Ads Don't Kill People, Wars Do

Everywhere I go on this campaign -- from Iowa to New Mexico -- I hear people asking when is this war going to end and when will we get all of our troops out of Iraq? Everyone, myself included, is tired of waiting for this war to end and tired of feeling let down by the people we elected.

The message I hear on the road seems pretty clear to me, but apparently the people in Congress aren't getting it. I know legislating is hard work -- I spent 15 years in Congress -- but I believe that when the people have given you a mandate, and soldiers are dying, it is your solemn duty to get the job done no matter what it takes.

Two days ago the Senate had a chance to help get more of our soldiers home for longer periods of time -- but the measure failed. Yesterday they had a chance to set a timeline to start withdrawing troops -- but that failed too. And today, another measure that would've required a withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq failed. Three chances to make a difference, lost. But instead of continuing to push on the most important issue facing our country right now, yesterday Congress spent their time debating and condemning a newspaper ad by an anti-war group.

Let's get some perspective here -- ads don't kill people -- wars kill people. And it is long past time to end this war.

From my many years of diplomatic negotiations I have learned that persistence is key to wearing down the most recalcitrant opponents. So I will be persistent -- and I hope you all will too. If we don't get this done now, we may not have a chance again until a Democrat is in the White House in 2009. That is too long to wait.

And while I firmly believe a Democrat will win in November 2008, I also know that some of the other candidates don't share my clear vision for ending the war.

I have been asking them -- how many troops will you leave behind?

My answer is zero.

Their answers are starting to remind me of the same rhetoric we hearing from DC, a little too much hemming, a little too many "we'll see's."

Every day Congress fails to end this war is another day Congress fails to do what we elected them to do. Americans have lost patience with Congress and with the leaders they elected to end the war. But you know what? We have the power. We can end the war.

Let's do that together.

Comments

[Marnie1]

03:42 PM on 09/23/2007

I know it seem like the majority of Americans wishes, as regards Iraq, fall on deaf ears.

However, thanks Mr. Richardson for continuing to say the obvious, so that those of us who agree with you will not feel diserted and will continue to raise our voices. Maybe soon Congress will remember what it is elected for.

[win2kpro]

12:39 PM on 09/23/2007

I believe the Senate resolution condemning MoveOn has backfired against them.

#1-It has made people who had never heard of MoveOn aware of their presence. #2 On numerous blogs I go to, I have seen more and more people say that because of uproar about the Petraeus ad they have contributed to MoveOn.

I know this is true at least in my case. Although I was aware of MoveOn I had never contributed, but I did contribute the day after the Senate passed their dumb ass resolution.

From what I read at various blogs the day after the ad appeared, MoveOn received about $500,000 in contributions.

Let these dumb fuck Senators continue to pass their resolutions and it gives MoveOn more money to place additional ads.

Lol, I'm ROFL laughing about the Republican Senators indirectly help MoveOn raise money.

MoveOn, keep on kicking ass!


JOHN EDWARDS IN '08

[aldee41]

11:15 AM on 09/23/2007

The next President will be a Democrat.
Chose wisely. Chose Richardson.

[MissingAmerica]

10:29 AM on 09/23/2007

It has hit me hard that everything this country needs is being blocked by a handful of men. Do you realize that one Convention Hall could hold every man currently holding this country back? We are in the millions, yet this roomful of misguided souls are winning. Meanwhile, it's not working. Our economy is horrid, housing interest rates have been lowered for buyers but the sellers are losing. The value of the dollar overseas is dropping every day, and the respect the world once held for this country is gone. Even our staunchest allies are backing away from us, much like those escaping the Titanic. When are we going to figure out how to cure this disease which Bush and his cronies have become? Anybody got the antidote to keep them from multiplying?

[unfoxworthy]

09:49 AM on 09/23/2007

Bill,
I think I can speak for many here when I say that "We love your resolve", but we're also knowing that the "just end the war" sound bite needs polishing.
We understand that Iraq is no rudimentary issue and can't be dealt with at a rudimentary level with a one-liner.
Infer a plan to make Syria, Iran and North Korea stand down while we withdraw..and you'll have something!
Keep the resolve.

[Janelynne]

06:18 AM on 09/23/2007

Great post. The Senate wastes its time on nonsense. This nation is corrupted by money and influence, and that is what the war is about. Patraeus is nothing more than another spokesmodel for the franchise, and if a Four Star General wants to use his career like that, he ought to hear about it. Free speech is not free. It costs many advertizing dollars to speak against the spin machine. The wealthy are using the middle class to fight this war, as Greenspan has even revealed, is for oil. Had Greenspan said, "If we lose the war, we are doomed" it would be talked about in the paper ad nauseum, front page, big letters. His reveal of the real reason has been buried by the media. This nation is sacrificing its existence and very essence on this war, as it offers human lives, national treasure, and the Constitution in the cause to help the weathy. Congress needs to wake up or be replaced one by one, Democrats and Republicans alike. We need to take back who we are.

[Hastings]

03:26 AM on 09/23/2007

By embraceing the Surrender and Appeasement movement Gov. Richardson has squarely placed himself on the wrong side of history.

[kjg25171]

01:07 AM on 09/23/2007

Bill Richardson is who I support. He says what he believes not what he thinks we want to hear. Case in point: he legalized medical marijuana in New Mexico. He said (I heard him) that a lot of sheriffs are angry at him for that but he did not care, because it is the right thing to do.

Another thing for which I admire him is that he appeared (I was there) at a rally for Darfur in San Francisco months ago. No other candidate appeared, they were to busy fund-raising.

[DAWK]

12:33 AM on 09/23/2007

YOU TELL-EM GOV BILL! AND NOW...GRISHAM'S BOOK BLASTING ALL THE BUSH CROOKS,THEN THE COLLEGE PAPER SAYING 'FUCK BUSH'.
HONERABLE AMERICANS ARE SICK AND TIRED OF THE BUSH REGIME WAR CRIMINALS,SO WHERE ARE THE DEM'S 'BALLS'?
I CAN NOT COUNT THE ENDLESS TIMES BLOGING HERE,PROTESTING BUSH AND WHEN IS ALL THIS GOING TO END,BECAUSE WE ARE SICK AND TIRED OF OUR LAWMAKERS LACK OF COURAGE TO END THIS WAR.
FOR THE LAST TIME: IMPEACH BUSH CHENY AND ALL THEIR CRONIES,THEN CONVICT THEM FOR WAR CRIMES!

[average joe]

09:09 PM on 09/22/2007

Your right Bill Ads don't kill like L B j.

[rucognizant]

08:36 PM on 09/22/2007

If you want to be informed......read Riverbend's blog called Baghdad Burning. http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/
The archives go all the way back to 9/03.
SHe is an intelligent young woman confined to the family home, unable to contine her education through the chaos, throughout this time, until they finally fled to Syria, this month! Thankfully she is safe ( if, a refugee, in poverty ) UNLIKE ANNE FRANK WHO WAS ULTIMATELY KILLED......................
Those of us who were reading her blog knew Ahmed Chalabi was a crook long before most of the country became aware of it.
You DO KNOW don't you....that the constitution Paul Bremer set up for Iraq made it a jailable felony to save your heirloom seeds, making it mandatory to buy seeds from Monsanto. They aren't always productive in that climate, so the farmers spend a fortune, get no crops, and can't afford seed for the next season.
WE DID THAT TO THE INDIANS TOO> See the daily suicide rate of Indian Farmers.
http://www.crestofthewave.com/blog/index.php?itemid=58&catid=3
We are up tp our OLD TRICKS: kill off the buffalo so the Native Americans are dependant on us for food; maggoty beef! We, as a group, aren't nearly as nice, genereous, wonderful, as DIane Sawyer would have us believe on weekday mornings! How many of you out there have sorted out your cabinets and passed the out of date canned goods to to the foodpantry???????

[IMPRISONBUSH]

08:25 PM on 09/22/2007

ITMAKES NO DIFERENCE TO OUR LEADERSHIP THEY ARE NOT IN " HARMS WAY " OR WILL EVER BE.
BUSH IS RUNING OUT THE CLOCK AND THE CONGRESS IS LETING HIM AT A COST OF YOUR SON TO DAY YOUR DAUGHTER SUNDAY.

[lisakaz]

07:25 PM on 09/22/2007

Indeed, I share this exasperation. Congress is rolling over for Bu$h STILL. So much for him being a "lame duck" (whereas David Brinkley called Bill Clinton one on the night he was re-elected; how even-handed is that?). It galls me to no end that the truth about MoveOn's ad got lost is some comparison to the smear jobs against Cleland and Kerry -- where the truth was nowhere in sight -- and this whining by the GOP got more results than all the advocacy by We the People to END THIS "WAR."

I frankly think the only answer is to impeach this WH and Dems are too spineless anymore to fulfill their Constitutional responsibilities. I hope more people like Cindy Sheehan run for office to turn out all of these corrupt pols.

All democracy is in tatters and one president is not going to salvage it.

[Taan]

03:56 PM on 09/22/2007

The surge is working, of course, where you have massed U.S. forces on the ground. The mayhem simply moves elsewhere only to return with a vengeance when the area is proclaimed "safe", and begin eliminating all Iraqis who were accommodating to the U.S. A majority of Iraqis have already voiced their desire for the U.S. to vacate their country. We cannot force feed them American democracy, a self-imposed political solution to centuries of tribal and religious animosities. The Administration simply bungled this misadventure from the beginning and assorted temporary band-aids will not work. Our entire approach has been what we want to happen, as if billions of dollars and massive military ordnance will somehow transform this stewpot of violence into a peaceful, democratic experiment. This approach completely ignores what the various Iraqi factions want. In fact, even the latter presents formible problems because the various factions are fighting for their own agendas. It remains as to whether the U.S. is willing to invest untold additional billions and the slow destructions of our military for a mistaken military adventure or let the Iraqis determine their own political future -- which will be necesary no matter our decision.

[chrematophobe]

02:41 PM on 09/22/2007

Gov. Richardson, I so appreciate the clarity, good sense and perspective you bring to the madhouse that is currently masquerading as a political community. You are clearly the person we need in the whitehouse next, if our system survives the next 15 months.
I too would like to hear in more detail what if anything [or --one] you would leave in place of the soldiers, contracters and mercenaries now occupying Iraq, and how you would handle the oil "interests" that got us there.