Letters to the Editor
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Great Candidate who Deserves the Attention
It's frustrating how much of the campaign coverage at this point is focused one "other shoe" issues. What if the other shoe drops? Does she/he have enough money? What will the Swift Boat Veterans say?
Even Shapiro's article was light on Richardson's substance and heavy on his "other shoe" electability--apparently Shapiro thinks Richardson could pull it off.
Richardson's candor is inconvenient, perhaps, but he comes from a Latino culture that values genuineness highly and tends to laugh off gaffs easily. But his accomplishments as a diplomat and administrator should reveal far more about his ability to lead than regretable ruminations on Alberto Gonzales or Salon writers. Don't they? I mean, don't they?
If we're going to talk about ADD in this forum, we need to talk about the Media. George W. Bush ate their lunch in two elections: he stayed on message (despite ample evidence to the contrary), refused to admit mistakes, and made the approbation of a cadre of extremists seem like a national mandate. In 1999 there were three months of questioning about his drug use (far from candor, he refused to answer the questions), then the media basically said, "he passed the test," and went to sleep. His drunk-driving citation wasn't even discovered until a week before the Election.
I think Richardson is a great candidate. He belongs in the Top Tier, other shoe or not.