‘Meet the Press’ transcript for May 27, 2007

MR. RUSSERT:  Is there anything wrong with outstanding profit margins, the outlook is brighter for the future because of tighter supplies?

GOV. RICHARDSON:  Well, look, I do believe some of the tax breaks in the last energy bill that the oil companies, coal and nuclear are getting, I would get rid of those.  I’ve always been very outspoken on these issues.  I don’t believe there’s anything wrong with trying to earn a living.

MR. RUSSERT:  On a company that makes money off high—higher gasoline prices for consumers.

GOV. RICHARDSON:  It’s a refining company.  It’s a good company, Tim.  And that, that guy the CEO is a first-rate individual who cares about energy security in this country.

MR. RUSSERT:  Let me turn to gun control, and this is an article from your Sante Fe Mexican newspaper.  “Listening to U.S. Representative Bill Richardson”—senior congressman—“explain his position on gun control to a Sante Fe audience is like watching Fred Astaire dance.  ‘I voted to repeal the assault weapons ban because it’s always been my view that occasionally a member of Congress on an issue where he or she has some difficulty in justifying a vote, that I should respect the wishes of my constituents.  In this case, the strong majority favor repealing the ban.  That doesn’t mean it’s the right vote.’”

You voted to ban assault weapons, uzis, street sweepers, then you voted to repeal it, and you’re basically saying, “Well I know it’s not the right vote but my constituents want it, therefore, I’ll give it to them.”

GOV. RICHARDSON:  Well, listen, I know—I’ve been in public life 25 years.  I was the whip when President Clinton was—I was the whip, in other words, in charge of getting some of those votes for the crime bill, which put 100,000 cops on the street, which took some of those initiatives.  But, look, Tim, you know, I—I’m a gun owner.  I’m a western governor.  I believe the issue is not gun control.  The issue, as, as happened in, in Virginia Tech where I, I just—those—the tragedy there, the issue is instant background checks.  I am for instant background—I am for a bill that Carolyn McCarthy is doing now in the House of Representatives which tightens background checks, which, which says...

MR. RUSSERT:  Well, why do hunters need street sweepers or uzi machine guns. You voted to ban those.  As president, would you seek to ban assault weapons.

GOV. RICHARDSON:  Tim, Tim, the assault weapons ban did not work.  It didn’t work.

MR. RUSSERT:  So you would...

GOV. RICHARDSON:  It didn’t work.

MR. RUSSERT:  You wouldn’t do that as president?

GOV. RICHARDSON:  It didn’t work.  What I would do is I would focus more of our efforts—for instance, background checks with those with criminal backgrounds and the mentally ill.  We have to tighten up those background checks.  I am for doing that.  I am for do—but the problem is the states don’t have the database, the resources.

MR. RUSSERT:  OK.  You received the endorsement of the National Rifle Association, NRA, running for governor.  There’s a picture of you at their podium heartily accepting their endorsement.  Would you accept the endorsement of the NRA for president?

GOV. RICHARDSON:  Yes, I would.  I’m a gun owner.  You know, Tim, gun control shouldn’t be a litmus test in the Democratic Party.  I am for reasonable controls on—I don’t want to see uzis when you’re hunting, obviously, but...

MR. RUSSERT:  But you wouldn’t ban them.

GOV. RICHARDSON:  ...this is the West.  But, Tim, I’m a western governor. It’s a cultural issue.  I am for strong law enforcement, putting criminals—I have a very strong law enforcement record.  I believe it’s not necessarily a gun control issue.  Let’s look at some of the issues affecting the mentally ill, the fact that mental health doesn’t have parity with other illnesses. The instant background checks are critically important.  I’m for that.  You don’t want anybody with a criminal background or mentally ill having these—and I think Representative McCarthy, who is one of the strongest advocates for gun control is—I am for that.

MR. RUSSERT:  But the—being the NRA’s man is not going to be popular in some Democratic primaries.

GOV. RICHARDSON:  Well, I—you know, I don’t, I don’t change my positions to run for president.

MR. RUSSERT:  Well, you did on assault weapons.

GOV. RICHARDSON:  I don’t change my positions.

MR. RUSSERT:  But you did change it on assault weapons.

GOV. RICHARDSON:  But, Tim, that was a vote as part of an overall bill that President Clinton proposed.

MR. RUSSERT:  Let me move on to Gonzales—Alberto Gonzales, the attorney general.  You called for his resignation.

GOV. RICHARDSON:  Yeah.

MR. RUSSERT:  You were reluctant to do so—earlier because you said he was Hispanic.

GOV. RICHARDSON:  Yeah.

MR. RUSSERT:  And people said, “How could race play into that?” Just because he’s Hispanic and you’re Hispanic, you gave him a little more license to do things that you didn’t agree with?

GOV. RICHARDSON:  Yeah, I did.  I’m not perfect.  You know, I—you know, you want candidates that are—their consultants tell them, oh, on the one hand; on the other hand.  I gave him two extra days before I called for, for his resignation because he deserved a day in court.  He went to the Senate Judiciary Committee.  And then, in my judgment, he failed.  He failed to answer questions.  It was obvious he was politicizing the Justice Department. It was obvious that he was acting as if he was the lawyer for the president and the White House staff, a political lawyer, rather than the lawyer for the American people.

MR. RUSSERT:  But when you say he did it because he’s Hispanic, you’re suggesting, “If he was white, black or Asian, I wouldn’t have done it.”

GOV. RICHARDSON:  No, no, no.  This is what I said, and, and this is what I feel.  Look, the guy, a migrant worker’s family, the highest ranking Hispanic in history.  There’s a human side to politics, Tim.  And, and I’m, I’m admitting it.  I said I gave him a few extra days.  I, I have called for his resignation.  And I was just really upset when I heard that he went to the—to, to, to Attorney General Aschcroft at the hospital in Georgetown trying to get him to sign an illegal eavesdropping—that really upset me.  And I’d never thought I’d cheer for John Ashcroft, but I’m cheering for him now. But, you, you know, yeah.  I, I admitted that.  You’re going to see me, I am, I am not a model of perfection.  I believe I have strong principles.  I believe that I am somebody that is going to tell the truth.  I’m an unvarnished candidate.  Yeah.  I, I admitted that.

MR. RUSSERT:  Well, another example of that, when Brian Williams asked you in the debate who your model Supreme Court justice was, you said Whizzer White, who is Byron White, appointed by President Kennedy.  He wrote the dissent against Roe v. Wade for abortion rights.  When you were told that the next day, you said, “That couldn’t have happened.  He was there in the ‘60s.” Well, he served on the bench until 1993.  I mean, shouldn’t the president know who a Supreme Court justice is, how long he served, and what opinions he wrote?

GOV. RICHARDSON:  You know, Whizzer White—I love John F. Kennedy.  He’s my hero in politics.  He appointed Whizzer White.  Whizzer White was a legal scholar.  Whizzer White was an all-American football player.  But he was also a legal scholar.  By the way...

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