A man who doesn't quibble.
A man who stands for what he believes in.
A MAN WHO STANDS FOR WHAT HIS PARTY TRULY BELIEVES!!
Posted on 02/03/2004 5:01:55 AM PST by blitzgig
No quibbling allowed By Jack Anderson and Douglas Cohn
WASHINGTON -- Just a few weeks ago, retired Gen. Wesley Clark seemed poised to win the New Hampshire primary, or at least do well enough that he would become the prohibitive favorite once the race moved south. Clark's candidacy faded dramatically when he started quibbling about his stand on the war, his position on abortion, and whether he agreed with left-wing activist Michael Moore calling President Bush a deserter.
Today's electorate is savvy, and not easily fooled. Democrats have a strong dislike for Bush, which means they're paying close attention to every potential candidate. Clark lost ground after quibbling on issues important to the voters. Republicans are watching, too. A Bush re-election would solidify the GOP's power for the rest of the decade and beyond. The result is an energized electorate split down the middle, with voters holding politicians to a higher standard and making them accountable for what they say.
Quibbling is backtracking, or pandering, or trying to have it both ways, positioning that voters have grown to loathe. For example, when questioned about his stand on abortion, Clark, who is eager to win votes from women, seemed to suggest unlimited freedom for a woman to end a pregnancy. He had to call an interviewer back to clarify his support of Roe v. Wade, the law of the land, which says life begins at viability, when the fetus can exist outside the womb.
On the Michael Moore flap, which consumed precious days on the campaign trail, Clark could have settled the issue by stating that as a military man he knows the difference between a deserter and the charge that's been brought against Bush, that he was AWOL for a year of his National Guard service. The penalty for deserting is death. The penalty for Bush, if the charge could be confirmed, is embarrassment at best this many years after the fact. Clark made himself the loser in that exchange, not the president.
But Bush could learn from observing what's happened to Clark. Bush's job-approval numbers are falling. He didn't get a bounce in the polls after his State of the Union speech. His numbers dipped downward, which is unheard of for a president who has just delivered one of his most-watched speeches before a throng of admiring members of Congress. How do we explain this turnabout? The public is looking at Bush and seeing a president who is quibbling.
The phrase in Bush's State of the Union that got the most attention was his assertion that Iraq had "weapons of mass destruction-related program activities." The voters are smart enough to see through that statement as a lawyerly construction to save face, since no weapons have been found and the chief weapons inspector, David Kay, has left his post and said he doesn't think Saddam had WMD in recent years.
Bush's strong point as a leader has been his certitude, even in the face of criticism, that he is doing the right thing. A majority of voters agree that removing Saddam from power justified the invasion of Iraq even though Bush cited as his primary reason the disarmament of Iraq. Now that those arms have not been found, and David Kay and others question the intelligence that the administration relied on, Bush would be better off if he leveled with the American people as opposed to devising tricky formulations of "WMD program-related activities" that invite criticism and cynicism. The public will not stand for quibbling.
Ooooooooh. The voters will have field day with John Kerry then...let's see: start the stew with Jane Fonda, add five cups of slashing intelligence funding, stir in six dozen attempts to reduce defense spending during the Reagan years, and whip with votes against most new weapons systems. Bake in a hot red oven for six months. Serve cold.
A man who doesn't quibble.
A man who stands for what he believes in.
A MAN WHO STANDS FOR WHAT HIS PARTY TRULY BELIEVES!!
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