Clark To Bush: "Don't Do It"

[robbedvoter]

Clark To Bush: "Don't Do It"
Outrage At Rollback Of Vet Benefits
http://clark04.com/press/release/149/
Little Rock - General Wes Clark is outraged that the Bush Administration is considering dramatically increasing the fees military retirees pay for prescription drugs.

"I have a three word message for Mr. Bush: Don't do it." Clark said. "It's just wrong. How could Bush consider cutting retiree benefits now while our servicemen and women are risking their necks in Iraq? They deserve a pat-on-the-back not a fee increase."

"Our country and our military deserve a higher standard of leadership," Clark continued. "When I commanded troops, I felt that my most solemn responsibility was to take care of their well-being, including ensuring that they got good health care. As commander in chief, I will make sure no service member and no veteran is ever left behind again."

General Clark's plan will fully fund Veterans' health care. This Administration's budget is already $2 billion short of giving our veterans the health care they need. Now, according to The Virginian-Pilot, the Administration might triple prescription fees

[bobbieinok]

1. wouldn't it be great to see/hear this on CNN, FAUX, et al?

Or even that admin is considering the cutback .....

Oh, well, post 12-12 universe....

[rumguy]

2. drop a bead on that chickenhawk general and fire away!

giddy-up!

[Democrats unite]

3. Better be careful this is not about Dean apt to be deleted.

On the other hand though Dean will never ever be half the man Wesley clark is.

[Don Claybrook]

5. Great statement by Clark

I like what Wes Clark said, so I thought I'd say so, here in this thread about Wes Clark, referencing an article about Wes Clark. Wes Clark is a good, solid candidate, and I'd be happy enough to vote for him if he won the nomination. Wes Clark is a thousand times better human being than the sniveling punk occupying the office now. I'm glad he's running.

See above? I stayed on point. Try to learn something from that. Unite, indeed.

[Democrats unite]

6. Normally I would say point well taken and I have been...

good up until now. I am sick and tired of the crap being posted by Dean supporters and you know the ones I am talking about. Well I can be full of piss & vinager also. Unite indeed that is for Democrats and although I see some Democrats in the Dean Camp I don't consider many of them Democrats. Just look at the NBD and the greens.

So once again yes Democrats unite, the hell with the rest of them!

[Don Claybrook]

11. I really don't know the ones you're talking about, no

I go into the GD Primary forum on occasion when I'm in the mood for a pummeling. I've seen that each candidate has very partisan supporters there, along with a few reasonable supporters for each candidate. I think there's pretty much an equal smattering of jerks supporting all of the major candidates. No one candidate has a clear majority of obnoxious supporters. So no, I don't know which posters you think are Satan reincarnate or whatever, and it doesn't much matter to me.

I happen to vehemently disagree with some of the things you've said about a particular candidate, but I'm bound and determined not to go any further than that in this thread about another fine candidate, Wes Clark.

Once again, I'm happy to see Clark lambasting Bush, as Bush so richly deserves. To call Bush a strong military leader, as some in the press insist upon doing, is a bald-faced lie and an outrage to the veterans suffering under his administration. Thanks for speaking out, Wes Clark. You're a credit to our side.

[dae]

12. You have it right, GO Clark, Dean, any Dem who gets the nomination.

:dem:Thanks for an enlightened view.

[Military Brat]

14. Thanks, Don, you're a breath of fresh air in DU

Sometimes I think I'm going to suffocate with the anti-Dean rhetoric. Let's just show bush the door in 2004. I trust my fellow Dems to put the right guy or gal up against the chimp. That's what it's about, isn't it, trusting the party to choose the right nominee???

[Lisa0825]

17. A BIG AMEN!!!!

Good for Clark!
This Dean supporter likes to hear good news about Dems!
Good job on not taking the bait!!!

[Bucky]

7. amen

good one

[H2O Man]

10. Great Statement by Don Claybrook!!!

We need to have the open-minded maturity of this gentleman. We are not on a fence, brothers and sisters. It isn't going to be some of us win, some of lose! No, either we all win with Dean or Clark, or we are all going to lose. I am working hard for a Clark-Edwards ticket. But, if Dean gets the nod, believe me, I will be working hard for Dean this fall.

[private_ryan]

23. are you a uniter or a divider :)?

I'll vote for dean too, if he wins the nom. I hope he doesn't though :)

[Le Taz Hot]

9. And I was just about to

congratulate the General. Nevermind.

[MariaS]

4. I work in a hospital

in a very rural part of Wisconsin. The elderly vets are required to drive hours away to obtain care they can afford. Believe me it is very scary driving thru Wisconsin in the winter especially when you are in your 80s but drive some of them do. It breaks my heart because it puts such undo stress on their sweet fragile hearts. Messing with their prescription plans is just one more way to decrease their quality of life.

[drfemoe]

8. This is LBN?

Get that man a newsfeed. Hello?

[Dookus]

13. Yes...

the admins have ruled that for now, candidate press releases can be in LBN. This is a new one from today.

[drfemoe]

15. Current Press Release - Old News

...There have been almost 300,000 US veterans who have lost their health insurance benefits under the cuts to the VA budget since Bush took office. House Republicans passed a resolution to cut $28 BILLION out of the Veterans Administration budget on March 20th just after the ground war in Iraq started. The cuts were later reduced to $14 BILLION, twice the $6.4 billion in cuts that the Bush FY 2004 Budget called for. Bush’s budget cuts are going to occur over 10 years, just as the much bigger House cuts are supposed to be enacted.
...
There are now over 250,000 US veterans who are waiting at least six months to even see a doctor because of all the recent health care benefits cuts. Here are some comments by the Senate minority leader that were made on Veteran’s Day.

"I cannot recall a time when the gap between the demands we place on our soldiers and the thanks we offer them once they return home has been wider," said Sen. Tom Daschle, D-South Dakota.
...

http://sierratimes.com/04/01/01/ar_jayshaft.htm

[number6]

16. old Bu$h-ee smirk-face "supporting" the troops and..

former troops again ..:eyes:

[Toucano]

18. Isn't it interesting

That everything coming from the Clark campaign is directed at Bush?

Except that one statement when Dean criticized the Clinton economy.

From the GD:2004 forum and the media, you'd think Clark was attacking Dean non-stop.

[imhotep]

19. this guy is a broken record

When I commanded troops
When I commanded troops
When I commanded troops
When I commanded troops
When I commanded troops
When I commanded troops

blah blah blah

[Toucano]

20. In case you didn't notice...

we are electing a commander and chief.

We have people in a live combat right now. It may have some relevence with voters.

For the sake of Pete! You can't even be happy when someone gets a good one in on a Bush weakness? That's a gen-u-whine pity!

[Clark4Prez]

21. As opposed to???

DK would say when I was in Congress....

JL would say when I was a senator

DG would say when I was in congress

JE would say when I was a senator

HD would say when I was Governor


Any other criticisms? Here let me help you....

Clark, every day the guy breathes in oxygen and breathes out carbon dioxide, what a polluter and a closet republican.

[drfemoe]

22. When he was

commanding troops, I wonder if it took him nine months to make a decision? Or catch up with current events?
I think he really does time travel .. welcome back to real time, General.

edit: Do I sound bitter? You betcha!! The gall of this guy creeps me out. It's almost as if he expects the Democratic Primaries to wait for him to catch-up!!

[Cheswick2.0]

24. oh the drama

Bush is going to increase prescription co-pay costs for veterans from 3 dollars to 10 dollars. As much as I hate bush, that just is not a big deal. But it sure does look dramatic when you say their costs are being tripled.
Most people would like to have any perscription plan (or insurance for that matter) at all.

[tokenlib]

26. This is a big deal..

For veterans on limited incomes--with long lists of medications--this is an outrage! $10 is a lot of money for our lower income veterans when multiplied by the long list of medications that some of them have to take.

Based on your logic--the Medicare prescription plan is a gift rather than the deceitful scam that it really is.

[grasswire]

28. you demean your candidate

"Most people would like to have any perscription plan (or insurance for that matter) at all."

This may be so, but MOST people didn't go to a war on promises of certain benefits.

Some people didn't go to war at all.

[Norquist Nemesis]

29. Sure, if it's only one

prescription. But that's generally not the case. If a patient has 4 or 5 prescriptions, which is more likely, then its $28 or $35 more. Adds up quickly.

[Clark4VotingRights]

25. I cannot believe how BushCo is treating soldiers and veterans.

A friggen outrage.
And General Clark is the one best positioned to take the issue on.
I'm glad he's doing just that.

[grasswire]

27. this is not old news

It is a new problem for vets -- an increase in the co-pay for meds.

The Bush administration is considering dramatic increases in fees that military retirees pay for prescription drugs, a step that would roll back a benefit extended 30 months ago and that risks alienating a Republican constituency at the dawn of the 2004 campaign season.
Pentagon budget documents indicate that retirees may be asked to pay $10 — up from the current $3 — for each 90-day generic prescription filled by mail through Tricare, the military's health-insurance program. Tricare's current $9 co-pay for a three-month supply of each brand-name drug would jump to $20.

The proposal also would impose charges for drugs the retirees now receive free at military hospitals and clinics. There would be a $10 fee for each generic prescription and a $20 charge for brand-name drugs.