June 15, 2007
Stephen Bassett
Washington, DC – In case you hadn’t noticed there is a presidential campaign underway. It started rather early for two reasons: 1) the current president has fallen so low in popularity and esteem the Republican candidates had to begin campaigning early to create distance from the administration and overcome an overwhelming lead by the Democrats, and 2) the Democrats are so sure they have the presidential election sewed up, everyone including the office manager at the DNC is running for president. More candidates on both sides are in the wings ready to jump on stage. It’s beginning to look like the draw for the U.S. Open.
Meanwhile, various states, i.e. Florida, in piques of adolescent indulgence are moving their primaries up on the calendar in order to “be more relevant.” The absurdly stretched out primary season will help make the 2008 federal election the most expensive in all of recorded history breaking the previous record of $3.9 billion in 2004.
Does anyone believe they’ve gotten $3.9 billion dollars worth of new leadership skills since January of 2005?
Since it is my job to religiously watch every cable news channel so you don’t have to, I had the pleasure of viewing all of the “presidential debates” on CNN, MSNBC and Fox. It is difficult to find the right words to properly express how insipid, pointless, contrived, superficial, evasive, and irrelevant were these debates. (Maybe it isn’t difficult.)
And so we begin another journey in the democratic process leading to the 44th President of the United States and the 110th Congress. If the electorate maintains their recent enthusiasm, they will vote at a rate of 60% of the voting eligible population. This was a strong turnout by U. S. standards. (40% of the voting eligible population turned out in the 2006 midterm – also strong by U. S. standards.) By contrast the voter eligible turnout for the French 2007 election was 84%. In Australia, one of a number of first-world countries with compulsory voting laws, turnout runs around 95%.
I could list here the critically important issues, national and international, the two dozen two-party candidates will assiduously avoid throughout the campaign right up until taking the oath of office, but I won’t – not enough space. So let’s focus on one – the exopolitical issue of the government imposed truth embargo on the facts confirming an extraterrestrial presence engaging the human race.
A simple question: without consideration for partisan perspective, what pair of candidates in either party would be the most favorable to the Disclosure process leading to a formal acknowledgement of the extraterrestrial presence by the U. S. government?
As it happens, that pairing – the ET Ticket – is also the most likely ticket to emerge from the milieu of combinations of candidates. It is Hillary Clinton and Bill Richardson. No other combination is a close second.
Let’s begin with Bill Richardson. He has been in the race for some time but did not formally announce his candidacy until May 21 at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles. He is the first Hispanic Democrat to run for the presidency. While his name recognition is well below that of Clinton or Obama, Richardson is often called the most qualified Democratic candidate by virtue of experience. He served 14 years in the House of Representatives, one year as Ambassador to the United Nations and two years as Secretary of Energy. He then became a successful governor for the past four and a half years. Along the way this trilingual son of a Mexican mother and American father participated in numerous foreign missions of every type and has visited scores of nations in one capacity or another. He is well known as one of the most likable figures in American politics with good friends in both parties.
That said, it should be added that Bill Richardson is not going to be the next president – wrong state at the wrong time for the top of the ticket and others are ahead of him in line. He has been running all along for the second spot and the legacy of the first Hispanic Vice President. He would be an ideal running mate for any of the east-of-the-Mississippi candidates (the rest of the field save for Gravel) and could deliver several key western states.
Not much needs to be elucidated here regarding Hillary Clinton’s candidacy. She is the front runner, has nearly 100% name recognition, has raised the most money and will likely be the presidential nominee. And oh yes, she is a Democrat at a time when the Republican Party is undergoing something between systemic collapse and self-immolation.
If you apply the usual political calculus, it is not difficult to determine that the best pairing for Richardson’s strong VP presence is Hillary Clinton.Take Clinton/Richardson in the office pool and plan how to spend the extra cash.
So much for the likely ticket. Why the ET ticket? Now it gets interesting.
From March of 1993 to mid-1996 billionaire Laurance Rockefeller made a formal approach to the Clinton administration to do what Jimmy Carter promised to do in 1976 but failed – release the government documents regarding extraterrestrial-related phenomena and essentially end the truth embargo. This effort now referred to as the Rockefeller Initiative was run through the Executive based Office of Science and Technology Policy headed by Dr. John Gibbons. Watching from close by but not directly participating were President Clinton, his senior aide John Podesta and Hillary Clinton. Significantly, both Bill and Hillary Clinton visited Rockefeller’s JY Ranch near Jackson Hole, Wyoming in 1994 and 1995 while the Initiative was still underway. It is assumed they discussed Laurance’s intentions privately.
It was during this period that President Clinton asked his close friend and Associate Attorney General, Webster Hubbell, to inquire about the UFO question at the Justice Department and elsewhere. Hubbell described this effort in his book Friends in High Places. Clinton would later make occasional public references to Roswell and UFO’s.
John Podesta went on to become Clinton’s Chief of Staff in the second term. Then in 2002 and 2003 Podesta gave the opening remarks at two press conferences held by the Coalition for Freedom of Information at the National Press Club. His remarks included these statements:
“I think it’s time to open the books on questions that have remained in the dark on the question of government investigations of UFOs……………..We ought to do it because . . . the American people quite frankly can handle the truth, and we ought to do it because it’s the law.”
“It is time for the government to declassify records that are more than 25 years old and to provide scientists with data that will assist in determining the real nature of this phenomenon.”
Podesta then went on to found the progressive think tank, The Center for American Progress, and remains a major theorist within the Democratic Party.
Hillary Clinton, of course, became the Junior Senator from New York and the front runner for her party’s nomination.It is inconceivable, given the events described above, she has not come to some conclusions with regard to the validity of the extraterrestrial issue.
Bill Richardson knew he was going to run for a place on the Democratic ticket some time ago. Even with that, he wrote for posterity the following in a foreword to the Roswell Dig Diaries published in 2004:
“the mystery surrounding this crash (at Roswell) has never been adequately explained – not by independent investigators, and not by the U.S. government.”
“It would help everyone if the U.S. government disclosed everything it knows. With full disclosure and our best scientific investigation, we should be able to find out what happened on that fateful day in July of 1947. The American people can handle the truth no matter how bizarre or mundane, and contrary to what you see in the movies.”
Even those who do not watch the political scene closely might be astounded that a candidate-to-be for president would dare write those words, which essentially contradict the government’s stated policy of many years on perhaps the most controversial issue in the world.
For those who do closely follow politics it is absolutely unfathomable.
Even more intriguing is this: at a time when partisan politics is as vicious as many can recall and every opportunity to bring down an opponent, within or without one’s party, is taken with relish, John Podesta and Bill Richardson are completely untouched regarding their provocative statements relating to Roswell and extraterrestrial-related phenomena. This cannot be explained under the current political rules of engagement. Apparently the rules have changed.
Are the Democrats planning a Disclosure event in the early months of 2009 should they win the White House? Are Republicans sufficiently aware of a pending Disclosure event to refrain from attacking Richardson and Podesta on this issue in fear of consequences if the truth comes out?
If Clinton and Richardson become the nominees in 2008, these questions will take on new relevancy.
In the meantime will even one in the multitude of candidates have the courage to utter the taboo word “extraterrestrial” as they seek the most powerful office in the world? That’s up to you. Given the campaign still has many months to go, there is plenty of time to find out what they think on the matter. You just have to ask.
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Relevant Web Links:
Clinton’s at the JY Ranch: http://tinyurl.com/35rg4b
John Podesta at the National Press Club: http://tinyurl.com/yr8nw7
Roswell Dig Diaries: http://tinyurl.com/28bosp
Friends in High Places: http://tinyurl.com/yqsvnl