-choice and supportive of conservation and health care for all, and yet can support the death penalty. Nevermind the fact that a lot of these people were wrongfully convicted or got the ultimate sentence because they couldn’t afford a decent or honest lawyer to represent them.
After reading the info on your website, I am sickened and angry, and absolutely devastated. I will be telling anyone who will listen to NOT vote for this man.
I would really like to hear directly from him why he is so adamant about this issue!