Former presidential candidate and recent Obama supporter Gov. Bill Richardson, D-N.M., wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post today. The article, titled Loyalty to My Country, is aimed at ending the "politics of personal attacks and insults" and directly addresses the attacks waged by James Carville.
Read it HERE:
Loyalty to My Country
By Bill Richardson
Tuesday, April 1, 2008; 10:29 AM
My recent endorsement of Barack Obama for president has been the subject of much discussion and consternation -- particularly among supporters of Hillary Clinton.
Led by political commentator James Carville, who makes a living by being confrontational and provocative, Clinton supporters have speculated about events surrounding this endorsement and engaged in personal attacks and insults.
While I certainly will not stoop to the low level of Mr. Carville, I feel compelled to defend myself against character assassination and baseless allegations.
Carville has made it very clear that this is a personal attack -- driven by his own sense of what constitutes loyalty. It is this kind of political venom that I anticipated from certain Clinton supporters and I campaigned against in my own run for president.
I repeatedly urged Democrats to stop attacking each other personally and even offered a DNC resolution calling for a positive campaign based on the issues. I was evenhanded in my efforts. In fact, my intervention in a debate during a particularly heated exchange was seen by numerous commentators as an attempt to defend Sen. Clinton against the barbs of Sens. Obama and John Edwards.
As I have pointed out many times, and most pointedly when I endorsed Sen. Obama, the campaign has been too negative, and we Democrats need to calm the rhetoric and personal attacks so we can come together as a party to defeat the Republicans.
More than anything, to repair the damage done at home and abroad, we must unite as a country. I endorsed Sen. Obama because I believe he has the judgment, temperament and background to bridge our divisions as a nation and make America strong at home and respected in the world again.
This was a difficult, even painful, decision. My affection and respect for the Clintons run deep. I do indeed owe President Clinton for the extraordinary opportunities he gave me to serve him and this country. And nobody worked harder for him or served him more loyally, during some very difficult times, than I did.
Carville and others say that I owe President Clinton's wife my endorsement because he gave me two jobs. Would someone who worked for Carville then owe his wife, Mary Matalin, similar loyalty in her professional pursuits? Do the people now attacking me recall that I ran for president, albeit unsuccessfully, against Sen. Clinton? Was that also an act of disloyalty?
And while I was truly torn for weeks about this decision, and seriously contemplated endorsing Sen. Clinton, I never told anyone, including President Clinton, that I would do so. Those who say I did are misinformed or worse.
As for Mr. Carville's assertions that I did not return President Clinton's calls: I was on vacation in Antigua with my wife for a week and did not receive notice of any calls from the president. I, of course, called Sen. Clinton prior to my endorsement of Sen. Obama. It was a difficult and heated discussion, the details of which I will not share here.
I do not believe that the truth will keep Carville and others from attacking me. I can only say that we need to move on from the politics of personal insult and attacks. That era, personified by Carville and his ilk, has passed and I believe we must end the rancor and partisanship that has mired Washington in gridlock. In my view, Sen. Obama represents our best hope of replacing division with unity. That is why, out of loyalty to my country, I endorse him for president.
5 comments:
I don't think that Carville really cares about Richardson nor his endorsement. Carville called Richardson "Judas" as a way of seeming even-handed. He's not just being mean to Barack...
He's been trying to convince 300+ undecided superdelegates that the rough and tumble of politics as practice by the Clintons is perfectly OK. That includes race-baiting from Clinton surrogates and other vitriole which has been part and parcel of the Clintons' campaign technique. The Wright Youtube video loop is being used to scare white voters and to undermine Obama's electability arguments.
Carville wants to avoid a backlash from this style of politics. Fortunately, it's not working out as he wanted. Obama is now ahead by a statistically significant 10 points in the latest Gallup tracking poll. These dirty politics are being read correctly by the electorate.
That's the first time I've seen Bill Richardson look Hispanic. Great photo.
The Clinton campaign is getting more and more desperate. I think the Obama campaign's decision to start focusing on McCain is a great one.
This election is starting to make me nervous. The fights among Democrats has become tabloid material -- I haven't even heard about Britney Spears in a couple of weeks it has gotten so bad. If Democrats have this easy of a time criticizing other Democrats for such trivial shit, imagine the time McCain is going to have once this finally gets settled.
The Clinton campaign is arrogant and dangerous -- remind you of anyone?
"I haven't even heard about Britney Spears in a couple of weeks it has gotten so bad."
Oh man, that's good stuff.
It's true though. The dirt is flying now. Carville is the definition of a political calculator (and we certainly know which horse he's got money on). He is simply trying to justify gutter politics so the Clinton camp will be able to use mud slinging to take down Obama (because he KNOWS they can't beat Obama by "playing nice" at this point)
as much as I respect Richardson for endorsing Obama and taking the high ground I am not at all worried that this fight is gonna hurt the Democratic Party...unless it goes into the convention...though I honestly don't think thats gonna happen...the way I see it Clinton is doing Obama a favor by bringing all this out now....look there's no way the GOP was gonna miss the Rev wright thing...if that came out in Oct. it would be devastating...but its come out now and Obama's numbers have barely dipped, which only confirms his electability...look taking the high ground isn't very effective if you don't have someone taking the lowground...what doesn't kill us only makes us stronger and I'm 99% sure Clinton cannot kill Obama's nomination...I kinda gotta agree with old Slick Willy...just calm down this is how politics goes...if Clinton were to truly change then Obama wouldn't be the change candidate imo opinion all Obama has to do is stick with whats got him this far...look if they can't weather the Clinton attack the GOP will eat them for lunch
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