Posted on 09/04/2007 10:11:21 AM PDT by greyfoxx39
Is Richardson (gasp!) injecting religion into intraparty Democratic Party politics?
It's God's will for Iowa to hold the first-in-the-nation presidential caucus, Democratic presidential candidate Gov. Bill Richardson told a somewhat astonished Iowa audience on Monday, according to today's Des Moines Register (linked on The Drudge Report).
"Iowa, for good reason, for constitutional reasons, for reasons related to the Lord, should be the first caucus and primary," Richardson told those gathered at the Northwest Iowa Labor Council Picnic on Monday. "And I want you to know who was the first candidate to sign a pledge not to campaign anywhere if they got ahead of Iowa. It was Bill Richardson."
Several picnic-goers found Richardson's statement a bit strange, according to the Register.
"That was a little weird," Sioux City resident Joe Shufro told the Register. "I don't know what God had to do with choosing Iowa among other states. I found that a little strange."
"It's the kind of thing that would make me wince if, for instance, George Bush said it," another Sioux City resident, Jan Hodge, told the paper. "Richardson has the saving grace of not taking himself too seriously. It was one of those off-the-cuff remarks that can't be taken as seriously as the punsters (ed: pundits?) will make it."
Richardson was, indeed, one of the first Democratic candidates to pledge not to campaign in any state that schedules a primary or caucus before Feb. 5, 2008, except for the states of Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina, according to a news release his campaign sent out last Friday.
(Excerpt) Read more at abqjournal.com ...
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Wow. Bill has gone off the deep end....again.
Sweet corn overdose ?
"Iowa, for good reason, for constitutional reasons, for reasons related to the Lord, should be the first caucus and primary."
LOL ... God and religious faith are so foreign to most Democrats that they lapse into incoherence when they try to fake an interest in them.
Obviously, Bill Richardson was feeling a little tired that day, and was free-wheeling at the mouth. Otherwise, the reference to “God’s will” would not have come out.
There is no divine inspiration anywhere for the date of the Iowa caucus, or any primary election. This is entirely the province of politically-driven legislatures and ambitious home-state activists.
Seems to me the guy more than likely designed his comments to be consumed by the local community. His reference to God was probably little more than a tongue in cheek joke.
There are times when I think the political analysis goes way over the top.
I’m not faulting folks here, because the tone of the article didn’t go in this direction, but I do think this is much about nothing.
This is a perfect example a Democrat pandering but doesn’t have the slightest idea in which context to put it.
There is no divine inspiration anywhere for the date of the Iowa caucus, or any primary election.
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Richardson is apparently not used to discussing faith or thinking in the context of faith. I bet the audience was astonished!
Iowa is the Promised Land? Who knew!?!
I didn’t even know he had a religion. Whatever he was drinking, it must have been the same thing he was drinking when he told his Kansas City Royals history.
Isn’t it amazing how many people speak for God these days? Too bad they are not all saying the same thing.
I just spoke with the author. Not surprisingly, he had no idea that Hillary was going to be under oath soon.
"While Richardson is now a staunch opponent of electoral anarchy -- even a believer in Iowa's divine right to hold the nation's first presidential vote -- he was not always such a traditionalist.
It was Richardson, after all, who scrapped New Mexico's traditional June presidential primary back in 2004, opting for a Democratic caucus to be held on Feb. 3, the same day Arizona held its presidential primary.
And it was Richardson, who while chairman of the Western Governors' Association in 2004, pushed for a resolution calling for Western states to hold their presidential primaries and caucuses on the same date -- either in January or February of 2008, according to an earlier Albuquerque Journal report.
While still an undeclared candidate in August 2006, Richardson felt it necessary to reassure voters in New Hampshire (!) that he would vigorously support New Hampshire's right to hold the first-in-the-nation presidential primary, even though he supported adding a Nevada caucus to the early-voting schedule, the Journal reported at the time.
Interestingly, in the light of Monday's remarks in Iowa, Richardson told New Hampshire voters in 2006 that even if New Hampshire moved its primary up to be ahead of Iowa and Nevada in the schedule, he'd support that too, the Journal reported.
"You're still the number one primary, and there is a difference between a caucus and a primary," Richardson told his audience. "New Hampshire will retain the importance it always has."
A man for all seasons...errr...reasons.
You spoke to Bruce Daniels?
Richardson is the gift that keeps on giving in this presidential race, LOL.
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