One thing I'll say about Gen. Clark

[psychopomp]

I really like his nerve. He's not going to be told what to do or who to talk to by the right wing lunatic fringe.

I have to say, I really like this cover and what it says about the risks he is willing to take to bring everybody into the fold. I don't know about his MIC connections, etc., but as far as being welcoming of differences and understanding that that is what makes our country great, he's tops.

General’s orders: Exclusive interview
Retired four-star general Wesley Clark thinks “don’t ask, don’t tell” needs to go and same-sex unions are here to stay. Can these pro-gay positions win him voters’ support—and the Democratic presidential nomination?
By Jon Barrett
The Advocate
Excerpted from The Advocate, February 3, 2004

It has been more than 10 years since a Democrat from Little Rock, Ark., first took on the military’s ban on gay service members, winding up with a compromise that was quickly dubbed “don’t ask, don’t tell.” Now another Democrat from Little Rock is tackling that compromise, saying it clearly doesn’t work and must be dismantled. As president, Gen. Wesley Clark is prepared to fix what his former commander in chief, Bill Clinton, left broken.

In a testament to how much has changed in the decade since “don’t ask, don’t tell” was born, all nine of the Democratic presidential candidates who are currently elbowing their way across the country say the policy is discriminatory. But the 59-year-old Clark, a retired four-star general and former NATO commander, could be the only one with enough brass to make a difference. As Steve Rawls of the military watchdog group Servicemembers Legal Defense Fund explains, “Military leaders will have a lot of sway in convincing Congress to change the policy, and General Clark obviously has a lot of stature within the military community.”

-more

[jmaier]

1. I think that he actually

tries to take what he believes is the right position whether it offends rethuglicans or some democrats. Not necessarily politically tuned and sometimes too nuanced, but morally sound.

It is a characteristic he seems to share, to some extent, with Gov Dean but without the stridency. I like it.

[RichV]

3. Dare we say

A uniter, not a divider?

[La_Serpiente]

2. related thread

but not a dupe

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=151203

[Lefta Dissenter]

4. HAHA, you just wanted to make sure

that it wasn't considered a dupe, because you want to look at the picture a while longer as this thread gets kicked! :)

I've printed up the cover picture and article to take into the Clark Campaign office in Madison tomorrow. :loveya:

[psychopomp]

5. In my excitement, I missed that thread

Basically, it says the same thing. But hey, it's not every day that a 4-star general poses in a t-shirt for the cover of a gay-advocacy magazine.

Let alone a man who wants to be president of the U.S.A.

[ConsAreLiars]

6. "it’s one of the reasons I’m running."

From my point of view, anyone who denies equal rights here denies human rights, period. When Clark was in the interval between being a commentator and a candidate he drew my attention when he spoke out very clearly and passionately about equality for gbltq folk when he could have just passed or evaded. I'm used to politician "taking positions" and parsing words, but he spoke from the heart, it seemed to me. Some here at DU seem to have had their first impression based on his uniform (a pro for some and a con for others) but my first impression was based on this (he seemed smart re: the war in his commentary but then he was stating the obvious) and he has proven himself true to his words in doing this cover. I don't expect the Dem candidate to be our new George Washington or Ghandi or Ho Chi Minh, so I am strongly ABB, but the more I see the more impressed I become.

His other positions define him as a progressive, but his intensity and integrity on this subject set him apart from the pack, as I see it. Doing this cover really means a lot.

Oh, and I guess this is my first post expressing a candidate preference, but if Dean or Kerry or Edwards can beat this pack of vandals into a pulp more effectively than Clark, then great. If any of them, or any of their supporters fail go 100% against Bush and for the Dem candidate, whoever s/he is, then the blood of the next four years will be on their hands.