Bill Richardson has Al Gore disease, but Worse
by Richardson ~ April 13th, 2007. Filed under: Diplomacy, Fiskings.Al Gore, 1996: “… I took the initiative in creating the Internet”Bill Richardson, 2007: “[My] North Korean Breakthrough”*
Yesterday when I saw the title, * “Governor Richardson’s North Korean Breakthrough” at the site “Americans for [Bill] Richardson,” I thought the site owner took some liberties with the title and mixed it with various wire news reports. Not so. The author responded to my comment there, “I took [the title] directly from Governor Richardson’s e-mail to me yesterday.”
So I took a closer look at the article and saw this, apparently written by Bill Richardson, or his official campaign, referring to North Korea announcing they would allow IAEA inspectors into the country upon receipt of $25 million now unfrozen funds from a bank in Macau:
My years of experience dealing with North Korea and my knowledge of the region allowed me to help facilitate this new resolution to end their nuclear weapons program.
It will take a while for the media to understand the impact of this historic accord. (emphasis added)
The average American may not know much about the Six-Party Talks and what led to the 13 February deal (DOC), but most readers here will know about that process, and recognize Bill Richardson’s claim as completely false.
In fact, I’m going to say Gov. Bill Richardson is a liar. My only caveat is if the release was not written by or approved by him, in which case I would withdrawal that accusation. But I don’t think so. This evening – Friday the 13th – I listened to an interview with Bill Richardson on NPR (WAMU), where he made similar claims and implied he was responsible for North Korea’s decision. He also bought North Korea’s line about wanting closer strategic ties t the U.S. to offset China. Incredibly naïve, with no real understanding of North Korea.
The truth is, North Korea invited Bill Richardson to claim the remains of U.S. soldiers from the Korean War due to his familiarity with the regime, having dealt with North Korea during the Clinton administration.
There is no “new resolution.” Allowing IAEA inspectors into North Korea was always a part of the 13 February deal, which Bill Richardson had absolutely nothing to do with; it was negotiated entirely by Christopher Hill. This is a clear example of Bill Richardson claiming credit for something Hill did.
I understand that presidential candidates sometimes take liberties with the truth. But this is not stretching the true, it is an outright fabrication; it is a lie.
Also see related posts at OneFreeKorea and ROK Drop.
April 13th, 2007 at 9:02 pm
I don’t know the details of Richardson’s involvement with N. Korea, but, judging by the way you cherry pick the Gore quotation, I have a hard time believing you aren’t spinning whatever he did claim to the point of distortion.
[edited]
April 13th, 2007 at 9:07 pm
Tom,
Don’t be an arse – follow the link and read it. Or read the direct quotes here.
The only spinning is being done by Bill Richardson, and anyone trying to defend Al Gore. Like you.
Thanks.
April 14th, 2007 at 9:14 am
How can you beat up on your uncle like that, man, talk about a disfunctional family! (I wonder how many non-regular readers will buy that?)
Anyway, I’ll just start referring to you exclusively as DPRK Studies since I kinda like referring to the blog-personas anyway…
I am honestly disappointed. (Gov.) Richardson used to be one of the few politicians I had labelled “possibly a non-ass” — but, since he started having ideas about being president a year or so ago, and particularly because I ran across his North Korea stuff more than other things since I’m interested in Korea, my estimation of him has dropped big time.
April 14th, 2007 at 6:29 pm
[…] Bill Richardson has Al Gore disease, but Worse […]
April 15th, 2007 at 12:40 pm
[…] before the deadline passed. Since Gov. Richardson elbowed aside the State Department and spuriously claimed credit for this “breakthrough,” can we now blame him for the inartful use of all that […]
April 15th, 2007 at 5:13 pm
Governor Richardson used to be some what reasonable but since he decided to run for president (really for Secretary of State under Hilary) he is trying to appeal to the Moveon.org, Daily Kos crowd. On Daily Kos he is credited with breaking “landmark deals in Darfur and North Korea”. Utter nonsense which I’m sure he knows but the usual leftist crowd will believe it and that is who he trying to appeal to.
He could care less about trying to get people like us who understand DPRK issues to vote for him when our votes can be easily cancelled out by the leftist crowd.
August 20th, 2007 at 8:36 pm
I have no doubt that Bill Richardson is embelleshing events - he is after all a national politician. I’m not sure I would go to the extent of calling him a liar - more a manipulator of the truth. All national politicians do what he did, some are just better at not getting caught. The question that should be asked about Richardson is whether there are enough positives to outweigh the inevitable negatives and whether his negatives outweigh those of his opponents.
August 21st, 2007 at 11:11 am
No, Bill Richardson took it even further.
It’s a falsehood, not an embellishment. It’s not abstract or something that’s debatable (like judging how well a project did, etc.) - he outright claimed responsibility for something he was not involved in, on several occasions. Gov. Bill Richardson is a liar.