does anyone really believe this clark pledge?

[bearfartinthewoods]

"Nothing is going to hurt this country - not bioweapons, not a nuclear weapon, not a terrorist strike - there is nothing that can hurt us if we stay united and move together and have a vision for moving to the future the right way."

to me, this is just magical thinking. there are things that can be done to improve our security but how does clark intend on keeping someone from smuggling in a four ounce paket of ricin and killing thousands...

edited to add link
http://concordmonitor.com/stories/front2004/clark010904_2004.shtml

[bearfartinthewoods]

1. this earns the coverted 'farter's bullshit of the month' award.... n/t

[Crunchy Frog]

14. So bearfart,

which of the two leading candidates do you dislike the most. I'm just asking out of curiosity. If you were forced to choose between the two which one would you pick? Or would you just stay home for the primaries and see how the cards fall. At any rate, it looks like one way or another you are going to be pretty dissappointed with the party nominee.

[bearfartinthewoods]

17. that's a damn good question and i'm working on an answer.

serial liars don't sit well with me but neither do mysterious ex military guys with superman complexes. it's a toughie.

[jujube2]

25. I've been thinking we should choose a candidate who's been around

so we know where he's been.

These dark horse types who come out of nowhere make me very nervous.
We should go with one of these established three:

Kerry, Gephardt, Lieberman.

I'm looking at Kerry right now.
But I'm also found of Gephardt.

These are our national party leaders.
Doesn't it make more sense to choose one of them to lead our party nationally then?

[jujube2]

2. He may mean it in his heart, but he should know its impossible in his head

[bearfartinthewoods]

4. so why say it? it's embarassing. n/t

[tedoll78]

3. Hmm..

sounds idealistic. I get the jist of what he's trying to say, but preventing terror largely depends on luck too. We can implement as many measures as we want, but humans are a really cunning bunch of animals. If someone wants to infiltrate and poison a water supply, for example, he/she will devise a way to do it.

I'd like to see a candidate come out once and admit that luck is a huge factor. Imagine the media's reaction to that!

[ArkDem]

36. Yeah.

Vote for me, I'm lucky!

[deminflorida]

5. What he's saying is true......

Yes a terrorist attack hurts us, but I could never destroy the idea of America, where all people, from all faiths, and all religions come together. Only we can do that by reacting to such attacks in such a manner that we become a closed society.


"With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan - to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations."

Abraham Lincoln, March 4, 1865, From His Second Inaugural Address

[jujube2]

6. How is this any different than what Bush is already offering? n/t

[deminflorida]

10. Excuse me but Bush has done more to divide the nation and the

world after 911 then anyone else.

[jujube2]

12. but your mental gymnastic explaination of Clark's meaning

does not detail any plan of Clark's that differs from what is being done now. And I would venture to say that America will stand together in the face of a foreign threat regardless of who the president is, as we did on 9/11.

[papau]

18. true - Clinton's attention worked to control terrorism - Bush failed

Clark has a good point

We should not let Bush buy back credibility with the lives of 500 servicemen and women,

[bearfartinthewoods]

30. careful with that approach or have you forgotten

the first attack on the twin towers and the Cole?

[OKNancy]

7. You are focusing too much on the first part

The key is...if we stay united and move together, etc. Even if those things happen, if we have a united front and have vision, those things can't hurt us. If the US had not gone half crazy after 911, we wouldn't be in the mess we are right now in Iraq. There wouldn't be "terra,terra,terra" all the time.

From listening to Clark, you get the impression that he is trying to be uplifting and hopeful about the future. You have to admit that there is a black cloud over us and yelling terra terra is hurting us in more ways than one.

[bearfartinthewoods]

11. here is another quote from the article that seems to counter your view.

"If I'm president of the United States, I'm going to take care of the American people," Clark said in a meeting with the Monitor editorial board. "We are not going to have one of these incidents."

[onehandle]

8. How out of context.

Anyone reading this should read a fair posting of the LINKED article...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=90135

[maddezmom]

9. who needs context?

just kidding, thanks for posting. :)

[bearfartinthewoods]

13. i am sorry...i totally missed that i forgot the link

http://concordmonitor.com/stories/front2004/clark010904_2004.shtml

[Democrats unite]

15. It's funny how you can read something out of context...

What about this part?

"Clark reaffirmed his belief that taking appropriate measures would keep America safe.

"I think it could have been prevented," he said of the Sept. 11 attacks. "I think it can be prevented again if we have the right leadership. That's me. I will protect America."

It's funny how thins sounds in snips against when reading the whole article.

Just my 2 cents.

[bearfartinthewoods]

16. i don't care what steps he will take...

no ..i take that back. i do care what steps he'd take that would guarantee that there would be no more of these incidents as he has guaranteed.

got plans?

[PatrioticOhioLiberal]

19. What this reminded me of

when I first saw it was Roosevelt's, "We have nothing to fear but fear itself."

Was that what Wes was saying? I don't know, but that's the gist of what I got from it.

Can anyone "guarantee" nothing will ever happen to us? No.

But can someone guarantee keeping it from happening will be the main focus? Yes.

And I think that someone with a working knowledge of the world (not just the "world" of Texas & big money privelege) is better positioned to make that focus work.

[bearfartinthewoods]

20. did you catch this part?

"We are not going to have one of these incidents."

[PatrioticOhioLiberal]

28. Yep

I "caught" it...but I don't intend to base my vote on it.

I personally think Wes is the best equipped to keep it from happening.

Was it an overstatement? Yep.

But I believe it more coming from him than coming from Bushytushy...who is "never going to forget the lessons from 9/11". Let's see...lessons from 9/11...fastest way to pay off your cronies...go to war.

Sorry...this is not a make or break deal for me.

[GoBlue]

21. Sorry General Clark but you are deluded

I don't mean to denigrate the 9/11 attacks because for the victims and survivors their freedom was truly denied. But the worst part is, those attacks have resulted in the US doing more harm to the world than the attacks themselves ever did.

Which goes to prove how successful 9/11 was from the terrorists point of view. They didn't attack us because they hate freedom. They attacked us because they love our TERROR. And as a nation we proved their love is true.
_____________________________________________

General, the horse is out of the barn. There is no point in pretending otherwise.

[Lefty48197]

22. Maybe Clark will shut down the NRA magazines

and eliminate all their classified ads that give recipes for bomb making.

[TexasSissy]

23. Keeping ricin out? I guess the same way it's being done now.

No ricin yet here in Texas.

But if Bush widens the immigrant doors like he wants, we'll have more of a problem.

[gulliver]

24. Of course.

"Nothing is going to hurt this country - not bioweapons, not a nuclear weapon, not a terrorist strike - there is nothing that can hurt us if we stay united and move together and have a vision for moving to the future the right way."

[retyred]

26. I could answer this better

if you could explain just why it is you don't believe this about America or it's people.


retyred in fla
“Good-Night Paul, Wherever You Are”
So I read this book

[bearfartinthewoods]

32. as much as i admire the American spirit, the idea that a nuke

would not hurt us is assinine.

[boxster]

27. So, let me make sure I understand this. We as Democrats blast Bush

for not preventing 9/11 and jump on every news story that says it was preventable, but when a Democratic candidate for President says that he can prevent a future one, we say he's delusional?

Sorry, but I see an enormous double standard here. Many, many DU posters have blasted Bush for not preventing 9/11. If Bush could have done it, shouldn't Clark be able to? Especially since he obviously gives a shit about this country, while Bush's only concern is world domination and money accumulation for himself and his buddies.

With the amount of money we spend on defense and intelligence, expecting to keep us RELATIVELY safe shouldn't be a pipe dream. If there's no hope in even trying to prevent them, why bother?

[xultar]

29. Logic, Ahhhh, logic...n/t

[Fleshdancer]

31. I don't have to believe it...I just want Bush to say it isn't possible

This is a good move by Clark but the other Democratic candidates have to back him up by not denying his charge. If the other candidates, if asked, challenge Bush to respond to Clark's assertion, then we all win.

Hannity already said the obvious last night. "No one can make this sort of claim". Well if Bush can't make this claim either, then why vote for him? If Americans don't believe that Bush will keep us any safer than a Democratic candidate, then he's toast.

This was very smart of Clark.

[lib 4 all]

33. don't buy it

myself

[bowens43]

34. No,, but then

if it was 11:00 PM eastern time and Clark said it was dark outside I'd have to look out the window for confirmation. I haven't believed a thing Clark has said since he claim to be a Democrat.

[Capn Sunshine]

35. We don't NEED to smuggle ricin

There are Castor trees everywhere in this country.