General Wesley K. Clark Issues Response to Speech by President Bush

[robbedvoter]

General Wesley K. Clark Issues Response to Speech by President Bush

9/23/03 3:48:00 PM


----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------

To: National Desk, Political Reporter

Contact: Clark Campaign Press Office, 501-244-9522

LITTLE ROCK, Ark., Sept. 23 /U.S. Newswire/ -- General Wesley K.
Clark (Ret.), Democratic candidate for President, made the following
statement today in response to President Bush's speech to the United
Nations:

"The President did great damage to our decades-old international
coalitions with his Iraq war policy. Now the President is asking
those same nations to help him rebuild Iraq with their money and
their troops.

"No one can be surprised that the President is having a hard time
convincing other nations to cooperate now. This demonstrates just how
badly the President has handled the Iraq situation from the start."

------

Paid for by Clark for President Inc. Contributions and gifts to Clark
for President are not deductible for federal income tax purposes.


http://www.usnewswire.com/

[Skittles]

1. GO WES!!

An immediate attack. I like it!

[The Zanti Regent]

39. I love this tag team

I love Dean beating Bush over the head with a chair, then he tags Clark in to beat the Chimp senseless with a sledgehammer.

[Chico Man]

2. Wow got it out before Dean.. cool

I hope Dean vs. Clark raises the standards for both candidates, and I'm sure each of them can learn a hell of a lot from each other.

[Mackay]

7. Sic em Clark!

But I don't think that after DEAN is done chewing up BushCo... that there is going to be much left for Clark.

But he is welcome to the scraps.

[Chico Man]

10. They can tag team on Bush all they want

The more, the merrier :) Nothing beats a well rounded attack founded with the TRUTH...

:bounce:

[cprise]

8. You missed Dean's speech at Noon.

You would have loved it. B-)

[Forkboy]

13. I dont care who says it first

so long as they do say it :)

[davidinalameda]

3. bullseye!

hit that one right on the nose


"No one can be surprised that the President is having a hard time
convincing other nations to cooperate now. This demonstrates just how
badly the President has handled the Iraq situation from the start."

[RedSox02]

It's one thing to launch a war...

... it is quite another to do it without any thought or attention paid to diplomacy. What goes around comes around.

[myomy]

4. WouldnÕt it be wonderful to have an intellegent, objective and mature

person in the real White House?

[0007]

23. junior has an I.Q. of a dead

flash light battery.

[SteveG]

41. Stop insulting

dead flashlight batteries.

[reprobate]

5. Don't want to start a flame war, but Clark impresses the hell out of me.

I was leaning Dean, but I sure like the way clark knows how to attack at the appropriate time. Maybe it's his military background. Good tactics.

Maybe a clark/dean ticket?

[DoveTurnedHawk]

22. Clark/Dean Is a Great Ticket

I agree with you!

DTH

[Hawkeye-X]

24. Try the other side.

and you've got an impossible ticket to beat!

Dean/Clark!

Hawkeye-X

[cprise]

31. Clark would be helpless as a VP in Congress

I am beginning to feel that Clark may be the bottled-water that's labeled "100% organic".

[NNN0LHI]

26. Something bad is happenening at DU when anyone is worried....

...about starting a flame war for complimenting one of the Democratic candidates who is trying to send Bush packing back to Crawford. Real bad.

Don

[DrBB]

35. I persist in the naive belief

...that having both of these powerful figures in the race is a net gain for the party and all of us. Having candidates of different strengths and backgrounds who are centering on a message lends that message credibility.

Struggling hard not to be depressed at what this board has turned into over the last weeks....

[Julien Sorel]

44. No one could have said it better.

[argyl]

32. Clark's attacking at the appropriate time could have something to do

with emulating Clinton's team's philosophy,mainly,never let the news cycle be complete without a response to your opponent.Sure worked for Bill.

[cprise]

6. It's flat

And there's nothing constructive.

He should hire a better writer for his press releases.

[Chico Man]

12. I thought so too..

Dean's rapid responses usually have more "spunk"..

In fact, Dean's rapid response to Santorum's remarks comes to mind. Well, let's just hope this was a test of Wes' rapid response system and the responses themselves gain more meat..

[henslee]

16. Flat ?! He basically says Bush Rummy totally screwed the pooch.

I don't see any benefit or obligation for Clark to start offering unsolicited advice on Iraq. This is just one one of perhaps thousands of press releases.

[DoveTurnedHawk]

21. Some Are Never Satisfied

Especially when it comes to Clark.

I think this was a great response, very level-headed yet also biting.

DTH

[cprise]

27. And I won't be satisfied

...until I'm reasonably sure this is not a DLC bait-n-switch.

Clark hasn't criticised the other DLC candidates, and they haven't criticised him.

What do Kerry and Lieberman have to say about Clark? Hah.. nothing, and I think it will stay that way.

It would be such a pity for the DLC if their candidates became so unpopular that they had to send in a former REPUBLICAN camoflaged as a liberal. (Oh wait, they did.)

So what so we have from Clark:

1. Bush is bad in the M.E.

2. What he wants 100 years from now

3. Parlor-party anecdotes from Michael Moore (who refrains from endorsing Clark just yet).

4. Silence on Lieberman and Kerry

5. Silence on the Democratic Party's spinlessness and facilitation of major neo-con goals

Some people feel they've been beaten by the militaristic scare-mongers for so long, that they'll Ooze over a UNIFORM that tells them nice little sweet-nothings.

IMO, Clark has a lot to prove!

[DoveTurnedHawk]

28. Kerry and Lieberman Have Both Taken Swipes at Clark

Kerry twice, one a snide comment about Clark needing his handlers to tell him what his positions are (this was right after the supposed "flip-flop" on the war), and another saying that America shouldn't have a President who needed "on-the-job" training (the first a cheap shot, the second at least an arguable point).

Lieberman slammed Clark too, either yesterday or today, although my memory is failing me on the specifics.

Other than that, I don't know how to prove a negative to you, so we'll have to agree to disagree.

DTH

[Name removed]

30. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[DoveTurnedHawk]

33. You Should Feel Free to Ignore Me Based on My Screen Name

A screen name which you don't even understand or know the history of, for that matter. Regardless, it's incredibly open-minded of you. I'm sure you'll show that same open-mindedness towards Clark.

DTH

PS: Here's one link proving at least part of what I said:

The Kerry Camp: "We'll withold comment until the General's blue ribbon team of consultants and advisors decide what his position actually is."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37215-2003Sep19.html

[DoveTurnedHawk]

34. And Here's the Lieberman Attack

http://desmoinesregister.com/news/stories/c4789004/22311107.html

DTH

[cprise]

47. And apparently a screen name

...that you cannot explain.

I suppose in additon to assuming we're actively following your personal history, there also needs to be the assumption that DU members will not feel aggreived or offended by such self-indulgence.

[DoveTurnedHawk]

48. Frankly My Dear, I Don't Give a Damn

I've explained it before. I'm certainly not going to explain it again just to satisfy your curiosity, especially after you've already flown off the handle so badly that you got your own post deleted.

I have my creds here. Don't really care if you believe that or not.

DTH

[cprise]

49. Glad I wasn't the only one to bring it up

And may I also make a suggestion for the sake of 'creds' --

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=user&saz=change_profile

DU has a way to make it nice and neat.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

45. AWWWWW that awful DLC

Which brought us Bill Clinton, a balanced budget and prosperity.

Bunch of fucking assholes!!!!!!!

[sandnsea]

42. Just for comparison purposes....

Here's Kerry's response:

“The President’s rhetoric is becoming more stirring, but he has again failed to tell us exactly what role he expects the United Nations to play now and what timetable he envisions for the transfer of sovereignty to the Iraqi people. We need to move in a new direction in our relationship with the United Nations, and we need to roll-back the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans to pay for the $87 billion supplemental budget request the administration has presented to Congress.”

“The President wasted another opportunity to move forward and to give us details. The facts on the ground in Iraq require a concrete plan, and real and immediate leadership to involve the United Nations, and to provide real security in Iraq.”

http://www.blog.johnkerry.com/blog/archives/000271.html#more

Kerry's Plan for Iraq

http://www.johnkerry.com/issues/iraq_plan.html

Yep, Wes is okay with me, but his response was flat.

[GainesT1958]

9. Hey...they didn't waste any time on putting out that one, did they?

Love that "rapid response" system! And, of course, if any of Dub's people retort, "Well, General, what would YOU do about it?", all he has to say in response is something akin to, "If I were in your chair, Mr. President, none of this would've unfolded the way it did in the first place!" :D

You can tell by the way they're sniping at him the level of fear he strikes in them--and well he should! Just proves that Rush isn't the ONLY one out on their wing full of **it!

:kick:

B-)

[DemExpat]

11. Right on!

Keep it up, Wes....

:kick:
DemEx

[TacticalPeek]

14. Precise counterfire!

Shrub's cakewalk is OVER!

:nuke::nuke::nuke:

[young_at_heart]

15. I couldn't agree more!

The Bush downward spiral has got to stop soon or we're all in deep doo-doo.

[mw]

17. Im a Clark fan...but..

Even I can see that--although he made a great statement--he's inviting flak for not telling us what HE would do.

But I gotta be happy that he's fighting, not knuckling under.

[roguevalley]

19. I don't think he's obligated by this remark to give what he would do.

his remarks were focused on the speech itself and the
trouble bush will have pulling support in. Given Chirac
kicked his ass right away, it will be fun watching. (if
it wasn't so bloody awful. God bless Iraq and the troops
while we doze our way through this)

[DoveTurnedHawk]

20. He Is Telling Us What He'd Do, IMO

He'd work with our international allies. And there is a solution offered, as implicit as it might be: get the damn Shrub out of the White House.

DTH

[CarlWoodward]

18. You TELL'em Wes!

Give 'em Hell, Wes!

[newyawker99]

50. Hi CarlWoodward!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[xchrom]

25. how to trim

the shrub.

[clarkmyths com]

29. Any Wes Clark fans want to help me out?

I've started a site to hopefully help prevent the media from smearing Wesley Clark the same way they smeared Al Gore. If you want to help me fight back with facts, please contribute your superior writing, analysis, lie spotting, and knowledge to http://www.clarkmyths.com

It will be enormously appreciated.

[Mz Pip]

37. Check out

http://www.theclarksphere.com It has countered the smears on Clark pretty well.

MzPip
:dem:

[NNN0LHI]

46. Sorry. I don't have any links, but welcome to DU clarkmyths n/t

[newyawker99]

51. Hi clarkmyths com!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[_NorCal_D_]

53. Welcome

to DU clarkmyths com

Good site!

[Myra]

36. Kick Ass!

Oh, and kick.

[frank frankly]

38. good to see this!

Go after President Stupid!

Keep up the heat!

[Dr Fate]

40. Great going Wes- ALL DEMs need to point this out...

...

[Julien Sorel]

43. For those of you saying it was flat -- you're right.

But one of the advantages Clark has in this arena is that he doesn't need to use rhetorical flourishes for his points to score. His resume and gravitas do it. It's a different ball game than when another candidate says something in this situation -- they're just a politician taking jabs, in the public's eye. I would actually argue that a polished response would have been the wrong move here, as the rhetoric itself risks obscuring the credentials of the person delivering it, and makes him sound like business as usual. Clark's newness to the game can certainly be a disadvantage, but it also helps him with the public, which doesn't look kindly on politicians in general. I made a funny...

[Maddy McCall]

52. Brilliant point...

Couldn't agree more!

[Darranar]

54. Good Job, Clark!

BASH BUSH!