Why Does the Media paint Clark is an Establishment Candiddiate?

[mot78]

Is it because of their Clinton fetish, or are they trying to divide our party between Clark and Dean (who in the media's eyes would be the only grass-roots candidate) hoping for a bitter primary?

[cavebat2000]

1. Hum...

I'm skepticle of your analysis. :)

[Julien Sorel]

2. I think the Republicans want

the second outcome. I don't think Dean can win, but he can bloody things up in a primary, which would delight the Republicans to no end. Dean has shown that he has no scruples whatsoever, the ability to attack and to raise funds. Combine those things and you have a guy who is potentially quite divisive and destructive.

[mhr]

3. I Can't Speak For the Media

But speaking for myself,

Clark is an establishment candidate primarily because of his long military career and his corporate affiliations after retirement.

Anyone that makes the kind of money that Clark has made since retirement from working for and serving on the boards of corporations must be seen as tied and influenced by those benefactors.

In other words, it is difficult to see him as a man of the people because he has spent so much of his time as an overlord.

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

5. Clark hasn't made a lot of money in the corporate world

At all, in fact the Wall Street Journal dismissed him because of it. Dean and Kerry are the wealthy candidates, but Clark has more connections than Dean, but probably not Kerry.

"In other words, it is difficult to see him as a man of the people because he has spent so much of his time as an overlord."

You're talking about Kerry right?

[RandomUser]

4. The press has a vested interest

in promoting attention getting headlines to draw readership. Thus, a bitter primary would be good for them. And if it's not bitter, they would probably want to portray it as so. They'll get ratings if they can cast it as a super all out battle between two diametrically opposed candidates, even if it's not exactly true.

Clark has the second largest grassroots, because of the draft movement. And I don't read too much into Clinton's words for Clark, since Clinton (smart politician that he is) would try to have good words for all of them. That way, whoever wins, he'll be on their good side. Didn't Clinton praise all of them when he went to Iowa?

So in keeping with Clinton's strategy to be on the good side of all the candidates so he'll be sure he'll end up on the good side of the nominee, whoever he is -- he'll obviously not try to discourage Clark from running. B/c if Clinton told Clark not to run, and Clark ran and won, Clinton would have started off on the wrong foot with the nominee. But if Clinton told Clark to run, and Clark didn't run, then Clinton wouldn't have lost anything, because he'll still end up on the good side of whoever wins the nomination. So of course Clinton would have good words and encourage Clark to run, this way he covers his bets whether Clark runs or not, whether Clark run and wins or runs and loses.

Smart guy, our Clinton. He has good words for all of the candidates.

[RichM]

6. Duh, maybe it's because he IS an Establishment Candidate?

NOTHING is more Establishment than the Pentagon, the DLC, & Wall Street. Clark is very cozy with all of them. I can't even imagine how you'd make a serious argument that he's NOT 100% "Establishment."

[madfloridian]

7. Here is an earlier thread with a lot of info.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=226326

[dkf]

8. Here's info on his corporate connections:

"Clark is on the stockholders’ committee of a German manufacturer of industrial gases, Messer Griesheim, which is controlled by the New York investment firm Goldman Sachs. A Messer Griesheim spokesman would neither talk about Clark’s contribution to the company nor answer questions about how long he’s been affiliated with the company.

Clark is a director with Entrust Inc., a Dallas company that specializes in Internet security systems and had contracts with 1,250 government and private agencies as of January 2002. Entrust CEO Bill Conner served with Clark on a Pentagon advisory panel a few years ago.

Clark receives about $15,000 a year for attendance at meetings, company spokesman Kenneth Kracmer said. In addition, he has received 2,250 shares of Entrust stock and 44,000 options. Entrust closed Wednesday at $4.98 a share.

Clark serves on the board of advisers of Time Domain Inc., an aerospace- and-defense-minded wideband communications company in Huntsville, Ala. The company develops radar that can see through walls and a next-generation global-positioning chip that can create invisible security bubbles around cell phones and other handheld devices.

EDITED BY ADMIN: COPYRIGHT

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Here's the link, but for some reason the entire bottom part of the article that I am citing isn't showing up.

http://www.nwanews.com/adg/story_National.php?storyid=43245