RICHARDSON - LOUSY CANDIDATE, BUT DECENT NEGOTIATOR - DEALS WITH CHAVEZ AND FARC

NYTIMES:

During the meeting, Mr. Richardson gave two baseball mementos to Mr. Chávez: a vintage card featuring Luis Aparicio, a Venezuelan shortstop who won renown in professional baseball in the United States, and a baseball signed by three legendary American players, Mickey Mantle, Duke Snider and Willie Mays.

“We started joking about who had the better curveball,” Mr. Richardson said.

Venezuela’s official news agency said Mr. Chávez had offered to help any mediation attempts, including Mr. Richardson’s. Earlier this year Mr. Chávez helped win the release of six Colombian captives of the FARC before political tensions between Colombia and Venezuela derailed his negotiations with the rebels.

The status of the three Americans held by the FARC — Marc Gonsalves, Thomas Howes and Keith Stansell — remains unclear. The men, hired to do antinarcotics surveillance for Northrop Grumman, were captured by the guerrillas in 2003 when their plane went down in the Colombian jungle.

Mr. Richardson said that his priority would be the three Americans, but that he was also in contact with France’s government about ways to work for the release of Ingrid Betancourt, who was taken captive in 2002 while campaigning for the Colombian presidency. She has Colombian and French citizenship.

I HOPE RICHARDSON SUCCEEDS. HE MIGHT:

• CHAVEZ HAS A LOT OF PULL WITH FARC - THE NARCO-COMMIES. WHY!? THEY'RE FREAKIN' ALLIES!
• RICHARDSON WAS A BUFFOON ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL, BUT HAS ALWAYS DONE WELL IN THESE CIRCUMSTANCES.
• CAN YOU IMAGINE OBAMA DOING THIS OR HILLARY!?
• NEVER.