(Wesley) Clark Tanks

American Prowler ^ | 03/28/03 | The Prowler

[Pokey78]

DEAN-DUMB
So much for the Democrats' hope that retired General Wesley Clark was going to be their Colin Powell. "He's more Benedict Arnold than anything else, if you believe the mail we've been getting here," says the Democratic National Committee staffer who, only a month ago was touting Clark as his party's answer to the military star power aligned with Republicans.

"Any cachet he might have had he's pretty much pissed away on TV," says the staffer.

Since the outbreak of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Clark has been on CNN, bemoaning the Pentagon and Gen. Tommy Franks's strategy in the opening days of taking down Saddam. And while several other senior retired military men have made critical comments about the ongoing fighting -- Ret. Gen. Barry McCaffrey, another former Clinton-era official, has been quick to criticize during his stints on MSNBC -- Clark has by far been the most vocal.

"It just looks really bad that he's knocking the troops and the way we're executing this war," says the DNC staffer. "He's taking hits everywhere, on TV, in the newspapers, on talk radio. People are furious at him. We can't fundraise off performances like this. The only presidential candidate that would probably want to be seen with him is Howard Dean."

Prior to Clark's "tanking" on CNN, the DNC had Clark pegged for political stardom. He'd visited New Hampshire, and had hinted that he was interested in perhaps running for president as a Democrat. Now, the DNC isn't sure what they can do with the man who directed Bill Clinton's military machinations in Kosovo.


LOW TURNOUT
The University of Iowa invited former President Bill Clinton to speak on Wednesday night, and even though tickets were free to students, turnout was comparatively low.

"It wasn't the sellout they thought it would be," says a Hawkeye undergrad. "There were lots of girls who went to take a look at him, though."

There were no estimates on the crowd, though more than 1,000 tickets went unused. For once, the terms Clinton and sellout weren't synonymous.

[hermes509]

I heard that a lot of DNC types are calling him a Republican-Lite. According to some of them he is too conservative for the liberal base and that is why they don't like him.

[votelife]

Clinton was "Republican lite" but he was still a liberal who trashed the military and presided over an administration that gutted defense/intelligence, making us more vulnerable to 9/11...

to say nothing of appointing Ruth ACLU Bader Ginsburg to the Supreme Court...

In other words, as a Democrat, this could do a lot of damage

[hermes509]

How was a "Republican lite"??? In other words, what part of his policies warranted being labeled as Republican?

And why the hell would the DNC support him?

[gatorbait]

The fey poof Aaron Brown

Don't you just want to bitch-slap that pompous, know-it-all look off that moron's stupid face?

Where does CNN grow these losers?


They got this one from ABC.

[votelife]

basically, Bush I was a big departure from Reagan. Clinton was more liberal than Bush, but one could argue that Bush was closer to Clinton economically than to Reagan. Plus Clinton did "balance the budget" and pass welfare reform. I know it was the R Congress that did this but your average dumb voter views Clinton as a "moderate". i should have quoted.

[hermes509]

You are comparing Bush I, a Republican to Clinton? And Clark is being compared to Clinton? You end this by saying that you don't think Clinton is a moderate, but Bush I is closer to him than he was to Reagan? What does this make Bush I - a liberal?

Sorry if I sound a bit confused.

[votelife]

Reagan- generally a down the line conservative; compromised somewhat, but called the USSR an evil empire, cut taxes heavily, and appointed Scalia, elevated Rhenquist, O'Connor, and Kennedy (after he couldn't get Bork through.

Overall a very conservative record. O'Connor is a problem, though at least she ruled against the FL Supreme Court in Bush v Gore.

Bush I- I'd call a moderate conservative; he said no new taxes, but raised them. When he campaigned against Reagan in '80 he called supply side "voodoo economics." He also appointed Souter. At least he gave us Thomas. Oh, he wasn't a big friend of gun owners either, not horrible like Clinton, but...Oh, when the wall came down in Berlin, where was Bush? No major speech...

Clinton- I'd call a liberal who disguised himself with moderation.

about Bush raising taxes, I don't think he really wanted to as much as Clinton did, I think he felt hemmed in politically.

But I tend to see Reagan as a believer in conservatism, where as Bush kind of more was along for the ride. He wasn't a liberal, but he was definitely not a strong conservative. I like Bush I, just not nearly as much as Reagan. Bush II I see in between Reagan and his father politically. Still, Bush II hopefully has a lot of time left and I'm looking forward to seeing how he tackles the left.

[hermes509]

Well I liked Bush I and don't consider him a liberal or closer to Clinton than Reagan or even along for the ride of conservatism. In fact, Reagan acted like more of a tax and spend liberal than Bush I. First off Reagan did raise our payroll taxes to support the most liberal of all government programs. Second, he cut other taxes through deficit spending increasing the debt 300% from the time he got in office to the time he left office. This is more than triple what any other President has done in the last 50 years. The way I see it, long term, is that Reagan got to make us very happy in the 80s with his tax cuts and Bush I had to be the bad conservative who had to raise taxes to cover for it. He didn't want to raise taxes, but he also wanted to make sure that we weren't going to bankrupt ourselves in debt. In fact, 20 cents of every stinking dollar of income tax that I pay now goes to paying off interest on debt and I'm going to have to lay a lot of that wasted expense on Reagan. Bush I also got nailed by a recession which should have never been if Reagan's supply side ideas worked correctly. So labeling Bush I as less of a conservative just doesn't seem right to me. One has to look at the situation he inherited. I'm judging conservatism in a more traditional fashion and that means smaller government with less financial burdens. Debt is one of the worse financial burdens our government puts on us because it has to be paid back in interest. And the way I hear things now is that the Chinese are beginning to have a large claim stake in that debt. I have no interest in my taxes being raised now or later to pay interest to the Chinese.

[judywillow]

Looks like your estimation of Wesley is a bit higher than mine. I mean, can you picture the Wesley Clark campaign song:

        "Wesley hates the little children,
        all the little children of the world,
        Red and yellow, black and white,
        he will kill them all on sight...


sort of like the old sunday school song, only weslified...


http://www.iespana.es/krasniesviety/yug03.htm
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2000/nato/Natbm200-03.htm
http://alas.matf.bg.ac.yu/public.html
http://www.novisad.g17plus.org.yu/saopstenja/stipendije02.htm
http://www.serbia-info.com/news/1999-06/13/12517.html
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/serbrights/message/105?source=1
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/POLITICS/WACO/waco.html

etc.

[mrsmith]

Wesley "guess what I'll say next" Clark bump!