Back from Clark's speech on economy

[robbedvoter]

There were about 100 of us on this brilliant NYC morning (it poured here yesterday for W, but
cleared up when he left). An army of reporters - Snafulopagos, Kurtzman from CBS and many I
couldn't recognize. Clark came in and immediately started shaking hands.
Then he delivered that great speech - I hope you got it on C-Span. He got us hopping with the new
patriotism (as in dissent is patriotic). His economic ideas were good too and I love the way he preempted the "are you
raising taxes?" thingy: "I am not raising anything. I am simply moving money from places it
doesn't work for us in places it will help"
I positioned myself right behind me with my double sign (NYC LOVES CLARK - SILVER STARS VS
SILVER SPOON" and "CLARK FOR JOBS" - exposing both sides to the cameras.
After he finished, he came back to us. He shook hands, laughed with some he knew already -
than grabbed two lucky guys by the shoulders and sort of huddled with us in a football team
fashion. He gave us a great pep talk - I wish I could quote verbatim but I was too excited. In
effect he said he is in this because we asked him , that he needs our help and he's counting on us
to be strong because we need to change the future of this country and ended with "We're going
to win this thing" I thanked him for coming to my neighborhood and left floating on air.
I gave two interviews on the way out. One to a Pittsburgh publication to a pretty interviewer
who seemed as enthusiastic as I was. A second one to CBS - where I was able to peddle my sound
byte : "It's the Democracy, stupid" in explaining why Clark above everyone else.
I am telling you guys, this guy is a winner!

--

[DoveTurnedHawk]

1. GOOD FOR YOU!!!

:bounce:

:toast:

That is so great! I hope I get the chance to see the General speak in person, soon!

DTH

[DoveTurnedHawk]

2. Also See Here for More Info

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=130228

DTH

[Gloria]

3. The remark about "moving money" vs "raising taxes" is brilliant and

I wonder why that little phrase hasn't been used before? It certainly has potential "sound bite" quality....

[retyred]

4. I am telling you guys, this guy is a winner!

Without a doubt "THE WINNER!!!"

I take it from your report there was substance in what he had to say...gee, who'd a thunk it from what's been posted here lately.

Maybe all the worry about Clark isn't about the man himself, but rather the man as an opponent. Fear always brings out the negativity of character first. The content stretch in negative postings and spin against Clark here on DU since Clark announced his intentions, reeks with desperation and fear.

I have met the man, talked to the man and nothing negative posted here or in the media can alter the fact: bush and company are toast.

Welcome President Clark!



CLARK FOR PRESIDENT
Retyred IN FLA. [/CENTER

[robbedvoter]

5. Text of the speech:

http://www.clark04.com/speech_02.php

[DoveTurnedHawk]

7. PLEASE READ THIS SPEECH

It is AWESOME!

DTH

[tjdee]

9. Very good.

IT is good that he addressed:

A)the fact that he's been military up to now


B)the partisan/patriotic charges

C)Aid to states

Could use some tweaking, but quite good... Dang, I hope he meets up with Edwards somehow--they seem to be on the same track in some ways...I guess that's the case with many of the candidates, though.

[TheBlob]

6. Hey Robbed - I was there too!

Great speech.
Mine was perhaps the first hand he shook as he approached the crowd.
I took a few pictures too.
I only found out about this event just before I went to sleep last night and suddenly the next morning I'm shaking Wesley Clark's hand!

Couldn't have been more convenient for me - East River Park is literally a five minute walk from my apartment. How could I pass this up?

Damn I love NYC.
Where else can some poor shlub roll out of bed, walk a couple blocks and within minutes shake a Presidential candidate's hand!


Still reeling here on the Lower East Side.

[tjdee]

8. How did you find out about it?

I'm outside of NYC, so maybe that's why I didn't know, but he's been now to what, two NYC events, and I've not gone to one! ARGH! If I could get into the city for the debate I'd go to give Edwards some support, and plus I think you need tickets :(

Thanks for all the reports, guys, I really appreciate it!

[TheBlob]

28. I found out through a DraftWesleyClark email late last night.

So I figured what the Hell - I'll rearrange my schedule for the day.

[tjdee]

32. Ah...maybe I ought to get on one of those mailing lists.

Thanks!

I'm so jealous!

[robbedvoter]

15. See my hat and sign on the right- the huddle pic

and also I am under the NYC hearts Clark sign here:

[TheBlob]

30. Hey That's Me!

Right there in the second photo, first guy on the right (light grey shirt, hands folded over a Vote Clark sign)!

This is too cool.
Where did you get these pictures Robbed - Did you take them?

[davidinalameda]

10. does he have his campaign schedule up yet

just wondering when he's coming to San Francisco

[Clark Can WIN]

11. Burning with Jealousy

will have to just live vicariously through you for now.

I wanna see him too!!!!!!!!!!! Whaaaaaaaaaaa!:cry:

But happy for you.:bounce:

Thanks for the report.:hug:

[ignatius]

12. Terrific speech, thanks for sharing your

joy with us.

The man has an economics degree and reading through his Job Creation Plan, it shows.

I loved this paragraph: " Three years ago, we were told we were getting a compassionate conservative. What we got instead were massive tax cuts for the rich,staggering deficits for the country, and the worst job losses since the Great Depression. That's not compassionate or conservative; it's heartless, it's reckless, and it's wrong."

That sounds like it could have been written by any DU'er.

[returnable]

13. Notice how the Clark bashers...

...are staying suspiciously away from this thread?

They've been begging for some kind of economic plan from Clark, and now that there is one all we get is

*cricket sounds*

How odd is that?

Could it be that, contrary to their prejudices, Clark didn't announce he was gonna hand a blank check over to the Pentagon? :)

I'm *very* encouraged by his plan. And his speech delivered the goods.

[DoveTurnedHawk]

16. Let's Not Gloat Too Much

We certainly had faith he'd come through, but others are still wary and hungry for information. That is not an unreasonable viewpoint, IMO.

Let's just celebrate the incredible, Democratic principles espoused in this speech! What a great plan!

:toast:

DTH

[returnable]

19. No gloating involved

I've said here a number of times that people are right to take a wait and see approach.

I just think that it's quite telling that now an actual policy position has been posted, and people would still rather fuel flame bait threads than address actual issues.

But I guess that shouldn't surprise me :)

Cheers :toast:

[DoveTurnedHawk]

23. LOL!

It is kinda sad that it doesn't really surprise either of us.

;-)

:toast:

DTH

[IrateCitizen]

24. Ummmm... welcome to the General Discussion Forum

You're supposed to check your brain at the door and rely strictly on emotion in here.

Didn't anybody tell you that? :D

[SaintLouisBlues]

26. I agree, gloating does not become us.

And I am from the Show-Me State after all, so how can I get pissed at people saying Show-Me?

That being said, Clark is Showing-Me. I can't wait for tomorrow's debate. I may be a former Dean supporter
if he does as well as I think he will.

[jonnyblitz]

27. very good. flame bait a postive thread of a candidate you support.

:shrug:

[returnable]

29. Wasn't my intention

If you read it that way, I apologize. It was just an observation.

I'd love to see folks compare & contrast the different candidates' economic policies.

But we're not seeing that - instead, we're seeing the various "bash" threads keep getting kicked to the top, while policy threads sink like rocks.

If someone wants to punch holes in Clark's plan, I think that's fair game. And a helluva lot more interesting (and productive) than the "So & so is a plant of the DLC/PNAC"-type discussions.

Cheers :toast:

[_NorCal_D_]

14. Great!

I wonder if Clark is coming to CA any time soon.

It would be a privilege to attend one of these speeches.

[DrBB]

17. Economic plan in a nutshell

Basically it's the basic Dem idea I've been hearing from a lot of sources for months: cancel the tax cuts at the very top end and use the money to support homeland security improvements, which are notoriously underfunded.

Basically playing the "Homeland security" card to fend off charges of "Raising Taxes!" Seems politically shrewd as well as fiscally responsible (since the tax cuts weren't).

I don't think it's strikingly original, but so what? What we need is someone with conviction, stature, and yes, telegenic qualities who can SELL the policies that do have broad agreement inside the party.

Policies do matter, but people vote primarily with their guts, secondarily with their brains--a very distant second in a lot of cases. If they don't get a good "feel" from the candidate, the policies won't have a chance however brilliant and sound they are; if they get a good feel, even the worst policies have a chance--as the current situation amply demonstrates. Clark's not there yet, but he's got the face--and he's a lot more than a pretty face.

[DoveTurnedHawk]

18. You Completely Missed Prongs Two and Three

Which are funding the states and offering a big job creation tax incentive.

Those are smart, important aspects of the plan.

DTH

[DrBB]

33. Hey, not a critique, you know?

RIght you are--but all funded by rescinding the tax cut, which as I say, seems to be a broad-spectrum concept among Dems.

I think putting as much of it under the umbrella of Homeland Security (hate that term) is smart, because the obvious move on the other side is to scream "Tax and spend!" and this moves the debate into an arena where we can respond to that by slamming Shrump's H.S. policy--i.e., little and none, and what there is is underfunded compared to tax cuts for the rich and $87 billion for Iraq.

If I was on the other side, I'd look for a couple of dubious specifics and scream that "It's just pork under another name!!!" We'll have to watch out for that, and just being non-specific won't do it. But I expect Clark is quite capable of coming up with a hard-hitting list of security-critical things that have been neglected.

[jonnyblitz]

20. informative post! thanks for posting.

I look forward to the debate tomorrow.

[IrateCitizen]

21. I'm an undecided, but I thought it was an excellent speech...

... with clear proposals. And it did a good job of giving pinpoint attacks on WHY the Bush economic plan (Do they even have a plan???) is a complete failure.

As for the proposals, I thought the one regarding homeland security infrastructure was an excellent one. As was the increase in state aid so that their budgets aren't breaking (as ours is here in NY). But there was one that I was left a little doubtful on, and that was his "Tax Incentives for Job Creation" program.

While I realize that this is only a speech, I still would like to know more details on this. For example, while the jobs must be full-time jobs, are benefits taken into account at all? What about a living wage? The thing is, I hear proposals like this, and I see fast food and retail all over it in order to get the tax incentives without giving their workers a job that they can actually LIVE off of.

Finally, while I laud the figure of $100 billion he has thrown out there, I am left wondering if it truly is enough. Personally, I think it will take much more investment than $100 billion to get the economy on a real footing again, with the hemmoraging of blue-collar jobs (and more and more white-collar jobs) to cheap labor sources overseas all in the name of boosting stock price. His plan for infrastructure is a good start, and one that I could definitely support, but I'm much more of an advocate of a real ambitious project to modernize our roads, schools, electrical grid, alternative energy sources, public transportation, etc. -- as a means of really stimulating the economy into SERIOUS job growth.

But speaking as an undecided, his proposals have definitely picqued my interest.

[DoveTurnedHawk]

22. You're Right on the Third Prong

That prong will need to be fleshed out more (all of them will, but that one in particular stands out, IMO) over the course of the campaign. But damn if it isn't a fantastic start!

DTH

[DemExpat]

25. Please keep these first-hand reports coming!

It's exciting, and almost like being there when another DUer talks about it!


:kick:

DemEx

[SaintLouisBlues]

31. Kickin' for triple digit country

And for an impressive speech.

[Pepperbelly]

34. READ this excerpt!!!!!

"But you don't have a chance if you can't find a job. I don’t think it penetrates the minds of this Administration what it must be like for a factory worker to arrive home to his family with the news that he’s been laid off. What it must be like not to know what the future holds for your children, because you don’t know what the future holds for you. What it must be like to see the government take hundreds of billions of dollars that could be used to fund job training, unemployment benefits, or jobs programs – and instead to send that money off to people who have such staggering wealth that the new money won’t make the tiniest improvement in their lifestyle. What it must be like to be told that tax cuts for the rich are necessary to create jobs for working people, and then to see jobs fall month after month for more than 30 months. If that doesn’t break your heart, you don’t have a heart."

Go, Wesley, go!

Give 'em hell!!!!