home

Bill Richardson Admits False Bio Data

By Jeralyn, Section Other Politics
Posted on Thu Nov 24, 2005 at 12:48:46 PM EST
Tags: (all tags)
Share This: Digg! StumbleUpon del.icio.us reddit reddit

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson admitted today that he was not, as his official bio has stated for many years, drafted by the Kansas City A's baseball team in 1966.

The claim was included in a brief biography released when Richardson successfully ran for Congress in 1982. A White House news release in 1997 mentioned it when he was about to be named U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. And several news organizations, including The Associated Press, have reported it as fact over the years.

How serious, if at all, is this in terms of casting doubt on his integrity as a future national political candidate?

< Thanksgiving Ritual: Arlo, Alice, Mick and Keith | Isikoff: Rove Takes Out Line of Credit >

  • The Online Magazine with Liberal coverage of crime-related political and injustice news

  • Contribute To TalkLeft


    • Display: Sort:
    Bill Richardson Admits False Bio Data | 34 comments (34 topical)
    Re: Bill Richardson Admits False Bio Data (none / 0) (#1)
    by desertswine on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:25 PM EST
    He had a curve ball that approached home plate like a slow-moving pumpkin on crutches.

    Re: Bill Richardson Admits False Bio Data (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:25 PM EST
    After the claims Dumbya made about his service in the Air National Guard this is nothing. If Richardson ever went and watched a game all he has to do is say, "I remember showing up." That got Dumbya through. It should work for Richardson too. I think it's humorous, but then he hasn't really inspired me to think of him as Presidential material. I'm not saying he isn't, just that he hasn't "spoken" to me yet.

    Re: Bill Richardson Admits False Bio Data (none / 0) (#3)
    by roy on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:25 PM EST
    If this is the worst dirt on him, we should make him King of the Planet.

    Re: Bill Richardson Admits False Bio Data (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:25 PM EST
    Since moving to New Mexico last year I've learned that people in this state are very suspicious of their governor. I can't speak to any specific skeletons in any specific closet, but for whatever reason there are a lot of people unsettled by him and skeptical of his ambition.

    Re: Bill Richardson Admits False Bio Data (none / 0) (#5)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:25 PM EST
    SuthnDem - Problem is, Bush actually was in TANG and actually flew jets.. But Richardson shouldn't worry, he follows in a long line of Demos.. "I voted for the war before I voted against it..." "Christmas in Cambodia..." "I never had sex with that woman..." "I just found the billing records...in my closet..for two years.." "I was attacked by a killer rabbit..." And my all time favorite... "I invented the Internet...." ;-)

    Re: Bill Richardson Admits False Bio Data (none / 0) (#6)
    by Sailor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:25 PM EST
    I noticed a commenter included quotes around all the references he made. This is peculiar because none of those statements were ever made by the folks this commenter attributed them to. How ironic to lie on a post about lying!

    Re: Bill Richardson Admits False Bio Data (none / 0) (#7)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:25 PM EST
    Sailor - Thanks for being my straight man. SuthnDem wrote:
    If Richardson ever went and watched a game all he has to do is say, "I remember showing up." That got Dumbya through. It should work for Richardson too.
    One lie deserves another, eh??? ;-)

    Re: Bill Richardson Admits False Bio Data (none / 0) (#8)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:25 PM EST
    Hey, the guy lied and he should be called to account for it. That it seems to be a "minor" lie is not the issue and, even if it is, one has to ask why one would lie about something "minor". If it's truly "minor", then why bother with the lie at all? The next question is obvious: if Richardson is going to lie about something this innocuous, what ELSE is he willing to lie about? Perhaps it's time to do a bit of digging in Richardson's closet.

    Re: Bill Richardson Admits False Bio Data (none / 0) (#9)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:25 PM EST
    Politicians are liars....and in other news, Dog bites Man.

    Re: Bill Richardson Admits False Bio Data (none / 0) (#10)
    by soccerdad on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:25 PM EST
    Hey TS, I say we throw out any politician that has lied. Of course we'll have to come up with a completely new system of government. the only time they care about "us" is to get our vote. The minute they have it they couldn't care less. They are too busy going on some corporate junket to play golf.

    Re: Bill Richardson Admits False Bio Data (none / 0) (#11)
    by superskepticalman on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:25 PM EST
    Richardson should be right out as a leading candidate: this kind of resume padding is the kind of two-bit b.s. that the Democratic Party no longer has to accept as de rigueur. Leave the field of lying outright, regardless of quality and location, where it belongs - with the Republican Party.

    Re: Bill Richardson Admits False Bio Data (none / 0) (#12)
    by Repack Rider on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:25 PM EST
    Problem is, Bush actually was in TANG and actually flew jets.. Up until the time when he no longer did. Missed that required physical, didn't he? Has he told you why he deserted yet? But you're right. Bush's lies about TANG pale in comparison to his lies about Iraq.

    Re: Bill Richardson Admits False Bio Data (none / 0) (#13)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:25 PM EST
    Where's zero tolerance when and where it really counts? Lying is a cancer in the moral fiber of any person. And no one party or class of people has a monopoly on it. Clinton squandered his second term because of it. Bush is busy doing the same thing with his second term (though I have yet to see ANY MSM courageous enough to state that Bush lied, is lying, and will continue to lie). Lying about felatio is reprehensible, apparently, but lying about treason, and all the death and destruction it entails, is not. Or is it that Clinton's lie is worse because he is an attorney while Bush's lie is okay because he's a ... what the hell is he anyway, besides a boob?

    Re: Bill Richardson Admits False Bio Data (none / 0) (#14)
    by Kitt on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:25 PM EST
    Oh, granted - it's not a lie of epic proportions (Dubya) unlike those we've heard of late (especially over the last six years); it's still a lie. I truly am surprised when people lie or embellish their resume because it's so 'checkable.'

    Re: Bill Richardson Admits False Bio Data (none / 0) (#15)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:25 PM EST
    Lying in public about something that can be Googled disqualifies him because it shows him as too stupid and/or careless to be president. (Democratic president, that is. Republicans clearly prefer their candidates that way.)

    Re: Bill Richardson Admits False Bio Data (none / 0) (#16)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:25 PM EST
    Excellent news, AFAIC. Bill Richardson should immediately be nominated for the Gary Hart also-rans award and dismissed from consideration for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, which is apparently his quest. Actually, from my own admittedly biased "advocacy group" perspective (anti-war on drugs/prohibition), Mr. Richardson is a fine candidate to dismiss from contention. Aside from some ethnic background brownie points, beats me what's thought to be so great about the man. In particular, his administration succeeded the courageous Gov. Gary Johnston who had the balls to come out against the War on Drugs, but in an act of all too conventional political cowardice, Mr. Richardson rolled over on that, a la Triangulating Bill Clinton. "Don't let the door slam your butt on the way out, Bill" is my message to Richardson. And good riddance to him and other DINO crypto-republicans.

    Re: Bill Richardson Admits False Bio Data (none / 0) (#18)
    by BigTex on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:25 PM EST
    This is a stupid piece of resume padding, but shouldn't dq him from office. This falls into the harmless error category. OTOH, Mike Brown was raked across the coals for something similar, so not going to be too worked up about it.

    Re: Bill Richardson Admits False Bio Data (none / 0) (#19)
    by Kitt on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:25 PM EST
    OTOH, Mike Brown was raked across the coals for something similar, so not going to be too worked up about it.
    Nooo, Mike Brown WASN'T 'raked across the coals' for padding his resume. He was raked over the coals because he wasn't flippin' QUALIFIED, without applicable experience.

    Re: Bill Richardson Admits False Bio Data (none / 0) (#20)
    by Sailor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:25 PM EST
    Hey Tex, I agree that BR's padding was relatively minor, but it's such a dumb thing to do it call into question his judgement. And tho it doesn't have anything to do with this subject, brownie's padding was much more serious, he lied about his job experience, not his extra curricular activities.

    Re: Bill Richardson Admits False Bio Data (none / 0) (#21)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:25 PM EST
    exactly, soc.

    Re: Bill Richardson Admits False Bio Data (none / 0) (#22)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:25 PM EST
    I have a shameful admission of my own: despite what's been reported, I don't look like Brad Pitt. In fact, I look more like Matt Damon. I apologize for any confusion. But seriously, this sounds suspiciously like something just for people like "roy": release a "scandal" that's just minor. In fact, I have a feeling there's much more scandalous material out there. Whether we'll hear about it is another matter.

    Re: Bill Richardson Admits False Bio Data (none / 0) (#23)
    by BigTex on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:25 PM EST
    Kitt - even if Mike Brown wasn't qualified when he had the position, he certinally did a good job with the storms a year before. So good in fact that many were complaining that the effort was an election year stunt. Sailor - it does bring into question his judgment, but from what little I have seen, he hasn't exercized poor judement on a regular basis. Everyone should get a pass from stupid petty things they did in the past. Now, couple this with some other mistakes and it's a different story.

    Re: Bill Richardson Admits False Bio Data (none / 0) (#24)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:26 PM EST
    Repack - Repeat after me. When you step down from flying, you no longer need a flight physical... which BTW is not only a physical, but a lot of other qual work.

    Re: Bill Richardson Admits False Bio Data (none / 0) (#25)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:26 PM EST
    No, PPJ, you should start repeating what the woman who was the secretary of the commander of GWB's TANG unit had to say about the subject:
    Did or did not Lt. Bush take a physical as ordered by Col. Killian,” Rather asks Knox. “The last time, no he didn’t,” says Knox. “It was a big no-no to not follow orders. And I can’t remember anyone refusing to. Now for instance, with the physical, every officer knew that before his birthday he was supposed to have that flying physical. Once in a while they might be late, but there would be a good excuse for it and let the commander know and try to set up a date for a make-up. If they did not take that physical, they were off flying status until they did.”
    and
    Knox says the fact that then-Lt. Bush was repeatedly missing drills was not lost on his fellow pilots.

    “They missed him. It was sort of gossip around there, and they'd [the other officers would] snicker and so forth about what he was getting away with,” says Knox. “I guess there was even a resentment."

    Link

    Re: Bill Richardson Admits False Bio Data (none / 0) (#26)
    by Kitt on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:26 PM EST
    Kitt - even if Mike Brown wasn't qualified when he had the position, he certinally did a good job with the storms a year before.
    Ummhmm...whatever - don't buy it.

    Re: Bill Richardson Admits False Bio Data (none / 0) (#27)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:26 PM EST
    Speaking about being willing to lie for trivial reasons, what does it say about your judgment if you're on national TV and decide to lie about whether you've met John Edwards, just to make a rhetorical point in a debate, even though there's video of you with the guy from earlier occasions?

    Re: Bill Richardson Admits False Bio Data (none / 0) (#28)
    by roy on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:26 PM EST
    But seriously, this sounds suspiciously like something just for people like "roy": release a "scandal" that's just minor.
    Not sure what that means. I think it's pretty funny to see people use a 23-year-old lie about a 39-year-old irrelevancy as an excuse to attack a somebody. Maybe it's "for" people with an obnoxious sense of humor...

    Re: Bill Richardson Admits False Bio Data (none / 0) (#29)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:26 PM EST
    Darkly - The woman was a long term Demo answering what she thought Rather wanted to hear. Her comments were full of sound and fury, but mean nothing. Think I'm wrong? Who won the election. The facts are that Bush stepped down from flight duty. Why? The F102 was being replaced. To be worth the Air Force’s cost, anyone who wanted to be trained in the replacement aircraft would have had to extend. Bush didn’t. So he wasn’t going to fly anymore. It happens regularly with aircrew and piolts. He had no reason to take the physical. Let me tell you what you do. You pick up the phone, tell'em you are not flying anymore and that's it. No quals, no physical. No flight pay. Or you don’t tell’em. Same result. Remember. Flight duty is voluntarily. TaTa, Darkly. Too bad you don't understand how the thing works. It would give you a better BS defense, oh Believer of Everything Bad About Bush. BTW - Rather did such a good job on this that he is now unemployed. Fake but accurate. Uh-huh, Yeah. Sure. You are funny.

    Re: Bill Richardson Admits False Bio Data (none / 0) (#30)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:26 PM EST
    BigMedia.... Heck, they told me you were the spittin' image of Monroe... Marilyn Monroe....;-)

    Re: Bill Richardson Admits False Bio Data (none / 0) (#32)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:27 PM EST
    Darkly - Aircraft phase outs are different for different missions and different groups. The P2V7 started being phased out in the mid-late 60's, yet I saw some flying missions last week on TV. The EC121 was phased out as radar picket's in '65, yet were used as AWACS in Vietnam and Hurricane Hunters for years and thousands of hours. i.e. No one snaps their fingers and you magically have a squadron of "new" aircraft and "trained" crews. It is a slow process. Your point that the guard logged 1000's of hours is probably true. What it means is that those pilots who had enough time, or who agreed to extend, to qualify for training in the replacement aircraft, kept flying in the F102 until they rotated into training in the new aircraft. I.e. You wind up with a “mixture” of those flying the new, and those flying the old but waiting for training. Those that didn't, and who wanted out of flying, didn't take the onerous quals and physicals (and they are onerous) and went on to other things. It happens regularly and routinely. Ask yourself. Why would the government want to spend thousands of dollars training a person who won’t be around to fly the new bird? Again. You must have X amount of time left on your original commitment, or you must agree to extend Y amount of time to meet the time requirement. You will probably say that Bush should have just stayed around and flew the F102’s. Uh-huh. Doesn’t work like that. Flying costs money, and as the new planes come in, the old ones go out. You have a decreasing number of old aircraft. Now, let’s say you have 30 pilots and 20 old aircraft. Twenty two have said they will stay and be trained – they have the required time – and 8 don’t have the time and won’t extend. Now the question becomes, should I keep those who will stay for the new, qualified on the old (F102’s)? Or should I keep’em all. Remember, you only have 20 aircraft, and 22 people who have committed. The answer is easy. Spend the resources on the future. Let the other guys quit flying. Darkly. You’ve zapped me a couple of times on taxes because my information was based on what applied to me. (Tax on social security.) So you really should try and understand things rather than reading something and trying to make a "point” based on incomplete facts and situation. It does make you look bad.

    Re: Bill Richardson Admits False Bio Data (none / 0) (#34)
    by BigTex on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:27 PM EST
    Ummhmm...whatever - don't buy it.
    A prime example of closed minded ideology. Link 1 Link 2

    Re: Bill Richardson Admits False Bio Data (none / 0) (#35)
    by BigTex on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:27 PM EST
    Here's some more links more directly on point. link link Link This quote is quite good
    Now that President Bush has won Florida in his 2004 re-election bid, he may want to draft a letter of appreciation to Michael Brown, chief of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Seldom has any federal agency had the opportunity to so directly and uniquely alter the course of a presidential election, and seldom has any agency delivered for a president as FEMA did in Florida this fall.
    link
    Even before the first hurricane hit Florida's Gulf Coast," Ceci Connolly wrote (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28022-2004Dec26.html) in the December 27, 2004, Washington Post, Michael D. Brown, who heads FEMA, "dispatched people and equipment to the state, impressing the locals who had been frustrated by FEMA's slow response to Hurricane Andrew in 1992."
    link Further examples are legion, but you get the idea.

    Re: Bill Richardson Admits False Bio Data (none / 0) (#36)
    by Sailor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:27 PM EST
    Yes, Tex, we get the idea, fema will react during an election year for votes in a swing state. fema will also give money to folks who don't deserve it to help the gov's brother get elected. BTW, according to the mayor of houston and gov of texas, fema is still screwing the pooch. But none of that has anything to do with brownies lying about his qualifications on his resume.

    Re: Bill Richardson Admits False Bio Data (none / 0) (#37)
    by BigTex on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:27 PM EST
    we get the idea
    Apparantly not everyone does.

    Bill Richardson Admits False Bio Data | 34 comments (34 topical)