Uh-oh

[War Eagle 96 10]

I must say, I'm surprised and a little worried. I was convinced that the extreme left had truly high-jacked Democrat Party politics for this nomination process. I was sure Dean would clean-up. I was getting a little cocky, because Dean and Clark (with his MOST RECENT philosophy, anyway) are total kooks and are unelectable in a natn'l race.

Kerry and Edwards, if I am correct both supported the war and the funding...until it was no longer politically expedient. They could spin that into some votes in the fall. I must say, I also feel a little better thinking of someone like Kerry as president...even though he's a Massachusetts liberal and his hairstyle looks like the logo on the Patriots helmet...I think he's definitely reasonable. Also, I don't think either one Kerry or Edwards have histories as sexual predators.

Looks like it could be a fight this fall if the dems keep being this reasonable.

Twalk amonst youselves.

[rexbo 104]

Dean got his a$$ kicked, and he wasn't too happy about it, did you see him screaming like a banshee last night on the news?

[Donutboy 0]

I was getting a little cocky, because Dean and Clark (with his MOST RECENT philosophy, anyway) are total kooks and are unelectable in a natn'l race.

WE96, Please explain what's kooky about Clark?

General Wesley Clark

In 1962, Wes Clark was admitted to the United States Military Academy and began a 38-year career of public service in the United States Army, where he became a four-star general, a trainer of soldiers, a leader of troops, equally accomplished in war and in peace.

When thousands of Americans launched a campaign in early 2003 to draft General Clark to run for President, he consulted a minister friend, who told him: "The right job for you is where the world's deepest need meets your heart's greatest gladness." General Clark has said: "My heart's greatest gladness has always been answering the call and defending the country."

Wes Clark was born in Chicago in December 1944, the only child of Veneta and Benjamin Kanne. His father -- a prosecutor, democratic politician and World War I veteran -- died when Wes was a young child. He and his mother then moved to Little Rock, where they lived in a rented house with his grandparents while his mother got a job as a secretary in a bank. Using his father's deceased veterans benefits, they bought a small house where Wes grew up and became a star swimmer and top student at Little Rock's Hall High School. In 1954, his mother married Victor Clark, who became Wes's stepfather.

Clark's Distinguished Career

As a 25-year old Army captain in Vietnam, commanding a mechanized infantry company, Clark was on patrol in the jungle, looking for Viet Cong, when he was shot four times. Commanding his troops despite his wounds, he gave a series of orders, and his soldiers quickly overran the enemy positions. His bravery in battle earned him a Silver Star.

Wes returned to the United States to recover from his wounds. One week into his stay at Valley Forge Hospital -- after he was up and out of his wheelchair - his wife Gert got permission to bring him home for a short visit to meet a four-month old boy named Wes - who had been born when his dad was in Vietnam.

At an early age, Wes remembers feeling that the country was in danger - listening to radio reports on the Korean War and hearing the grown ups talk at the barber shop about Nikita Khrushchev's threats. He remembers one cold day in Little Rock pulling a folding chair into the hallway where the floor furnace was, and reading in Reader's Digest about Soviet tanks crushing the revolt in Hungary. In his words, he "wanted to do something to protect the country." At age 17, he entered West Point, where he graduated first in his class and won a personal victory in America's oldest inter-service rivalry - meeting his future wife Gertrude at a dance given for naval midshipmen in New York.

His record at West Point won him a Rhodes scholarship, and in 1966 he headed to England for two years of study at Oxford University. He passed his Oxford exams in two years and left to go to Army Ranger School for 72 days of training before leaving for Vietnam.

The future General spent the next year in company command and military schools, rebuilding his body, and learned that in the Army, the surest reward for success is ever-tougher challenges. General Clark commanded battalions in Colorado and Germany, taking units that had failed inspections and transforming them into outfits receiving top ratings. He was the commanding General of the Army's National Training Center during the Persian Gulf War, and later conducted three emergency deployments to Kuwait as the commanding general of the 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, Texas.

"We lived in 31 houses, apartments and, in one case a house trailer, had 20 jobs, and were always on the road -- and it wasn't the road to riches," Clark said. "But when my eight-year obligation to the Army was over, I decided to stay. To me, there was no greater honor -- no way to be nearer to the heart of what mattered in America -- than to be serving and protecting the country in the United States military."

Over the years, he has won the praise of many highly-placed people. General Barry McCaffrey, who taught with Clark at West Point called him a "national treasure," and "one of the top five most talented people I've met in my life." Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General John Shalikashvili said: "Clark has an infinite capacity for hard work and stress." General Alexander Haig, former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, called the Major Wes Clark "an officer of impeccable character." General Colin Powell called then-Lieutenant Colonel Clark an officer of "the rarest potential."

In 1994, General Clark was named director for strategic plans and policy of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It was there that General Clark insisted that the Pentagon develop an exit strategy for the 1994 invasion of Haiti. It was an innovative approach, which brought together the UN and the US government, non-military elements.

An American Leader

In 1995, General Clark traveled to the Balkans as the military negotiator with Ambassador Richard Holbrooke in a US effort to end the war in Bosnia, the bloodiest war in Europe since World War II. Shortly after arriving, General Clark was traveling in a convoy on a treacherous mountain road, when an armored personnel carrier went over the edge with three US negotiators inside. General Clark ran to the site, worked his way down the mountainside to the vehicle, which had burst into flames. He called for a fire extinguisher, and pried open the hatch of the vehicle - too late to save his friends. Clark blamed Milosevic. It was a tragic beginning of the American effort to bring peace to the Balkans.

A few months later, General Clark played a vital role in ending the war at the Dayton peace talks. Historian David Halberstam wrote that some observers considered General Clark one of the "quiet heroes" at Dayton - because he worked out a peace plan that would be militarily enforceable, even though he knew it put him at risk in the Pentagon, where almost no one was behind him.

In 1997, after serving as Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Southern Command, General Clark was selected for one of the top posts in the military: Supreme Allied Commander of NATO - a position first held by General Eisenhower.

As Supreme Allied Commander, General Clark commanded NATO forces during the war in Kosovo - and won the war in a way few thought possible: with air power alone, without a single allied combat death, while holding together the alliance of 19 nations, and isolating Milosevic from his allies. Milosevic's brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing' that had led to four wars - met its match in Kosovo. His attempt to drive a million Kosovars from their homes was crushed, and the loss led to the end for Milosevic, who was voted out of office and later handed over to be tried for war crimes.

Halberstam summarized General Clark's performance in Kosovo this way: "On the military side, the dominant figure had been Wes Clark. To no small degree, he had broken ranks with the Pentagon because of his belief that America had to act at certain moments to be the nation it believed it was."

In his career as a commander in the Army, Clark attributes his success not just to his ability to fight the enemy, but his ability to fight for his people. "We're in the era of the all-volunteer Army," General Clark has said. "My soldiers were free to go, and I needed them to stay." That's why Wes Clark worked hard as a commander to take care of his soldiers and their families - advocating for better housing, better health care, and better schools for their children. "You can't build a strong Army just with great generals; you have to have great people at every rank. You have to give everyone a chance to be all you can be.' It's true for the United States Army, and it's true for the United States."

"I'm running to bring back the core ideals of our democracy - personal liberty, open debate, and opportunity for all. These ideals have made us great. They will make us greater. They will make us safer and more prosperous. Join me. We can have a new kind of patriotism in America. We can have a new kind of America."

[Tiger Al 0]

Saying he's kooky just sounded good.

[TitanTiger 21,237]

I haven't delved into Clark's statements or positions enough to say whether he's kooky or not. I many ways, he seems like a Democrat I could vote for. I only have two issues (right now):

1. I simply cannot support someone who is pro-choice. Especially not someone who states it this way: "Life begins with a mother's decision." He explained that to mean that essentially, a child in the womb is not "life" unless the mother decides to give birth to him/her. He did not qualify that with any statements about viability (and how that is becoming possible earlier and earlier in pregnancy) or any other moral/ethical considerations.

2. He has put forth a tax plan that would raise taxes on those making more than $200K a year and would make a family of four with an income of $50K or less pay no income tax. As of right now, the top 50% of all wage earners in this country pay over 96% of all the income taxes. His plan would certainly shift it even further to where a clear majority of the country pays no income tax. What's to prevent that majority from continuing to vote itself more programs and benefits that pertain primarily to themselves by simply raising taxes on those who cannot put together enough of a majority to prevent it? At what point does that simply become federally sanctioned stealing?

[War Eagle 96 10]

One example of why Clark is kooky, within a 48 hour period when asked about initial support in IRAQ, he said:

1) I would have supported the war in IRAQ.

2) I could not have supported the war in IRAQ.

3) I don't know whether I could support the war in IRAQ.

He also strongly supported the president in reality before the war and was ephatic about Sadaam having WMD at the time. He said we did not need the support of the limp United Nations and, in fact, urged the president not to go through the UN process.

He's just flips back and forth too much to be rational. Also, his peers and supervisors in the military have had questions about his character..that can't be good.

He's just a person that does not have the courage of his convictions. Like him or not, but GWB at least does what he says and says what he does 9 times out of 10 whether you agree with what he does or not.

[channonc 466]

The problem with what you all call wishy washy, is that he is not a career politician. Until he decided to run for the nomination, Clark had no aids helping him, now he has a team of aides helping him develop an economic plan, a military plan, etc. As a Ret. Gen. he was not being briefed by insiders as he is now. Chill out. Of course Kerry, Dean, Edwards have all been briefed. They are politicians now and already have a team of aides helping them out.

[TitanTiger 21,237]

Ok, you know what? Dean is a complete loon. I just watched the video of his speech after the loss last night. Anger is all he's got. And that crazy scream he let out? Sheesh. I hope he makes a comeback. He's a dream candidate...for the GOP to run against.

[War Eagle 96 10]

Ok, you know what? Dean is a complete loon. I just watched the video of his speech after the loss last night. Anger is all he's got. And that crazy scream he let out? Sheesh. I hope he makes a comeback. He's a dream candidate...for the GOP to run against.

True dat, yo.