Bush's men tried to gag me, claims Gen Clark

[T_i_B]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/08/28/wclark28.xml&sSheet=/portal/2003/08/28/ixportal.html&secureRefresh=true&_requestid=128783

General Wesley Clark, the former Nato commander in Bosnia, and a probable presidential contender, has accused White House officials of trying to get him sacked as a CNN military analyst because they feared he would criticise the Iraq war.

Gen Clark is understood to be preparing to announce his candidacy for the Democratic party's nomination to run against President George W Bush in next year's election. Leading Democrats believe Mr Bush is now vulnerable on foreign policy and defence issues.

Gen Clark indicated that White House aides were so worried by him that they attempted to oust him from the cable network as America prepared for war.

"The White House actually back in February apparently tried to get me knocked off CNN and they wanted to do this because they were afraid that I would raise issues with their conduct of the war," he said in a recent radio interview.

[Trajan]

1. This should normally be discussed by rational and reasonable people ....

But: .. not here .....

See below ......

[Sweetpea]

2. Is this the correct link? I tried to access it but it won't go thru.

[Judi Lynn]

4. The link was good a few minutes ago!

I checked the headline,
"Bush's men tried to gag me, claims Gen Clark"
in google, to see if there was another way to get at the article, and their link is coming up blocked, too.

Very interesting.

[Sweetpea]

5. HMMMMM......

[Booberdawg]

6. Now it works - didn't at first .. n/t

[T_i_B]

24. Just as clarification

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/08/28/wclark28.xml&sSheet=/portal/2003/08/28/ixportal.html&secureRefresh=true&_requestid=249747

And if that does not work try simply working from

http://www.telegraph.co.uk

At the moment it's at the top of the international news section.

[Judi Lynn]

3. The Bush people may fear a general who actually was available

during his time in the service.



Makes the Dubster look bad.

[leftchick]

7. Gen. Clark doesn't need no steenkin codpiece either!

To look like a real man!

Hi JudiLyn! :hi:

[Judi Lynn]

8. Ha ha, leftchick!

You've got THAT right.

I don't think General Clark ground his teeth down to the gum line feeling _Bush put them all to shame, stumbling around in his costume!

Here's a photo of Bush standing by an actual military person, as they seem to be pointing to that "shining city on the hill" some half-wit yammered about recently in a half-baked speech!

[Julien Sorel]

9. You lead. No sir, you lead!

[Judi Lynn]

10. Omigod!

You had to encourage this!

Put "George W. Bush" in google image and found this baby:



Looks as if he has a splint on his beezer. Was that from the pretzel attack?

On edit:

[leftchick]

19. smirky looks like Snagglepuss!

Remember Him? "Exit, Stage Left!" (now I am dating myself!)
Great, Pic JudiLyn! :)

[Best_man23]

16. Photoshop opportunity here

[robbedvoter]

18. Ha!Ha! Ha! Are they dancing? Your pic kills me!

[pompano]

11. Another wonderful example of....

“Bringing honor and dignitude back to the White House.”

end sarcasm

[DoYouEverWonder]

12. Keep in mind

that Richard Perle is on the board of directors of Hollinger Int'l, the company that owns the Telegraph. I generally try to confirm what I read in the Telegraph with other sources, before I accept anything that is published in that particular rag. The Telegraph often seems to be Perle's personal mouthpiece for putting out misinformation.

I'm not saying Clark did or didn't make these statements. Just be aware that the Telegraph will spin things to further Perle and the PNAC's agenda.

[T_i_B]

13. The spin is at the end and against Dean

The Clark side to the article does not appear spun from what little I can see but if you go to the end of the article the the spin falls into place against Howard Dean. From the article

The current Democratic front runner is Howard Dean, a former governor of Vermont, one of the most liberal states in the country. A long-standing opponent of the Iraq war, Dr Dean is drawing huge crowds of committed activists and has raised record sums of money.

But Republicans view a Bush versus Dean election with glee, arguing that the doctor would be the most Left-wing candidate since George McGovern, who lost in a landslide to Richard Nixon in 1972.

Privately, some senior Democrats say he is unelectable even if he wins the Democratic nomination.

There is your spin and you can make of that what you will. I'm guessing there will be an ample supply of Dean supporters willing to put that one right as well. :-)

[DoYouEverWonder]

14. Killing two birds with one stone?

Don't want to waste the newsprint you know.

BTW: Does anyone have a link to the radio interview that they are referring to? I would love to hear for myself what Clark really said and the context it was in. It seems the press has a way of twisting his words lately.

[T_i_B]

15. OMG! It's faux news!

Here is the story the torygraph article provides a link to. Yes it is satan's own news channel too! Nonetheless, I have got some of the clues to send you further down the path to the offending interview. I feel all dirty now. Can I take a bath please?

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,95714,00.html

The White House actually back in February apparently tried to get me knocked off CNN and they wanted to do this because they were afraid that I would raise issues with their conduct of the war," Clark told Newsradio 620 KTAR. "Apparently they called CNN. I don't have all the proof on this because they didn't call me. I've only heard rumors about it."

CNN had no immediate comment on the general's allegations. White House officials told Fox News that they are "adamant" that they "never tried to get Wesley Clark kicked off the air in any way, shape or form." Beyond that, the White House "won't respond to rumors."

[SOS]

17. The attacks on Clark

have started early. He was at Waco! He's paranoid! Bush tried to gag him at CNN! Expect plenty more. The Bush gang knows they will be destroyed if Clark is the Dem nominee, so the slander machine is already up and running.

[gratuitous]

20. Why doesn't Clark run . . .

As a Republican?

[OKNancy]

21. Because Republicans wouldn't have him and

he isn't a Republican.

I don't know one single item in the Republican platform ( from 2000 ) with which Clark would agree.

Can you name one policy item where Clark seems Republican?

[JI7]

22. use to be against gays in the military

i wonder when he switched to accepting gays in the military ? i also think him being supreme allied commander and working with other nations military which DO allow gays in the military led to his changing his position on the issue.

[gratuitous]

23. Whoops, sorry

Should have fleshed out my post a little more. I wasn't saying that I thought Clark was a Republican (in fact, I don't know anything about his positions on the issues), but rather that by contesting Lil George's Republican nomination, Clark would seriously damage Bush's candidacy, force Bush to spend a whole bunch of money that he'd prefer to spend in the general election, and bring out any number of pertinent questions that should have been asked months and years ago about Lil George.

I haven't heard anything about Clark doing any fundraising, and he is presumably way behind in that area (not to say he couldn't catch up to the other Democrats), and hasn't announced yet anyway. But if he really wants to see Bush out of the White House, Clark could run as a Republican, which would cause a breakdown for the Republicans not seen since the days of Goldwater.

[VolcanoJen]

25. Dupe, and no longer LBN... locking

This post essentially reports the same story about Clark's allegations vis-a-vis CNN and the Bush Adminstration that was first posted in the Latest Breaking News Forum on August 26. Here is a link to that discussion:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=83816

Since this is no longer Latest Breaking News, it would be best if we don't kick the older discussion.

Thanks!
VolcanoJen
DU Moderator