Wes Clark Voted For Reagan-Big Deal- Robert Kennedy Voted For Ike.....

[DemocratSinceBirth]

"....Bob didn't like Adlai (Stevenson) and made no attempt to hide it......On election day (Robert) Kennedy voted for Eisenhower."1


I never voted Republican in my life but I'll give Bobby Kennedy and Wes Clark a pass....




1- Robert Kennedy,His Life, Evan Thomas pg. 74

[TakebackAmerica]

1. Actually..

Clark did not vote for Reagan

[DemocratSinceBirth]

4. Tha't's What No Robert No Facts Said On Crossfire

NT

[Terwilliger]

10. well did he or didn't he?

vote for Eisenhower?

You strated the thread saying he did.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

17. I Gave You The Citation For RFK's Eisenhower Vote

At this point all I can give you for Wes Clark's Reagan vote is Robert Novak's word...

[Tinoire]

21. I think Novak got that from this Clark quote....

As he enters the race, some questions about Mr. Clark are mechanical but significant -- for example, whether he can begin this late (as strange as that may sound) and still build an organization and raise enough money. Only this month did Mr. Clark announce that he is a Democrat. He told us in an interview the other day that he is new to the party -- it's not that he'd been a Democrat all along and kept his affiliation private for reasons of propriety. Asked whether he had voted for Republicans along the way, Mr. Clark said, "I don't even remember." Had he voted for a Republican for president? "I imagine that I voted for Reagan at one time or another," he said. It will be interesting to see how that plays with Democratic Party activists.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A22452-2003Sep17.html

[DemocratSinceBirth]

25. Cassandra

I'll vote for a Democrat to the left of me... I'll vote for a Democrat to the right of me.... I'll vote for any Democrat that can beat *

[bowens43]

39. Not remembering is worse then

admitting that he voted for reagan.

something about this guy bothers me. I don't trust him (yet).

[dfong63]

41. bingo

first in his class at west point, rhodes scholar, etc, but can't remember whether he voted for reagan? give me a break.

[CMT]

2. Ike also

warned us against the "military industrial complex" and ended our involvement in Korea. Could have been much stronger on desegregation though.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

5. When I Read That About RFK

I was kind of blown away by it but that book has been "vetted" by people close to him...

John Kennedy also abstained on Joe McCarthy's censure vote... Joe dated one of the Kennedy sisters.....


None of us are perfect...

[DieboldMustDie]

27. Ike could have refrained from overthrowing democracy in Iran too.

:evilgrin:

[DemocratSinceBirth]

30. We Might Have Been Better Off If We Co-opted The Mossadegh Government

I think Ho could have been co opted too...

[ShaneGR]

46. If Ike were alive today....

He would be a Democrat. Everything he said SCREAMS 20th Century Dem.

[joeybee12]

3. I'd give him a pass IF he had been upfront about being a Dem all along

He played too damn coy for my taste--makes me think he would have run as a Repuke if the opportunity came up.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

6. He Reminds Me Of Ross Perot But In A Good Way

A non ideological problem solver....

I just want to beat *....

Everything else is commentary...

[Myra]

22. "I just want to beat *.... "

Ditto.

Signed,

Dottohead

(ErasureAcer I like Kuchinich a lot.
I just think he's fresh meat for Repugs
and Clark is more electable.
But if Clark isn't the nominee I sure as
hell hope Kuchinich is.)

[roguevalley]

7. Bobby Kennedy was a mass of contradictions.

but he learned and wanted to learn. He grew. he wasn't the same man at the end that he was then. I loved him and still tear up at the idea that the first man I was going to vote for President got killed.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

11. I Read Jack Newfield's Biography Of Him

Now I'm reading Evan Thomas'...


I'd read Schlessinger's biography but it's so long....

[Pastiche423]

9. Ayup

He was waiting to see who would give him more bucks. He stated himself, that he was being "wooed" by both parties.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

13. Thank You Pastiche

<kisses>

[OKNancy]

8. Let's wait for Pepperbelly

to come home from work ( or the announcement) and see what he has to offer.

[Pepperbelly]

28. ma'am ...

I have no idea who Wesley has voted for in any election but then again, the only votes I'm sure of at all are the ones that I have cast. I think they are getting this from an offhand remark he made that he might have voted for RR once.

I, of course, did not.

Re: vouchers, I think that the position that he has advanced is that he might not oppose vouchers under certain drastic circumstances. That is a far cry from supporting vouchers which would, IMO, entail actually pushing for them. I guess he is keeping an open mind. I do know that he is the product of public schools.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

12. anyone who voted for Reagan should be.....

I can't say it. But comparing Ike to Reagan is insulting (to say the least) to the general.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

15. I'm Not Comparing

Ike to Reagan but if a good Dem (RFK) can vote for Ike and another good Dem (JFK) can abstain on Joe McCarthy's censure vote then I'll give Wes Clark a pass.....

[NewYorkerfromMass]

29. No Kennedy would have voted for Reagan

voting for Reagan was (and is) a serious offense IMO. Excuse me if I draw the impression that you are comparing Ike to Ronnie (let's trade arms for hostages and deal with terrorists) Reagan.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

34. I An Not Comparing Ike With Reagan

but when it comes to the voting booth there is no such thing as a good Republican....

And Jack Kennedy abstained on Joe McCarthy's censure vote....

We all make mistakes....

[NewYorkerfromMass]

38. Ike was tremendously popular with all Americans

he was an exceptional man.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

44. I Agree

but I would have still voted for Adlai...

Voting Democratic is a matter of religion with me....

[Caution]

14. Arghhh PEOPLE CHANGE ALL THE TIME

politcal leaning, political beliefs, political parties. I'm not a clark guy but i dont give a rat's ass what he did in the past, i expect him to make statements of his position on the issues now, definitive ones and if he is elected it will be his responsibility to formulate policy based upon the positions that got him elected.

[ErasureAcer]

16. One more reason to vote for Kucinich...

another candidate in with Clark...yet Kucinich is still the only one will fundamentally change Americans thinking from the Reagan/Bush II style of leadership.

Kucinich offers the only 100% difference from GW. It is clear he is what this country needs. He has the vision.

Why people are supporting other candidates...I have no idea.

[returnable]

19. Just wondering

You'll hold Clark's alleged backing of Reagan against him (and I can't emphasize alleged enough. Cuz the only source we have so far is that gasbag Novak), yet you'll give Kucinich a free ride on his anti-choice past?

Not trying to bait you - I really want to hear the logic. I like Kucinich, too, but this has been a problem for me.

Thanks.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

23. I Did This Post To "Innoculate" Wes Clark In Case What Novac Said Was True

[Bandit]

18. I voted for Reagan also

I'm about as Liberal as they come. We all make mistakes.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

20. Look I Never Voted Republican

Never

Never

Never

Never


Never


but I'll give Wes a pass...

[Democat]

24. Reagan got elected twice, that means a lot of people voted for him

Not just party loyalists, but average Americans from both parties voted for both Reagan and Bill Clinton.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

26. I Liked Reagan Better Than Bush....

At least Reagan was a amiable dunce....


on edit- I didn't like Reagan's politics but I didn't think he was a dunce... I found him entertaining and I could see how OTHERS found him inspiring...

[whirlygigspin]

33. How many people did Reagan get killed in Central America?

I bet it's more than Saddam killed.

Now there's something to consider.

[xJlM]

31. Yeah, but did he vote for Nixon?

Ike was more of a figurehead than anything else. He was also the most recent republican to leave office without a pardon being involved.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

43. He Loved His Brother

He sure as Hell didn't vote for Nixon....

Bobby and John thought Nixon was insane especially after his "you won't have Nixon to kick around anymore" speech...

[PurityOfEssence]

32. Ike wasn't a well-advertised total fucking dick like Reagan

Kennedy, lest we forget, wasn't a way leftie and was positioning himself for national office.

Eisenhower was nowhere near the right-wing, violent, environment-killing, poor-destroying, tax-cutting, greedy evil thug that Reagan was AMPLY ADVERTISED AS IN 1980, AND WELL-PROVEN AS IN 1984.

This equation is absolutely ridiculous.

(note: edited for mistake, thinking John was the subject.)

[DemocratSinceBirth]

35. I Don't Think The Equation Is Rediculous

Voting Republican is voting Republican and RFK voted for Ike out of a fit of pique.... He thought Adlai Stevenson was effete and he was pissed cuz his brother didn't get the vice presidential nod...

The point is we are better than our worst act or vote....

[PurityOfEssence]

37. By that logic, Lincoln Chaffee equals Tom DeLay

and that just isn't so.

If Bobby voted for Ike in '52, he was voting for a centrist with very little track record except for leadership of a huge military machine.

Anyone who voted for Reagan--even if just in 1980--had a scurrilous record to see: throwing mentally ill out onto the streets in California, and every bit of privilege and economic elitism possible. Reagan was, to his people's credit and ignominy, was fairly accurately advertised in that election.

Olympia Snowe is not the same stripe of evil as Dick Cheney.

(edited for an apostrophe, which as Frank Zappa reminded us, is the crux of the biscuit.)

[DemocratSinceBirth]

40. When Lincoln Chaffee Votes For Majority Leader He Votes For Bill Frist

That damns him in my eyes....

And RFK voted for Ike in 56 cuz he thought Adlai was effete and he was pissed that his brother didn't get the vice presidential nod....

That was only twelves years before his own presidential run...

Clark had a twenty year interregnum before his R vote and presidential run...

I love Bobby Kennedy... His autographed picture sits on my dresser drawers...My mom took me to the front of a rope line to shake his hand when he was running for the Senate in 1964....I was a Ted Kennedy delegate in 1980....

I have tunnel vision.... I am a man obsessed..... I want to beat Bush in 04 and will get in any vehicle that can do it.....

Peace
03
Brian

[HazMat]

42. The opposition to Reagan wasn't credible

By 1980, nobody believed Carter or Mondale or the Democrats for that matter. People blamed them for the hard times -- inflation, gas lines, hostage situation, lack of world standing -- of the late '70s.

So while the dedicated activists may've seen Reagan for what he was, most others did not.

[HazMat]

36. A LOT of Democrats voted for Reagan

What gets me a about some folks is that they prefer viewing history through the lens of today, instead of trying to understand the reality of that era: Carter was an abject failure and was very unpopular, even with Democrats; in 1984 many felt Mondale (who promised to raise taxes and cut the military) would be a return to the failed Carter policies.

Let's also remember that Reagan was a Truman Democrat once upon a time. Many Dems who voted for Reagan probably felt he would govern in the best interest of the people -- right, left and center. Like Clinton, Reagan was a master politician with the ability to garner unlikely support.

[cosmicdot]

47. not me - thank goodness

:)

JEC: victim of the BFEE coup of October 1980 and Nixon's price freezes and Ford's WIN and an economy affected by ending Vietnam and OPEC

[JI7]

45. don't really care, but can't compare ike to reagan

reagan was a right winger. ike had some sense and i believe he would NOT be a republican today. but i also don't think the issue of clark voting for reagan is much of a problem as long as he changed his views. in fact we should commend people for changing for the better.