Mail Call: Letters to the Editor of Newsweek on Their Clark Article

[DoveTurnedHawk]

They are overwhelmingly positive and IMO show an interesting viewpoint here that doesn't get as much air time here as certain other viewpoints, namely the view of many ordinary Americans and Democrats.

I enjoyed one in particular:

I strongly dispute your portrayal of Gen. Wesley Clark as an obsessive, relentless, driven, practically friendless man “who made more enemies than he defeated.” I have known Wes Clark from the time he and I were teenage roommates at West Point. You quote a “friend” who never saw him relax. Wes and I played pinball in Colorado (he whipped me), tobogganed onto a frozen river in the Finger Lakes, shot eight ball one-on-one in the NATO chateau and played Foxtail catch in front of his dumbfounded bodyguards. Wes roared with laughter when we escaped his military hospital intensive-care ward in Japan, even as he cried out in pain from nearly ripping open the stitches from his Vietnam wound. Your claim that Wes is a brown-nosing Eddie Haskell is ludicrous. Wes was fired as Supreme Allied Commander for speaking out against his bosses. He has always been an independent thinker. In 1972, I returned from a year at a European university and made an appointment with West Point’s academic dean, a colonel, to review my cadet records. When the colonel saw my sandals and ponytail, he immediately postponed the meeting and culled the records. Wes, a captain, invited me to attend the political-science class he was teaching there, and even asked me to speak. He didn’t give a hoot what the big brass would say. As you report, Wes Clark is indeed intense, brilliant, bold and independent, with extraordinary confidence. But he is also a warm, humorous, charming human being.

Theodore P. Hill
Atlanta, Ga.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/975530.asp

DTH

[DoveTurnedHawk]

1. Kick

It's a good read, IMO.

DTH

[alcuno]

2. Nice. I have a friend in AZ who's a Democrat.

She hadn't even heard of Wes Clark. When I started talking about the little I knew, she got really excited and said that even her husband, who's a Republican would be impressed.

[SWPAdem]

3. A portrait of the man from someone who knows him well

Pinball...gotta love the man!

[Larkspur]

4. This doesn't sound like an average American to me

I have known Wes Clark from the time he and I were teenage roommates at West Point.

Most Americans don't attend West Point.

[DoveTurnedHawk]

5. Read the Rest of the Letters

That one was my favorite, though.

DTH

[Larkspur]

12. And this letter writer shows why Clark is a stealth horse

Democrats concerned about Howard Dean’s weakness on the national stage now have at last a credible, exciting and independent-minded alternative.

Clark is obviously the candidate for Dean's opponents, The Establishment, because Dean and his supporters have smashed the other Establishment candidates.

Clark has no political campaign experience nor has he ever held civilian political office. His announcement speech was pathetic and devoid of vision and maybe it was devoid of vision because he supports the status quo. He has already shut down a lot of the grassroots websites that worked to draft him, so he must only appeal to the pro-Establishment, pro-status-quo gang.

Clark is not about change that this country's democracy needs to stay alive. Dean's campaign is about changing the status quo and that's why the Establishment push Clark into the ring as their only hope.

In the civilian world, I do despise the military mentality because it is a male supremacist, dominator philosophy. I prefer the partnership paradigm first offered by Riane Eisler, feminist theorist. It is very similiar to the paradigm that Dean is using in his campaign.

[DoveTurnedHawk]

15. Not the "Dominator" Thing Again

I thought you gave up on this nonsense when The Magistrate and I disabused you of your ridiculous hypothesis likening the IDF to Nazi prison camp guards.

As for your shallow analysis of Dean and Clark, you should note that Dean hadn't smashed ANYONE before Clark jumped in, he was merely near the top with several others. Clark is now doing well, mostly because he can pull support from all across the political spectrum (a major plus in any candidate), but even he hasn't "smashed" anyone.

You continue to amuse, though. Please keep it up.

DTH

[Larkspur]

20. I'm a feminist. I never give up

And you and The Magistrate spouted garbage against my Dominator analysis, which is based upon the writings of feminst Riane Eisler, who is a Jew.

You should check the 3rd quarter fundraising totals again. Dean broke Bill Clinton's single quarter fundraising total and surged past the field with $14.8 million. Kerry, who came in 2nd raised $5 million. That's a rout in the fundraising, especially considering that Dean had only started with $157,000 at the start of his campaing; whereas, Kerry had started with $2 million transferred from his senatorial re-election campaign fund.

Oh yeah, Clark raised $3.5 million, but his Draft has been going on since the beginning of this year.

[DoveTurnedHawk]

24. I'm a Feminist Too, But I Don't Make Absurd, Illogical Contentions

As for fundraising, we'll see who's on top in Q4. I'm not sweating it. With all of the best fundraisers on his team, coupled with his momentum, money will not be a problem.

DTH

[Larkspur]

14. And Tom Gibson's letter really hits the nail on the head about Clark

and his supposed immunity to Rove's anti-patriotic attacks

In reference to Wesley Clark, Jonathan Alter writes that “even Karl Rove might have trouble turning a winner of the Silver Star into a weenie.” Democrats who believe that having Clark as their nominee will inoculate their party from Rove’s attacks have apparently never heard the story of former Democratic senator Max Cleland, a Vietnam vet and triple amputee, who, in his bid for re-election in 2002, was portrayed by the GOP as unpatriotic for voting against President Bush’s domestic-security bill.

Presidents and presidential canidates do not live by foreign policy experience alone. Clark has no domestic civilian experience to bolster his Prez nominee resume, nor does he have any civilian political campaign experience to fall back on when the going gets tough. I see the Clark campaign falling into the 2002 November election trap.

Howard Dean is a fighter, an experienced civilian politician who dealt with adversity, stuck with his principles, and won his toughest re-election bid recently. Dean has proven that he can campaign competently and win when facing competition from both sides of the political spectrum. In some ways, it's not surprising that he is blowing the other candidates out (in fundraising). Dean's training with winning tough elections is recent, not old history.

[DoveTurnedHawk]

16. Clark Has Excellent Domestic Credentials

I think he has a stronger educational background and understanding of the economy than any other candidate in this race. A Masters in Economics from Oxford, coupled with teaching at West Point, coupled with real-world business experience, give him some solid credentials.

The thing you apparently fail to realize is that ALL of the Democratic candidates will be better on domestic policy than Bush. But only Clark and perhaps Kerry and Graham can demolish Shrub's perceived foreign policy advantage as a "wartime" pResident.

Yes, the Thugs can certainly TRY to smear Clark like they did Cleland. But it will be MUCH harder. Dean would get painted with the brush much more easily than Clark. No one credible disputes that.

DTH

[Larkspur]

19. Teaching economices doesn't mean that he can implement his platform

Whatever that platform is.

He's got no experience dealing with a Legislature, and at least initially, the Congress will most likely be Repuke controlled and hostile to a Dem president, no matter who that would be. Of course, Clark could give that speech he gave at the GOP fundraiser in 2001 to Tom Delay & Co and maybe sell out his new found Dem principles for a bill that will look Democratic but be Bush-lite in practice. I mean, winning, even a faux win, is the only thing that counts in war and public relations, right?

What Dean has that Clark does not is a grassroots movement to help him not only take the White House but also reclaim the Congress. Reclaiming Congress, especially the House, will take time, but Dean, from his 2004 campaing and from the White House, would be able to organize a popular movement to challenge the Repukes control of the House. Dean is generating his own coat tails by bringing in people who were turned off by politics. Clark is leading the status quo wing of the Dem Party, not a movement for change.

[Julien Sorel]

17. If Karl Rove would be able to attack Clark's patriotism,

what would he do to Republican's Choice ski-bum boy? It's pathetic.

[Larkspur]

21. The point of the letter writer was that Clark's military record

won't be an asset to him if he's a horrible campaigner. From what I've seen and read of Clark, he's a lighweight campaigner. He lacks the passion, vision, organizational skills, and experience that Dean has.

Dean will beat Bush and Rove by building a movement that will do an end-run around Rove's tactic. Clark is being guided by those who will try to beat Bush at Bush's own game -- TV, and that is how the Dems will lose in 2004.

[Julien Sorel]

23. 'If he's a horrible campaigner.'

That remains to be seen. If he wins the nomination, it would rather suggest he isn't a horrible campaigner, would it not? So far, he's done rather well.

As for Republican's Choice, and your opinion that he will build this great end-around tactic, if he can't win the primary using this brilliant movement, he can't beat Bush using it. Of course, it better be pretty damn brilliant, because Republican's Choice is a lock to lose every single southern state, which will free Bush to spend almost all his money on the battleground states. But the rules don't apply to Republican's Choice -- they never do. Clark can get slimed for his patriotism, Republican's Choice will be somehow exempt. That's why so many Republicans want a piece of Dean so bad.

There is, of course, nothing preventing Clark, or any other Democratic nominee, from using this great 'end-around' tactic, and there's nothing preventing Bush from using it as well. But only Howard Dean, Republican's Choice, will actually do it, because only he is brilliant enough to see its merits.

[Toucano]

7. If you'd like to split hairs...

He didn't even say "average" American. He said "ordinary" which I took to mean 1.) not a celebrity 2.) not a politician.

:*

Cheers!

[Larkspur]

11. Ordinary is a synonym for average

and you have to get your congressperson's recommendation along with grades, etc. to even be considered to get into West Point. It is in some ways more of an elitest school than the Ivy League ones.

I don't begrudge those who attend and graduate from West Point, I was just pointing out that the letter writer mentioned in the post was not a good example of an average or ordinary American.

[Julien Sorel]

18. A childhood friend got into Annapolis.

It is certainly not more elitist than an Ivy League school, as he grew up every bit as poor as I did. Getting the Congressperson's recommendation is a straighforward affair of sending in transcripts and accomplishments, and sometimes answering some questions posed by a staffer.

[SWPAdem]

9. That is so childish

The majority of Americans do not share your dislike and distrust of the military either.

[maha]

13. Most Americans don't go to med school, either.

There is a time to argue and a time to lighten up. Lighten up.

[Larkspur]

22. True, but Dean earned his way into Med School

He wasn't groomed for it. He broke from his family's traditional job, investment banking, and without telling his father, he started med school when most people are already into their first job and paid for it himself. That is not the usual path to Med school and shows a bit of a rebellious spirit in Dean.

My Aunt Mary followed a similar path. Her original degree was in accounting but she wanted to help people, like Dean did, so she returned to school to become a nurse.

[rasputin1952]

6. Nothing beats a first hand report...

I can understand that a clear thinking individual can have a hard time in the military; been there, done that. I can also see where his superiors would find that somewhat dismaying to them. After all when a subordinate is proven correct, all hell breaks loose.

Seems to me Clark handled the situation rather well, could you imagine what Patton would have done?

Anyway, I think Clark more than merits his run for the presidency.

Now, if all of the good ideas that all of the candidatesa have, can be rolled into one bundle, regardless of whom that bundle may eventually be, we'll have a victory in '04 that could amount to a little bit more than than a 'narrow victory'!

:bounce: :kick:

[lebkuchen]

8. Yep, and fortunately Clark's have been more glowing than Arnie's.

[RandomUser]

10. Firsthand accounts like this are good

They help humanize him so we can see him more clearly.