Clark not our "military" saviour

[uconnyc]

I have been visiting lots of military discussion boards and I would say something like 90% of the people on the boards, most of whom are veterans, in the military, or come from military families are totally against Clark. Most of the posts called him a stooge of the Clintons and question his command in Kosovo.

I was very surprised by the negative sentiments. Even people who claimed to be classmates of his at West Point said they wouldn't vote for him. On a sidenote reading the boards, one would think that Bush Jr. was some great war hero like Ike.

I'm not sure if this has to do with the military's blind loyalty towards Republicans/conservatism or a genuine dislike for Clark.

Either way, Clark perhaps is not the military saviour that many of us might feel he is.

[Dogmudgeon]

1. It's the Rectal Right

They're not being "radical", they're venting their anti-Clinton spleen.

I'm sure there are people there who claim to be his classmates; I bet you could find five or six who claim to be liberal Democrats, too. That's how the RW works.

I don't think Clark will be a savior, either, but this isn't "informed progressive discourse," it's the usual right-wing bloviating.

--bkl

[wyldwolf]

2. You answer is in your post...

Even people who claimed to be classmates of his at West Point said they wouldn't vote for him.

How many West Point graduates who happen to be from Clark's graduating class just happen to be hanging out in message forums?

On a sidenote reading the boards, one would think that Bush Jr. was some great war hero like Ike.

Enough said.

[maha]

3. I have family who are career Army

... who say you're wrong. You've been on the wrong boards, methinks.

[uconnyc]

4. I certainly hope I am reading the wrong message boards.

I certainly hope I am reading the wrong message boards - because I would be incredibly worried if our military is so blindly loyal to the right wing.

[Cappurr]

6. By the way...

Why don't you cite some of those "military boards" where Clark's West Point classmates hang out so we can go check them out ourselves?

[Donna Zen]

7. I'll help vet them!

Good idea...

Anyone else connected to military boards.

[Cappurr]

10. I have a feeling

We may wait awhile to get an answer to our question :evilgrin:

[Cappurr]

5. Clark doesn't claim to be our "military savior"

It's Bush that thinks God has a destiny for him. You ARE reading the wrong boards. This is a progressive site. We'd really rather not have to read the RW propagaganda machine at its worst. Not that you can't post it here, but expect to get displeased reactions.

[Dufaeth]

8. My uncle

is career military, and he has switched from republican to supporting Clark.
Oh yea, I was in Clark's class in military school. He was a way cool dude! :)

[demigoddess]

9. I am military and have been all my life and the one thing I am worried

about Clark is that we dont really have a record we can examine(concerning the public) to see what he would do. I know that many military leaders are very good at following orders and CYA. They come into a position and change everything, sometimes to the worse and then go off and claim that they improved things and no one really investigates to see actual results or effects. In other words many military officers are not too different from bush in that all they have to do is occupy the spot for a while and really not held to accountability. Some military officers are quite different and do well , I just cannot see which Clark is.

[StephNW4Clark]

11. "We Must Be Willing To Pay the Costs" - Washington Post

We Must Be Willing To Pay the Costs

By Jeffrey H. Smith
Monday, September 15, 2003; Page A23


Late last month we buried another classmate. He now lies at West Point with many classmates who were killed in Vietnam. The class of 1966 is now beginning to die of natural causes, but early in our lives far too many of us met violent deaths in Vietnam. Thirty-three members of our graduating class of 579 were killed in Vietnam -- the highest number of any West Point class. Now one of our members, retired Gen. Wesley K. Clark, who recently has been sharply critical of the administration's strategy in its latest conflict, is being urged to run for president.

The West Point cemetery has been a military cemetery since the Revolutionary War. It is a beautiful place, with a commanding view of the Hudson River, old stone walls and an impressive number of giant oak, hickory, chestnut and maple trees. Some of America's greatest heroes lie there. Most made the ultimate sacrifice in pursuit of wise and just causes. But far too many died in military follies or ruinous misadventures. Gen. George Custer, for example, is buried there.

Regardless, they stepped forward and did their duty when called, as have countless other young American men and women.

There are now fresh graves at West Point and our other national cemeteries. A new generation of U.S. soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines is meeting violent deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan. Those of us too old to fight now debate whether our national security strategy is sound. It is the duty of our generation, whether in or out of uniform, to make certain that the nation understands the consequences and costs of its policies.

EDITED BY ADMIN: COPYRIGHT

[oasis]

13. Impressive. Now that's a West Pointer I'd listen to.

[OKNancy]

16. "The Long Grey Line"

I suppose most Clark supporters know this, but Wes Clark was prominent in Atkinson's book, "The Long Grey Line".

[RedSox02]

12. Read Hackworth's column

In it he says he was wrong about Clark earlier and now thinks he would be a great president. Anyone who has more respect for George Bush than for Wesley Clark, as those supposed "classmates" of his, are either senile or lying. Rumsfeld is hated by many in the military too.

However, as long as Clark is painted as being a puppet for the Clintons, many military people will distrust him. Clinton was loathed by the military, so the right will continue to try and push the idea that Clark is a "stalkign horse" for Hillary.

[diplomats]

14. The right can say whatever they want (and they will, I know)

As Clark's campaign gets better established, he'll develop an identity as a candidate that will stand on its own.

[ScotTissue]

15. Interesting

I have been very interested to get a sense of military personnel opinion, but don't know the best place to look. I read the Army times, is all.

Are there boards that you could recommend? I'd be very interested to take a look at them.

[OKNancy]

17. Positive remarks by some classmates

I love google. So easy to find in ten minutes....
These three:

he scuttlebutt among my classmates is that he's testing the water," Hank Simon was saying Tuesday. Simon, recently retired as public works director in Middleton, was a classmate of Clark's at West Point - they graduated together in 1966 - and Simon thought even then that Clark, who finished first in their West Point class, was going places.

"He was an avid reader who was always looking at Time and Newsweek and paying close attention to politics and world events," Simon said. "We arrived in July 1962, two months after Douglas MacArthur's famous speech accepting the Sylvanus Thayer Award, where he talked about duty, honor and country. It was quite a time to be at West Point."

http://www.madison.com/captimes/opinion/column/moe/52921.php
-----------

One of Clark’s West Point classmates whom I spoke with doesn’t share his politics, but vouches for his character.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/969204.asp - Elenor Clift
-------------

I'll be watching closely. You see, I grew up hearing superlatives about Wesley Clark. "Genius" was the oft-used epithet. He and my Dad were classmates at West Point, on the debate team together, and later had overlapping assignments at the National Training Center in Fort Irwin, California, not far from where Wesley Clark Jr. and I went to high school.

I wish I could anchor those memories in some telling anecdote that would speak to the tenor of General Clark's emergent candidacy, but my recollections of him from those days are shadowy: to me he was a parental figure, larger than life, although even then I was aware of his professional stature (if memory serves the first in his class to
be promoted to the rank of Colonel, among a slew of other honors).
http://karik.wordherders.net/

[Qutzupalotl]

18. Would a "stooge" attempt to publicly undermine

Clinton's favored strategy of aerial bombardment with the more civilian-friendly deployment of ground forces?