I'm glad Richardson is illuminating the fact that obesity has morphed into a serious health condition in the U.S. This has long been an overlooked issue and yet many of us are obese. The American people need to seriously start a debate on this issue and get this problem under control. It is not healthy to even be slightly obese. The medical profession will certainly corroborate this as fact.

You're kidding me. This is a joke, right?

Thankfully this silly person will be weeded out during the primaries.

I think everyone should be covered by the ADA. I think everyone should be able to park in handicapped spots. Everyone has his or her own problems. We should all just agree to give up and come together for a group hug. Anyone know how to play Kumbaya? :) Just because you CAN do something does not mean that you should. How can Richardson pander so shamelessly? Richardson can promise obese people that they will not face heartache or discrimination and they might feel good enough to vote for him. However, he will never deliver what he promises. Being obese is a health problem. An obese person can improve their health with diet and exercise. No law is going to change this reality. Richardson does a real disservice to himself and obese Americans by ignoring this fact. This kind of manipulative politics is destructive, and Richardson knows it.

While obesity is a serious health condition Americans suffer from, it is self-induced and therefore controlable. I disagree that persons who are obese should be protected under the ADA. This is not like blindness or deafness yet Americans seem to take a blind eye and deaf ear to their personal health.

He's been listening to too many Jay Leno jokes or he's throwing a dart at Hillary.

Amen to Sean and Clark's comments. While it's true that SOME people have little to no control over their weight, the vast majority of us choose our weight by choosing how we treat our bodies. If we label the consequences of our actions a disability, and allow the government to regulate how we will be treated because of it, we'll be opening the door for the government to categorize and track us even more than it already does - in effect giving our government the right to discriminate against us.

He's out of his mind. Becoming fat is largely that person's responsibility. How can anybody waste Federal tax payer's money to protect them???

How can one be so heartless as to suggest that the obese are somehow responsible for their sorry plight in life? It's all the fault of those eeevil Republicans and their Neo-con acolytes. They overeat out of the desperation borne of a hopelessness gestated in the womb of Red-State America! Reparations for the fat!

So you should be protected because you have spent a lifetime abusing your body, eating trash and not exercising? Obesity is a preventable thing and deserves no protection. Actually it is becoming the status quo to say it is ok to be fat. Well guess what it is not! It is not healthy and there are many studies proving the impact of obesity on health, productivity and its impact on the people around them who have to deal with it. A better topic would maybe be how to ban food with no nutritional value and marketing to children for junk food. It is no wonder the rest of the world thinks americans are pathetic whiners.

Ok I get it...America is so full of fat people that he thinks making this comment is going to get him more votes...

Ignorance is bliss, because obesity is a very serious problem in America. Next time when you are out at the mall or in restaurants take a notice of how many Americans are over weight or have fat around mid-section. It is eye opening. Obesity leads to very serious diseases such as cancers, diabetes, other disabilities, not joke or something to laugh at, this is serious health problem. Governor Richardson removed junk food from the public schools in New Mexico to stop the risk of blood sugar and other diseases to our children and believes teaching how to live healthy should be part of our children's education program. It is of the upmost importance that we not only improve health care and access but also aggressively improve prevention, cure research and cost, our future is depends on it because good health is part of one's long term wealth.

Although I favor the Richardson's Health Plan (no new taxes required and not mandatory) over most of the Democrats and Republicans candidates running to date, I must say the Democrats as whole seem to be better at tracking this issue with the economic reality and needs of the future well being of Americans than the Republicans. Some realities, a little over half of American have a private health insurance, while the rest do not. Those residents in the United States regardless of citizen status, that do not have a health insurance policies are entitled to medical help in hospital emergency rooms because of the legality and ethics of our system. Such cost to treat the uninsured is passed on to those with health insurance with increased premiums each year, so in saying that, under a free-market Republican plan this issue of passing the cost of the uninsured would not be controlled regardless of plan. Today, private companies that provided a benefit of health insurance to their employees pass this cost on to the consumer or their customers. It is estimated that the 1/3 of the price tag of a American automobile pays for health care for auto workers in Detroit. So this not unusual for businesses to amortized the cost of health care in the price of products and services. The economic problem that lies ahead is the large number of the baby boomers that are going to retire and come of age to require more medical attention in their senior years thus placing a higher service capacity and cost on our current health care system. Not to mention, is a system that is under-capacity with skilled labor and affodable technology. Also, it is important to factor in the cost variance of the projected inflation assumptions to health care cost along with consumable inflation, in economic terms, will require action to be taken now to offset. If we hold the current course and do nothing, the critical path will have a disastrous outcome for our country's future economic health.

Great, give them more funding so they can fill up the shopping cart with more chips & cola.
People are responsible for their own bad eating habits, not the rest of us.

I believe that the Federal government and consumers need to apply more pressure on the food industry to put intelligent caps on how much grams of sugar and sodium are used to processed the foods we eat. It is true that we are not responsible other's poor eating, drinking or smoking habits but if you have a health insurance policy, then one certainly pays for the systemic causes of obesity with increased premiums each year. So you may not be responsible but you are paying the price, regardless of you habits. And the Governor's point is that obesity should be taken seriously as a disease and can and does lead to disabilities. We need to first acknowledge problem and then act to in ways that manage this disease not only with the fiscal impact on health care in mind but also in ethical and respectful manner that does not ridicule the subject.

As an American fat guy, I've seen what Federal protection has done for mob informants and I want no part of it.

"This is an issue of basic civil rights," said Richardson...

This guy has fallen prey to that mindless claim put forth by so many connected with the Democrat Party.

That claim is "I have a right!" Not one of them can tell you what a 'right' is or from where 'rights' come, as if by simply saying the phrase, that 'right' will come true.

Exercise more and stop eating everything that doesn't move. There, I just saved millions of dollars in unecessary obesity research. Next issue.

Health education for our children?

Back in the day (before the NEA took over) I had basic health and nutrition every year in grades 1-6. The majority of people become obese by choice not by some rare function of body chemistry.
For crying out loud, how many reality TV shows do there have to be that show these people simply eating and sitting around before we wake up to the fact that the majority of fat peeople are that way due to their choices!?

"As governor of New Mexico, he banned junk food from being sold in vending machines in schools, he worked to ensure that children have access to a healthy breakfast, and he put a new emphasis on physical education."

The Governor's actions speak louder than his words...

The Democrat Party Motto: There is nothing in your life that can not be made better without more taxes and more government control over everything. Just ask the blacks. They used to be slaves, republicans freed them and democrats have delivered equality to them though the govnernment. Now, there is no more racism and nothing, but pure equality in all things for them. Pay, education, family life, homes, schools, no violence... Everything the government touches turns out just as golden as that. I hope one day the government takes over everything for me so I can always make sure that I can be the best I can in my life as a government minion. I can't wait for the day when the government has taken over the last of my personal responsibilities and has delivered me to progressive utopia.

The Republican Motto is much simpler: There is nothing more in life that cannot be made any better so we will leave problems of day to whims of Grand Old Party to mis-manage or profit from. Our Grand Old Party knows better and that the means always justifies the ends in governing - of course, we are always right, regardless what the facts, may it be Watergate, Iran-Contra, or borrowing money without having to ask, because we believe in right-sided of opportunism for all.

If obese people get ADA protection, they will get handicap permits that allow them to get even less exercise by parking right next to the supermarket door - isn't that exactly the opposite of what they need? --- For 98 percent of obese people it is simple math - what you eat but don't burn off by exercise/movement, by expending energy is stored as lumps of fat - you did it to yourself --- should we give drug addicts and alcholics handicap parking permits too?

Another observation...as the primary shopper/cook for my family, I spend time in supermarkets - watching people unload their carts and checkout. Obese people unload lots of stuff like cookies, cheese crunch doodies, frozen pizzas and ice cream. Thin people - fruits, veggies, fish and chicken. --- I'm not a nutrition expert here but I think I see a relationship.

Can this guy be serious?

Surely there is more good to be gained from throwing our efforts into PREVENTING obesity and REVERSING it, rather than simply making sure that it's accepted with a smile and a hearty hand-shake.

The economic and health impacts of this epidemic are self-evident. The solution cannot be found in perpetuating it, while simultaneously wasting public resources.

Somehow I am not too surprised. The Democratic Nannies want to control people and more are willing to allow that to happen.
What ever happened to the phrase 'Personal Responsibility'? Are people unwilling to take care of themselves? Gee, why not let someone else take the responsibility.

Please, give me a break, Richardson seems like he going after the fat vote. Just another Democrat who wants to wipe away personal responsibility and make being fat another avenue for teh trial lawyers to become richer and drain this society. Like Nancy Reagan said in the 80's "just say no" to the 10th twinky. Personal indulgences never kept a society at it best, see Roman Empire in the history books.

Businesses and governments do not have unlimited funds for making accommodations for handicapped people. If obese people are added to the ADA, one effect will be that money that would otherwise be spent on helping the blind, the deaf, paraplegics and quadriplegics, and other people with real disabilities will instead be directed to helping fat people. There are far, far more obese Americans than there are blind, deaf, and paralyzed Americans, and with these kinds of programs the money always flows to the biggest, loudest group. I don't know about you people, but it doesn't sound right to me to sacrifice people with real disabilities to accommodate people whose problem is that they eat too much and don't exercise enough.

My father has been overweight since I can remember and I as well. I think the doctors need to decide if a person should be disabled due to weight. Other wise they just need to get out an get it off. Why should we pay for someone to be lazy.

This guy is a moron. He is trying to distinguish himself by making light of things that he knows nothing about. If he wants to stand out, then why doesn't he stand up and say "Let's figure out a way to end obesity, starting with ourselves and with our children." He is not helping anyone by giving them more excuses. Most americans today are obese by their own choosing (lack of exercise, leading sedentary lives, overeating, and not followin a proper diet). As an exercise physiologist I am sensitive to overweight individuals, but at the same time know that they have the power to change their own lives. And, only 5% of obesity is caused from genetics, the other 95% is caused from overeating and lack of exercise. Thankfully he doesn't have a chance to win. I'm tired of all the excuses and free rides available to Americans.

Being overweight (ok... FAT!) is not the responsibility of the rest of us. Being overweight, unless you have a bad case of diabetes that you were born with (and didn't bring on yourself because of poor diet and exercise habits), is your own fault. Some overweight people probably are discriminated against when it comes to a job BECAUSE they probably do have health problems and the job place knows they won't be as likely to be able to work as hard or they'll be calling in sick or be out on disability. Costing them money. I am SO SICK of the United States coming up with "special interest groups" so more people can be protected under some stupid laws. Basically if you are white, in good health, work hard and pay your bills, you are a minority and deserve no fair treatment in this society.