N.M. Gov Admits He Wasn't Baseball Pick (Richardson)

[Democat]

Gov. Bill Richardson is coming clean on his draft record -- the baseball draft, that is, admitting that his claim to have been a pick of the Kansas City A's in 1966 was untrue.

For nearly four decades, Richardson, often mentioned as a possible Democratic presidential candidate, has maintained he was drafted by the Kansas City Athletics.

But an investigation by the Albuquerque Journal found no record of Richardson being drafted by the A's, who have since moved to Oakland, or any other team.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051124/ap_on_re_us/governor_baseball_draft

The media has time to go after Democrats over baseball, but no time to investigate Republicans who start wars over lies and take millions of dollars in bribes from special interests.


This issue seems small, but if he ever plans to run for president, it may be blown up to try to undermine his credibility.

[babylonsister]

1. Funny how Richardson's baseball draft might effect him more than

the blivet's military record, or lack of one, when the draft was inevitable for many others.
I'm sorry Richardson lied; I think he can kiss any other political asperations good-bye, unless he finds his Rove.

[daleo]

3. Bush's "curveball" ought to be much more important too. n/t

[DrRang]

17. The very right-wing Albuquerque Journal bashes Richardson constantly. n/t

[Jim Sagle]

2. Good! Richardson is a fake Democrat anyway.

[Elwood P Dowd]

4. BINGO!

I still haven't forgiven him for all the lies he told during the 1993 NAFTA debate. Him and Newt became like two peas in a pod.

[Jim Sagle]

5. Besides, he's got the charisma of a tub of lard. Fuck'm.

As a candidate for either prez or veep, he'd not only lose big - even to Bill Frist - but he'd be a boat anchor for the whole Democratic ticket.

Which I suppose makes him an ideal DLC choice.

[Stevepol]

11. He snuffed the chance of auditing the NM vote as well. The worst possible

decision a governor could make. I still don't know if it was just stupidity of if he's in on the rigging himself in some way.

This is the most crucial issue in the country and he quashed a golden opportunity. Of course the lawsuit in NM goes on and maybe will turn over some rocks with plenty of worms under it.

[babylonsister]

18. That's IF the evidence hasn't been destroyed. nt

[yurbud]

25. No shit--We're supposed to be fooled by DLC hack because he's Latino

The ethnic wrapper doesn't hide the rotten product.

[Renew Deal]

41. Spoken like a real democrat.

:eyes:

[applegrove]

6. Dam. He seemed like a adult to me.

[babylonsister]

7. That's the way of the DU world, applegrove. You like someone?

Don't like so much because you will find out what's wrong with them here!
I've been surprised so many times, but just move on and absorb. :)

[andino]

8. Nobodys perfect.

[applegrove]

9. Of course nobody is.

[roguevalley]

10. A walton of wal mart fame lied about a college degree and everyone

jumped down on her and rightfully so. I see this as the same thing. How in the NAME OF HELL can someone in the public with huge ambitions put a lie on their record? I don't get it.

[applegrove]

27. Yup - disappointing.

[MADem]

46. Hell, JOE BIDEN said he went to HAAAVAAAAAD!

And he stole a speech from Neil Kinnock, word for word! AND he got hideous hair plugs...but that hasn't stopped him!

If Richardson starts losing weight, he will run. If he stays chunky, he is staying in NM....

[0007]

42. But one would expect a little more from a leader.

Baseballs lies? What a fucking ego!

[sandnsea]

28. It was an honest mistake

He saw "drafted by KC" on the minor league program he played for and thought it was true. This is the biggest non-story I've ever seen. Starting early on some of these guys I guess.

[applegrove]

33. Well if that is the truth - I hope it comes out!

[sandnsea]

35. What do you mean "comes out"??

It was just written in the article. It's out.

[applegrove]

43. Well I have not been following the news. Sometimes I ignore MSM

for weeks. That is what I meant. And you did not put a link.

[sandnsea]

47. It is IN the posted article

The original article. :shrug: Click and read.

[applegrove]

48. Sorry skimming again. My bad!

:yoiks:

[sandnsea]

50. Sorry

This thread just makes my head spin. The facts are there in black and white. Yet look at how it's completely out of control. Now we've got Baseball Scouts for Truth and Richardson is going to be bashed for not fighting back fast enough. :eyes:

[xchrom]

12. liberals should always apply the standard of

''let the chips fall where they may''.

that way if and when we fight as tough and nasty as conservatives -- we take away one very important weapon in their arsenal -- character assasination.

they'll use it anyway i.e. max cleland -- but if our machine ever gets toughened -- we can fight back just as savagely and and leave conservative pigs kissing dust.

[skipos]

13. This is the bottom line here...

"This issue seems small, but if he ever plans to run for president, it may be blown up to try to undermine his credibility."

[sandnsea]

29. Exactly

And after months of having this story pounded in your head, next thing you know you'll be saying we need to run an honest candidate who can connect to the integrity of the "casual voter".

[skipos]

32. WOW!!! I have my own internet

stalker!

What I am saying must really be connecting with you! I'm flattered!
Please continue digging up old posts of mine!
:hi: :hi: :hi: :hi: :hi:

[depakid]

14. Welp, a lie is a lie

And if he chose to lie about something so trivial- what else has he lied about?

Reminds me a lot of Biden's plagiarism. It's one of those things that calls a person's character into question- doesn't matter what side of the aisle they're on.

[MaineDem]

15. I like Richardson but...

This is one of those things we'd jump all over a Republican for.

Sorry, Governor, your stock just went down a whole lot with me.

[ochazuke]

16. It's up to the media

Back in 1976, Steven Brill, who had worked with the Carter campaign for a while, quit the campaign and wrote an article in Harpers called Jimmy Carter's Pathetic Lies where he covered a number of the little untruths that Carter repeated over and over on the campaign trail. One of them was that Carter was a nuclear engineer.

Brill had some interviews. He was generally savaged by the talking heads of the day, who were pushing the Carter campaign as capturing the spirit of the nation. Carter was considered a moderate to conservative at that time.

[karynnj]

19. Wasn't he a nuclear engineer?

It's not why I voted for him in the general election, but I always thought this was true. (I actually saw Ford at IU speak when he was a congressman. He was awful and after the first question, naturally on Vietnam - stormed out after lecturing us on how he expected more from big 10 students.

[Spiffarino]

20. IIRC, he was a nuclear "officer" in the Navy n/t

[MaineDem]

21. Graduate work in reactor technology and nuclear physics

From the Carter Center web site:
Chosen by Admiral Hyman Rickover for the nuclear submarine program, he was assigned to Schenectady, N.Y., where he took graduate work at Union College in reactor technology and nuclear physics, and served as senior officer of the pre-commissioning crew of the Seawolf, the second nuclear submarine.

That's close enough to a nuclear engineer for me.

[DavidDvorkin]

22. Pretty close to "nuclear engineer"

Not in terms of college degree, but in terms of experience in the navy.

Here are some details:

http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq60-14.htm

[karynnj]

26. Thanks

[zara]

23. Why tell this kind of lie anyway?

Since I was a number one NFL draft pick,....

[Marxist in Nebraska]

44. Are you the same zara from the Rodrigo forum?

Sorry, but this board won't let me use the PM feature, or the search, or the instant messenger buddy list thing... or I would use a more discreet manner of asking you.

But anyway, I used to post a lot on the forum at RodrigoNY.com, before it got closed down. There was a zara there, too, and I didn't think it was a very common username. Are you the same zara?

If so, I've started my own forum and I'd been thinking about how the regulars on the old rodrigo board would be great posters on my new forum, but I have no way of contacting any of them.

If you are not the same zara, please accept my apologies for wasting your time.

[Ronnie]

24. Actually, his explanation seems almost plausible.

Almost.

[sandnsea]

30. Seems totally plausible to me

There's no reason to tell this particular story for all these years unless you believed it.

[Boo Boo]

31. Some people get "Borked;" Richardson just got "Bidened"

and he only has himself to blame.

[sandrakae]

34. Oh Gee Wiz. So he dreamed of being a baseball star.

Didn't Bobby Brady do this?

[sandnsea]

36. No

He dreamed of being Jesse James. No wait that was Peter. So maybe it was Bobby. Or Beaver. :freak:

Is this not the absolute dumbest thing you've ever seen pass as journalism? And look at the people gobbling it up. And they say the right wing are stoopid sheeeple. Gads.

[UTUSN]

37. He Not Only Looks, But Acts Like Aunt Bee

It's fine for Aunt Bee. Not for Dem candidate.

[LiberalPartisan]

38. Some more details on this

While I think this is a non-story the article referenced by the link explains how an 18 y/o Richardson was told he was drafted by the Kansas City A's.

http://www.capecodonline.com/cctimes/curveballis26.htm

[Cocoa]

40. poor guy

imagine going through life with the name Mycock.

[EndElectoral]

39. His excuse is ridiculous...a young man wouldn't forget something like that

[flyarm]

54. absolutely!!!!!!!!!!

my hubby was drafted and so was my son..its bullshit that anyone would not be sure of this fact!!

total absurdity!!

and total lie and bullshit!

fly

[tanyev]

45. How come Republicans think it's no big deal when some of their

most important leaders can't remember what happened in the past two years in front of a grand jury, but they think it's scandalous that a Democrat has an incorrect recollection of something that happened 40 years ago when he was a very young man?

[sandnsea]

49. He remembers correctly

He remembers that he saw "drafted by KC" next to his name in a program, the guy from the Cape Cod league produced the program and that's what it says. Richardson went to college and then injured his arm. Kansas City now says they have no record of drafting him, either because Richardson wouldn't sign to be drafted or because the guy who wrote the program was mistaken. This is a complete non-story. Richardson's memory is just fine.

[tanyev]

56. I think it's a non-story also.

But the RW will definitely try to spin it as a character defining incident. I wanted to point out the hypocrisy involved when Karl Rove, Scooter Libby, et al, who in previous years have had their phenomenal memories mentioned in articles about them, supposedly cannot recall events of the last two years. Events which are serious enough to land them in prison. Yet most Republicans and Fox News talking heads are perfectly willing to write that off as completely understandable.

[autorank]

51. This DOES NOT surprise me at all.

Now will Bill Richardson admit that he had a rotten election system in nplace in 2004 and that he deliberately stopped the recount and that he's deliberately perpetuating the rotten election system.

Massive irregularitiesi showed up in 2004 in Hispanic and Native American districts. What did they do about it. Stone walled.

He's a liar. Sen. Byrd, D, WV was right when he said:

"SEN. ROBERT BYRD: I think it's a rather sad story that you had a bright and brilliant career that you had never, that you would never again receive the support of the Senate of the United States for any office to which you might be appointed. It's beyond... you have squandered your treasure, and I am sorry."

New Mexico Law Suit Delves Inside Voting Machines
Thursday, 3 November 2005, 12:30 pm
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0511/S00067.htm

Article: Michael Collins

Election Errors Threaten Future Voting Rights in New Mexico

Major Law Suit Under Way to Open Up “Secret” Workings of Voting Machines
Special Report for “Scoop” Independent Media
First in a Series

By Michael Collins
Nov. 2, 2005

Patricia Rosas Lopategui et al… “wishes to have her vote properly counted and weighted in any forthcoming elections.”

New Mexico rarely generates much national news. When it does, as in the Wen Ho Lee nuclear espionage investigation, it can be explosive.

Now a little-known lawsuit before New Mexico District Court Judge Eugenio S. Mathis has the potential to alter the face of American elections.

Lopategui et al versus the State of New Mexico is proceeding at a surprising pace, with the litigants currently in the “discovery” phase of the trial, the point at which lawyers are allowed to question key witnesses and dig for facts and opinions with wide latitude. The targets of discovery right now include Sequoia Elections, two of the big three voting machine companies; Rebecca Vigil-Giron, New Mexico Secretary of State; state and local election officials; and officials of the state’s voting systems support vendor.

Highly disturbing facts and allegations have already emerged in this well-run but under publicized case. For example, in one majority Hispanic precinct, the voting machines produced exactly zero votes for John Kerry. More issues will arise as the Plaintiffs’ legal team digs deeper into the highly irregular events of Election Day 2004. Remarkably, these events occurred at a much higher rate in predominantly Hispanic and Native American precincts.

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

52. he's friends with hannity

that's reason enough not to nominate him

[flyarm]

53. why in heavens name would anyone lie about something soooo

verifyable??..two minutes with the baseball encylopedia..can tell one if someone was ever drafted!

how absurd of Richardson...

with all of *'es ties to baseball...this was a gimme!!

richardson better not even think of running in 2008..the baseball smears will kill the dems!!

what a stupid ass!


fly

[Miss Chybil]

55. He shouldn't have said it.

A lie is a lie. I really like the guy and feel sorry about this, but he's politically tainted now. The media didn't make him lie, but they'll ride the hell out of the story. It keeps them from having to write a new one.