Citing Iraq plans, Richardson adviser defects to Biden campaign

Petty partisan politics takes center stage once again. A difference in ideologies between Governor Bill Richardson and advisor Fletcher Smith has resulted in Smith switching to the Biden campaign.


COLUMBIA, South Carolina (CNN) – One of New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson's South Carolina advisers is leaving the presidential campaign because of Richardson's Iraq plan and signing up with Sen. Joe Biden.

Citing Richardson's liberal stance on Iraq, which would immediately remove all U.S. forces from Iraq, the campaign's South Carolina state co-chair Fletcher Smith said Biden's plan to divide Iraq into three federal regions is a more responsible plan.

"To me it's the only way this problem is going to be resolved," Smith said in a phone interview Saturday morning. "Right now we have a quicksand of a civil war, and I don't believe we can just pull out precipitously in a six month period of time without jeopardizing our interests in the region. We don't need another evacuation that we had in Vietnam."

Smith serves in the South Carolina House of Representatives and is a member of the South Carolina Legislative Black Caucus. Smith has been the co-chair of Richardson's South Carolina steering committee since July.

He said he had spoken with Richardson and his staff.

Smith said he did not consider joining any other Democratic campaign besides Biden's, and noted he was drawn to Biden because he is an Irish-American.

"Irish-Americans faced the same problems African-Americans have faced in this country," Smith said.

The Richardson campaign did not comment on Smith, but defended the Governor's Iraq plan.

"Governor Richardson has a real plan to get our troops out of Iraq," said Richardson spokesman Lachlan McIntosh. "He's the only major candidate who will get all of our troops out quickly and leave no residual forces whatsoever. Our men and women are currently targets in Iraq. The longer we stay, the more will die."

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Paris Hilton's Baptism By David Letterman Is Wake-Up Call

I kind of avoided this issue but after reading all of the blogs about it, I couldn't help it. As you know if you follow celebrities, Paris Hilton was on David Letterman last week, Wednesday and was given the royal post-jail baptism by David himself. If you've not seen the YouTube video of the event, it's here:



Now David was totally hard on her, and reportedly she's not going to appear on David Letterman again. Indeed, the Internet headlines don't look good: "Paris Humiliated", "David Letterman Mocks", "David Letterman Grills" , and so on.

What I'd like to learn is how Dave came to decide he was going to treat her that way. I'd like to be in the production meeting when that went down. Well, what he did falls in line with my YouTube video when she got out of jail:



Paris did handle the Letterman episode well, and now -- and on the same day that she was on Letterman -- annouced she was going to travel to Rwanda , saying There's so much need in that area, and I feel like if I go, it will bring more attention to what people can do to help."

So Paris is on the right track. But I'm not sure America will let her get over the "jail" part of her life. Let's face it, she was treated terribly and she's got to feel a little bad right now, but she can fight back by helping people and being successful, and not getting upset about it, because that's what people want to see.

Fred Thompson - "Can I Have A Round of Applause?"

Wow. I think the acting bug's really gotten to Senator and Presidential Candidate Fred Thompson. In this YouTube video that's below and I found over at Wonkette , he's begging for it. I can't remember seeing a Presidential candidate ask for it.

That's a sure sign of a lack of charisma. I used to think actors had it automatically, but now I'm thinking that it's a sign of how good the actor may be that we think he or she's got it.