Are you ready for some integrity in the White House again?

[bluestateguy]

Leadership. Character. Courage. The kind of president that makes you proud to be an American, and the kind of president that will embody all the best about America. While all 10 Democratic candidates for president are fine men and women, all of whom would a better president than that fraud who illegally sits in the White House today, there is one man who stands head and shoulders above the rest of the pack. He is a great patriot who has spent a career serving his country in the United States Army, who has always put his country above politics. He is a good moral man, a straight talker who is not afraid to tell the American people the truth, especially when it comes to the awesome responsibility to lead the nation into war. Not only does he possess all of the attributes of an American president, but he can actually get elected, and change popular misconceptions about the Democratic Party. While conviction is always important in politics, it means little if you are always shut out of power. General Wesley Clark has the right message and he is unquestionably the best messenger to stand up to George W. Bush in 2004. I hope that you will join us in our campaign to fulfill George W. Bush's broken promise to restore integrity to the American presidency.

www.americansforclark.com

[Girlfriday]

1. I have to admit.....

...Clark was awesome tonight! Go Clark!

[madmax]

4. Missed it earlier - VCR ready now for the replay

CSPAN 12:59 EST

:hi:

[neebob]

2. There was integrity in the White House before?

When was that? Not to stick pins in your balloon; I'd be happy with another President who's not pure evil.

[carpetbagger]

15. Carter.

And frankly, Bill Clinton demonstrated a great deal of integrity in the performance of his duties, especially given the ongoing battles he had to fight with a hostile, unpatriotic congress through most of his tenure.

[neebob]

18. I was referring to Clinton

when I said "another president who's not pure evil." I think he was basically a good president, but I don't see him as having much personal integrity. I believe his lack of it helped put Bush in the White House.

I was a teenager when Carter was president, so I wasn't paying attention. But yes, now that you mention it, based on what I know of him I would say he has integrity.

Call me cynical, but I don't believe it's possible for a person of real integrity to get that far in politics now.

[Rose Siding]

3. First I have a few questions

Why would Wes think I should divulge my financial background before I get on an airplane?

snip>
As a consultant, he helped the company win a government contract worth an undisclosed amount to provide data and consulting services to the CAPPS II program. CAPPS II is the second-generation computer-assisted passenger screening system, a network that Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta once described as "the foundation" on which all other, far more public aviation security measures depend.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7380-2003Sep26.html


I sorta come down more on the side of the ACLU on this one:

The proposed airline profiling program CAPPS II (for Computer Assisted Passenger Profiling System) would make every American a suspect.

This program would give the government a new role unprecedented in American life: running background checks on Americans who fly, and giving them a “risk score.” Secretive, lacking due process protections for people who are unfairly tagged, and yet easy for terrorists to circumvent, this program once put in place will grow into a most un-American system of internal border controls.

http://www.aclu.org/Privacy/Privacy.cfm?ID=13453&c=130

[kiahzero]

6. To be fair

Speaking both as a Clark supporter and someone against the CAPPS II program - We have no idea what he did in the company (other than try and sell product), and we have no idea what influence he had on the program.

The more important thing in this article, at least for me, is that he's still on the board of directors for the company. Should he win the nomination, I would hope that he would do something to negate that conflict of interest.

[Rose Siding]

9. Is it fair to acknowledge that the "product"

was the key to the life of perspective airline passengers?

Being on the board is a concern, but I am just as concerned that he thought this was a good idea and worked to make money on it.

[kiahzero]

10. Point, however

Speaking as someone who supports the ACLU in just about everything, and was already aware of CAPPS II, I don't like it. I'm glad this was brought up, because I want to know what he has to say about this now.

However, speaking as someone who had a parent in the Pentagon on 9/11 (He's OK, btw), I'm for a reasonable method of screening for terrorists. Before someone puts words in my mouth, let me be a little more explicit - this BS of having a bunch of different lists outside of government control has to stop. One centralized list, none of this Kafkaesque "The Trial" crap to get off of it, etc. I don't think that's unreasonable. Clearly, CAPPS II is over the line, from what I've read of it, but what could we expect from this administration?

On Edit: Cleaned up structure of first sentence.

[carpetbagger]

16. It's the administration that sets up the system.

The government, not the people who make the databases, control the process. They put in or leave out the checks and balances to the system. They decide whether flagged passengers get something reasonable by way of a few questions and a luggage search, or whether they get this cr*p about being banned from flying, or scrutiny beyond what's necessary to determine the guy's not gonna blow up the plane.

[kiahzero]

17. Actually, no

Right now, it's the commercial carriers that get to decide just how much of a hassle you go through, because it's the gate agents who use the database, and the gate agents who tell the government officials at the airport what's going on.

Not only that, right now, "the database" is misleading, because there are several different lists disseminated by different companies.

[Renew Deal]

14. He has to...

by law. (I think)

[Kahuna]

12. removed post...

by me.. Must read article before commenting..

[Boom_cha]

5. Whoever wins the nomination

should steal Bush's slogan from '00 and say he'll restore dignity and honor to the White House. Now that would outrage the repukes.

[pansypoo53219]

7. EVER

so fuckin ready.
I WANT MY COUNTRY BACK!

[Cloud]

13. We still have 13 months to go

I can't wait. Election day seems so far away. It will be my first presidential election. I was 17 back in 2000 so I couldn't vote. :(

[KT2000]

8. Agreed Bluestateguy

Very impressed by the townhall meeting. A while after watching it - I realized I was in a good mood! His message is sincere and actually uplifting. I hope he can change not just the White House but the tone among the divided citizenry in this country.


He may not be the life long liberal Democrat, but he sparks the ideals that JFK and RFK did. America and the people who live here CAN do better!! Yes!

[Kahuna]

11. I do! I do! I know...

I can be proud of America again if Clark is in charge.