[Dems2008] Richardson: Clintonistas feel "entitled" to presidency

Washingtonpost.com Sunday March 23

Richardson Scorns Clinton Aides, Defends Clinton

By Zachary A. Goldfarb
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said today that the people around Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton practice "gutter" politics and that they feel entitled to the presidency, a day after an informal adviser to her campaign compared Richardson to Judas for endorsing Sen. Barack Obama.

James Carville told the New York Times that Richardson, a former member of Bill Clinton's Cabinet, had committed "an act of betrayal," adding that it "came right around the anniversary of the day when Judas sold out [Jesus] for 30 pieces of silver, so I think the timing is appropriate, if ironic."

"I'm not going to get in the gutter like that," Richardson responded on "Fox News Sunday." "And you know, that's typical of many of the people around Senator Clinton. They think they have a sense of entitlement to the presidency."

"I am very loyal to the Clintons," said Richardson, but he said he wanted something beyond "Bush, Clinton, Bush, Clinton."

"You know, what about the rest of us?" he asked.

He called for "a new generation of leadership," and added, "I think Obama represents this new change of not just bipartisanship, but bringing people together, bringing races together, bringing America's role in the world to be respected again."

Richardson defended the Clinton campaign against the accusation of an Obama ally who suggested that Bill Clinton was calling Obama's patriotism into question.

The former president said Friday, "I think it would be a great thing if we had an election year where you had two people who loved this country and were devoted to the interest of this country. And people could actually ask themselves who is right on these issues, instead of all this other stuff that always seems to intrude itself on our politics."

Those remarks, according to retired Air Force Gen. Merrill "Tony" McPeak, sounded like those of Joseph McCarthy, the 1950s senator who led a crusade against communists.

"I don't believe President Clinton was implying that" Obama is unpatriotic, Richardson said.

"The campaign has gotten too negative," the New Mexico governor said, and he placed most of the blame for that on the Clinton campaign.

"I just feel the time has come to come together behind a candidate," Richardson said.

"The Obama campaign tries to have it both ways," Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Rendell (D), a Clinton supporter, complained. "They say the campaign's too negative, and they go out and turn an innocent remark" into something else.

"We wish the issues of race and all of this other stuff would be pushed to the background so we could have a discussion of who's got the most experience, who's got the best health care plan, who has the best plan for the economy," Rendell continued. "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."

Rendell acknowledged that "it's very difficult" for Clinton to overcome Obama in the popular vote or pledged delegates even if she wins his state's primary by a commanding margin on April 22.

But he said the Obama campaign is inconsistent with how it wants superdelegates, the party officials who have a vote at the Democratic convention, to line up. The Obama campaign says superdelegates' votes should reflect the will of the people, Rendell said, but only when it's convenient.

"[W]e have Senator [Ted] Kennedy and Senator [John] Kerry saying they're going to vote for Obama even though Senator Clinton won by 13 points in Massachusetts," Rendell said. "If we follow the Obama line, Bill Richardson should be for Senator Clinton."

As for his own state, Rendell said, "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."

The shaky economy and the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, which passed this last week, were also topics for discussion on the Sunday shows.

Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) said on ABC's "This Week" that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke risks overstepping in the wide range of actions he is undertaking to soften the financial downturn and avert a crisis.

"I don't think he's gone too far, but ... balance here is really critical," Kyl said. "Taxpayers cannot be put on the hook to bail people out who were, in effect, speculating on this very hot housing market."

Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said the Fed, and the Bush administration overall, has not "done enough, and in fact, it shouldn't have come to this."

"Had the administration acted more proactively earlier, particularly about the housing crisis, when many of us were asking them to, we wouldn't have gotten up to this point," Schumer said. "And unfortunately, this administration has sort of a Herbert Hoover mentality -- don't do anything."

But Kyl said that Democrats are the ones in the government to blame for the crisis in the credit markets.

"It wasn't the Bush administration as much as it was Democrats in Congress who were pushing the lending institutions to get out there and lend more money, even to unqualified buyers -- to the minorities, to the poor, to the young -- so that everyone could own a home," he said.

On the war in Iraq, Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) said in addition to the success of the U.S. military strategy "there's been major political breakthroughs."

Among them, he cited passage of a de-Baathification law and a budget, increased cooperation among ethnic groups, an amnesty law for some prisoners, and plans to hold elections in October.

But Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) said "the problem with Iraq is, every time you turn the corner, there's another corner. And I don't think politically that they've made the progress they have to make."

Graham warned that if either Clinton or Obama is elected and initiates a speedy withdrawal from Iraq, it will be a "complete disaster. ... I want to win in Iraq. I believe we can win in Iraq. The model we've created is leading to success and will eventually lead to victory. We undercut it, we're going to go backward, not forward."

Reid replied, "But how long would you give for it? I know everybody quotes Senator McCain as saying 100 years. Obviously, he wasn't talking about combat for 100 years. But how long would you foresee combat where American troops are fighting and dying in large numbers? Five years, 10 years, more?"

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