Wesley Clark says democracy is at risk in America' Vows to win Texas in November

General Wesley Clark unleashed his most blistering attack yet on the Bush administration in the president's home state Monday, vowing to win Texas in November if he is the Democratic nominee.

"I think we're at risk with our democracy," Clark told an audience of about 500 people at a fund-raiser at the Westin Galleria hotel. "I think we're dealing with the most closed, imperialistic, nastiest administration in living memory. They even put Richard Nixon to shame. They are a threat to what this nation stands for, and we need to get him out of the White House. And we're going to do it."

When a supporter yelled out, "Give it to him!" Clark responded: "We're going to give it to him, and you're going to have to take him back, right here in Texas. Let him chop cedar." The reference was to one of President George W. Bush's favorite leisure activities on his ranch in Crawford, about 190km southwest of Dallas.

Clark has been emboldened in recent days by a surge in polls measuring voter preference in New Hampshire and across the country. He has drawn growing crowds to town hall meetings in New Hampshire, which holds the nation's first primary on Jan. 27. He attracted groups of more than 500 supporters in trips to North Dakota and Wisconsin over the weekend. He is not competing in the Iowa caucuses next Monday.

"I think we're dealing with the most closed, imperialistic, nastiest administration in living memory. They even put Richard Nixon to shame."

General Wesley Clark, presidential candidate Clark's attacks on the Bush administration have grown stronger since articles began to be published over the weekend about a new book in which Paul O'Neill, the former Treasury secretary, is critical of the president.

Clark said Sunday that he believed the book validated his charges, made almost daily on the campaign trail, that the Bush administration began planning for a war against Iraq immediately after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, if not sooner.

To rousing cheers, Clark asked supporters here to help him win the Democratic nomination by voting in the state's March 2 primary. The campaign raised about US$250,000 at the event, a campaign official said. Before the fund-raiser, Clark received the endorsement of Representative Martin Frost, a Democrat who is the senior member of the Texas congressional delegation.

If the fight for the Democratic nomination is not settled by March 2, as many Democrats think it will be, it almost certainly will be decided on that day, when California, New York, Ohio and Massachusetts also hold their primaries.

At fund-raiser, he faults Bush for 'unpatriotic' decisions regarding Iraq
08:59 AM CST on Tuesday, January 13, 2004
By DAVE LEVINTHAL / The Dallas Morning News
Trodding deep into President Bush's back yard, Democratic presidential candidate Wesley Clark assailed the president for making "unpatriotic" military decisions in Iraq and deceiving Americans about the war.
"He went in before all the diplomatic solutions were extinguished," Gen. Clark, the former supreme commander of allied NATO forces, told more than 400 supporters gathered Monday night at the Westin Galleria in Dallas for a fund-raiser. "That is not patriotic. That is sheer, bad leadership.
"I don't think it's patriotic to dress up in a flight suit and prance around," Gen. Clark added, referring to the former Texas governor's visit aboard a military plane to the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier. "George W. Bush took us to war based on a preconception, a party ideology and without adequate reason or justification."
Lindsay Taylor, a Republican National Committee spokeswoman, dismissed Gen. Clark's comments as campaign bluster.
"Before Wes Clark became a candidate, he praised the president," she said. "These are reckless and irresponsible statements. He'll say anything to get elected."
Gen. Clark's comments came on a day when the press called his own statements on Iraq into question.
In an article published in The New York Times, Gen. Clark was quoted in 2002 as saying: "Certainly there's a connection between Iraq and al Qaeda. It doesn't surprise me at all that ... Saddam Hussein might even be, you know, discussing gee, I wonder since I don't have any Scuds and since the Americans are coming at me, I wonder if I could take advantage of al Qaeda? How would I do it?"
In Dallas, he said that statement, made in New Hampshire, is no indication that he ever thought Mr. Hussein had knowledge of or a role in the planning of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
But in explaining himself, he told reporters: "I do not believe that al Qaeda was involved in 9-11," and he made the same remark later. As the news conference ended, an aide pulled the general aside and whispered into his ear, apparently informing him of his gaffe.
"I misspoke," Gen. Clark said as he rushed back to the lectern. "I meant to say that Saddam Hussein wasn't linked to 9-11."
None of that seemed to matter to the Democrats who came to see Gen. Clark, each of whom paid $1,000 a ticket to share small talk and a meal with one of the nine main Democratic presidential candidates.
Gen. Clark is forgoing campaigning in next week's Iowa caucuses to focus on New Hampshire, the nation's first primary state. The general entered the race in September, long after his rivals, including front-runner Howard Dean, declared their presidential intentions.
The remaining top Democratic candidates are former Sen. Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois, Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and the Rev. Al Sharpton of New York.
Gen. Clark said Texas is a "very winnable" state for him. If he does win it, he'll probably win the nomination, he said.
"It could very well come down to Texas, too," said Molly Beth Malcolm, the Texas Democratic Party's former chairwoman and one of Gen. Clark's earliest high-profile supporters. "And I believe he'll be the nominee."
Rep. Martin Frost of Arlington headlined a band of Democratic Texans, including former Gov. Dolph Briscoe, who endorsed Gen. Clark on Thursday.
Gen. Clark vowed to support the beleaguered Mr. Frost, a 13-term representative whose congressional district no longer exists under a Republican-backed redistricting plan upheld last week by a three-judge federal court of appeals panel.
Gen. Clark's nomination as the Democrats' presidential candidate would give Democrats their strongest ticket in Texas and help representatives such as him win re-election, Mr. Frost said.
For his part, Mr. Frost said he would announce, at 2 p.m. Friday at a location yet to be determined, the congressional district in which he will run. He was mum on his intentions, but coy.
Asked which district he would choose, Mr. Frost said: "I pretty well know. But I'm still talking to a lot of people about it." Asked to name his top two choices, he said he probably would run against Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Dallas, or Rep. Joe Barton, R-Ennis.
Mr. Barton, speaking last month about the prospects of a race between Mr. Frost and himself, said: "It'll be one of the spotlight races in the country. If it's Barton vs. Frost, it'll be based on issues. I'm a conservative; he's a liberal."
But several Frost supporters at the Clark fund-raiser predicted Mr. Frost would run against Mr. Sessions. Other scenarios have Mr. Frost challenging freshman Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Highland Village, or launching a primary challenge to Dallas Democrat Eddie Bernice Johnson.
A recent poll sponsored by Mr. Barton's campaign and released earlier this week has Mr. Barton leading Mr. Frost 56 percent to 33 percent.
Despite their stiff competition, Mr. Frost predicted a Democratic primary win in Texas for Gen. Clark and a general election victory for him.
"Mr. Clark is exactly the kind of candidate who can carry us in Texas," Mr. Frost said.
E-mail dlevinthal@dallasnews.com

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.