Richardson's Big Play

Allah offers up a new Bill Richardson commercial featuring the nutroots all-stars. Permit me a rationale that's just a little more cynical. I've already posted Richardson is Hilly's best choice for Veep. Hillary is also already tracking toward the middle vis-a-vis her not going to bring all the troops home statements in this the Sunday's media carnival. With the nutroots on Richardson's team, it all folds nicely into Team Clinton for the general election. I'm not claiming it's coordinated. But it makes Richardson all that more desirable as her running mate for the big show. And that's the only play the man has given where things stand.

Richardson needs them because he can’t get the kind of traction on the left that Silky and Obama have notwithstanding his chopper-off-the-embassy-roof “everybody out” plan for Iraq, which logically should have made him a darling of liberals eager to see a truly catastrophic Teachable Moment happen inside the country.

Comments

[carlos]

Dear friends of the Riehl World,

I would like to inform you that in Aruba some new development of the Natalee Holloway case is going to hit you real hard...stay tune.

[carlos]

Mr. Jossie Mansur the owner of the Diario has been making a fuzz regarding the Holloway case in Aruba. All this to distract attention on some issues of his own family members. Yesterday in the morning hours one of his brothers, to mentioned Luis Mansur has been arrested by local and Dutch authorities regarding money laundry and drug trafficking. The local police force has been assisted by the Dutch Special Units (Korps Landelijke Diensten)and Special Drug Squads out of Curacao. The brohter of Jossie Mansur is now being detained in the police station in San Nicolas and his wife is being held in the police station in Sta Cruz. Jossie Mansur's brother was caught with over one million in cash at his house during the police raid. Two other arrested during this raid was believed to be the relatives of the Ochoa's. Ochoa's was the second largest drug smuggler out of Colombia in the 80's and 90's and are well known to be good friends of the Mansur's in Aruba specially Jossie and his brother Luis. Now everybody can understand the reasons why Jossie Mansur was spitting so much carbage on the local police force and the Aruban government in particular. See for yourself some of the facts regarding Jossie Mansurs relatives and close families:

"More and more the name Mansur turns up in money laundering cases. Alex and Eric Mansur were indicted in Puerto Rico in August 1994. (77) President Clinton specifically mentioned the Mansur's when he put Aruba on the list of Major Illicit Drug-transit Countries in December 1996. Although no member of the family was actually indicted in the La Costa case, the name Mansur is frequently is found in the files which were seized at Habibe's home on Aruba".

"The activities of Mansur and Lopesierra, however, go well beyond this. They are accused of illegally funding the presidential campaign of Colombian president Ernesto Samper in 1994. Not only did Samper allegedly receive 6 million dollars from the Cali Cartel – an accusation he vehemently denies and ascribes to political machinations – it is said he also pocketed US$ 500,000 in cash offered by "a group from Philip Morris and Interbank”." (79)

The Mansur Family seems to have all the right connections in its corner of the Caribbean. Some Mansur's still have Venezuelan nationality, and they have interests in Maracaibo and Caracas, as well as in Punto Fijo and Coro, where the originally Lebanese Mansur Family had settled before moving to Aruba. Punto Fijo is situated on the Paraguaná peninsula in the North at the Golfo de Venezuela, which separates it from La Guajira.

[seekeronos]

Natalee Holloway... at this point, who really cares? Unless she is hanging out in the Big Hollowed Out Hole 1,500mi underneath Bermuda in a club with Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, Batboy, and the guy who killed JonBenet waiting for their next _World Weekly News_ appearance, I just don't think she's up to much these days.

Although I hear those "miraculous Elvis-shaped refrigerator molds" might be making a comeback as well.

[Aye Chihuahua]

Does anyone else find it curious that Hillary's waffling on a troop pull out specifically and the war in general comes right on the heels of the articles indicating that President Bush has been advising the Dems behind the scenes?

I would imagine that he said something like "don't paint yourself into a corner because until you are sitting in this chair, behind this desk, getting the info and briefings that I see everyday you are not equipped to make a wise decision."

I may be wrong, but that's my gut feeling.

[Terry Gain]

Dan

I apologise profusely but I must again go off topic to report more evidence of what is now obvious except to the mentally challenged. The pacification of Iraq is continuing apace. By reason of my posts (among others)your readers have had the opportunity to know that the Surge is working, however some, especially Boob, Allwingker, Christine and Gillian have suspended disbelief and continue to deny the obvious progress.

I am so grateful Dan that you have afforded me the opportunity to attempt to enlighten them over the past few months.

The chance of persuading them that they are wrong is probably zilch, however I'm no quitter so, with your permission Dan, here goes:
-----------

Kline says he sees 'amazing' progress in Iraq
By Frederic J. Frommer, Associated Press

Last update: September 25, 2007 – 5:03 PM

WASHINGTON — Rep. John Kline, returning from his fifth trip to Iraq, said Tuesday he saw "amazing" progress in the security situation there, and a sense of normalcy returning among Iraqi people.
Kline, R-Minn., traveled to Iraq and Afghanistan over the weekend as part of a bipartisan House Armed Services Committee trip led by Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii.

Kline, who has been a supporter of President Bush's Iraq policy, said he was particularly impressed with the improved security in the Anbar province capital of Ramadi.

"The security situation there is just truly amazing. Just amazing," he said in a telephone interview. Kline said the Marine battalion commander there told the lawmakers that violence is way down.

"One of the great advantages of going is you can look and get a sense of what the atmosphere is," Kline said. "People are going about their business, the shops are open, they're walking around the street."

Kline said the lawmakers were greeted by children who laughed, teased and asked for money. Adults smiled and gave the thumbs up.

"Just a sense of normalcy — people getting on with their lives," he said.

The take by Kline, a conservative Republican, was similar to one by the state's liberal Democratic Rep. Keith Ellison, who visited Ramadi in July. In that trip, Ellison noted that people were walking the streets of the city, going to the market, and he had commented on the "general level of respect and calm that I thought was good."

But these two lawmakers have opposite approaches in mind for Iraq, with Ellison calling for the withdrawal of U.S. troops, and Kline supporting the Bush administration's policy.

Kline, a retired Marine, said he thought the surge of U.S. troops helped, but wasn't the deciding factor.

"I don't think it would be fair to say that the surge is responsible for what happened in Ramadi," he said. "It just sort of reinforced it. It showed the sheiks and the Iraqis there that the Americans were committed. It helped tip it in our direction."

Kline said the surge was more than adding 30,000 troops.

"What we've done is change how we're working there," he said. "Now they're interwoven with, sharing the same building with the Iraqi security forces. And I think that has really made the difference."

In a separate interview, Abercrombie said the key question is what will happen when U.S. forces leave.

"Where we were, the Americans are clearly in charge, and the Iraqis are clearly in the subordinate role," he said. "But that's OK. The question becomes — how do you make this handoff, and at what point do you do it?"

As to whether a sense of normalcy had returned to the city, he said, "I don't have any idea. We weren't allowed to go five feet. At any checkpoint, once you pass it, of course people are living their lives. But it doesn't mean that two blocks over somebody isn't going to get blown up."

Kline said he wasn't able to get out and talk to children in Baghdad, but that the situation there was much improved from his previous visit, in June of last year.

"It's much more like it was the first time I went, in October 2003," he said.

In Baghdad, the group got a briefing from Maj. Gen. Joseph Fil, a senior U.S. commander. According to Kline, Fil told the lawmakers that while security has improved with Iraqis turning away from al-Qaida, there are still neighborhoods where fighting remains intense.

"It's still very dangerous and al-Qaida has sort of dug in in some of the neighborhoods," Kline said, "and the Iraqi Army and Iraqi police and U.S. and coalition forces are still engaged in some very heavy, tough fighting."

© 2007 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.

[Fred Beloit]

Oh oh, Terry, you are setting off another round of furious and rabid back of the neck biting by the labials who comment, or make a living commenting, here. Goodie, goodie. It's so much fun to watch. Hold on to the tinfoil, nowanger, it's gonna be a rough ride.

[Terry Gain]

Fred,

Looks like the sissies are all MIA. Perhaps they've all gone back to that idiot KOS site.

[Fred Beloit]

Oh they'll be here sooner or later I fear. It's funny about Kos, Inc. They regularly ban commenters for various sins, but they can't understand why anybody would object to Columbia's coronation-gone-slightly-wrong of Ahmadinejad. What a world, what a political party.

[Terry Gain]

They'll be back as soon as an al Qaeda bomber kills himself and a few others to once again crow that all is lost. They haven't had too much to cheer about lately.

[tally]

Hillary can't pick Richardson, he's labeled a homophobe.

[seekeronos]

"--- Hillary can't pick Richardson, he's labeled a homophobe. ---"

Really? Do tell... because on his campaign site, he's making himself out to be the champion of domestic partnerships and prides himself on knocking down his state's DOMA legislation some time ago.

[ec1009]

"Oh they'll be here sooner or later I fear. It's funny about Kos, Inc. They regularly ban commenters for various sins, but they can't understand why anybody would object to Columbia's coronation-gone-slightly-wrong of Ahmadinejad. What a world, what a political party.

Posted by: Fred Beloit"

Markos can't win with you guys. Atacked for not deleting comments and attacked for deleting comments. Most wingnut blogs ban for making too good of a point. Not you Dan, kudos, we only have to put up with dumb insults by the likes of Fred.

. . . and another thing. The surge is working? How many times does Lucy have to pull the football away before you Charlie Browns stop taking her at her word?

Insult away!