Clark's not Dean--shutting down his websites

[Capn Sunshine]

CLARK'S NO DEAN: The new campaign is shutting down its grass-roots web-operations. They're not easily controlled enough:
Two pro-Clark sites, ClarkRecruits.com and DigitalClark.com, have already been shut down, and a third, DraftWesleyClark.com, is slated to be disbanded within the month, according to its founder. ClarkRecruits.com had helped would-be volunteers link up with other Clark supporters in their areas; now volunteers have to fill out a form on the candidate's official site (Clark04.com) and wait for the main campaign to figure out what to do with them ... "They are destroying the parts of the draft movement that worked really well and they are transforming the draft movement into people who want to lick envelopes," says one worried member of the movement. "They are rebuilding the Kerry campaign with a better candidate."

http://www.prospect.org/webfeatures/2003/09/franke-ruta-g-09-25.html

As I stated before Clark is NOT Dean. Clark is the LAST traditional candidacy; a MEDIA driven one. Shutting down his internet sites and vols confirms this.

Polls only reflect pollable people. Remember that.

[boxster]

1. Gee, this is only the 83rd time that's been quoted in the past few days.

Andrew Sullivan? Yeah, that's a reliable source.

[Capn Sunshine]

5. How about a quote from Little Rock then ?

Saying it isn't true
Instead of blaming the messenger
which is typical of a media driven campaign

[Blue_Chill]

13. blaming the messenger? lol nice defense

That isn't news, that slanted crap delivered by a "messenger" that I wouldn't trust.

[EagleEye]

6. DO you live on DU? How would you know that?

It's impossible to retrace every thread. Besides, it still gets hits so its still news.

[boxster]

26. It's called, "exaggeration for effect". Besides, calling Clark's campaign

"traditional" is ludicrous. A traditional campaign would have been raising money for months, if not years. A traditional campaign would have created an "exploratory committee" months ago. A traditional campaign would have had people testing the waters ages ago.

Mr. Clark's campaign is a lot of things. Traditional is not one of them.

[bowens43]

28. 83rd time? This is the first I've seen it.

Sometimes repetition is a good thing.

[Renew Deal]

2. John Hlinko

BTW, did you know digitalclark.com got a cease and decist and Clark recruits is redundant?

John Hlinko's comments (co-founder of DraftWesleyClark.com)

Hey there, everyone. We've been battling this for months now -- the media simply doesn't believe that grassroots citizens can build this kind of movement. They are convinced that somehow, someway, "professionals" must be driving it.

Don't believe the hype. Just like the General himself, this grassroots movement is indeed "the real deal."

Ah yes, there will be more and more stories like this, but if I can throw in my two cents:

1) Don't believe everything you read -- the last article identified me as "Greek-Lithuanian" (I am Slovak Italian), and I have never once been correctly quoted;

2) The media loves drama, and when things are going well, drama needs to be created.

3) Don't be discouraged -- every campaign has growing pains, but for what it's worth... I am personally astounded by how well things have already come together. Sure, it's still working to integrate the draft movement fully, but it's happening more and more every day.

4) Keep your eye on the prize -- we've all been working to elect one heck of a President... now we've got the chance to do it. Keep your eye on the prize, and make it happen.


Now, re: DraftWesleyClark.com stuff specifically:

1) Yes, legally, we had to sell the names at "fair market value," but... believe me, we are not getting rich on this. In fact, I can
assure you that starting this effort was the single worst financial decision I made in the last ten years (it even beat my purchase
of "Webvan" stock). That being said... knowing the quality of General Clark, I don't regret it for a second. :)

2) Grassroots/McCurry connection: We are indeed in the same space, but we are also in the same building as a French language school.
And I can assure you that neither Mike McCurry nor Jacques Chirac had anything to do with this. :)

Keep the faith, keep on driving forward, and... keep making history!

John

[DemocratSinceBirth]

3. Actually John McCain Made Extensive Use Of The Net In His 00

campaign....

[quinnox]

4. "Clark is not Dean"

True, and that is a plus in Clark's column.

[Capn Sunshine]

7. Unless your a member of the majority I guess

Can you spell IOWA?
New Hampshire?

[Blue_Chill]

14. Can you say Clark is going to win

and Rove wants Dean to win.

[JNelson6563]

20. every time you repeat their mantra for them

you display your ignorance and gullibility for all to see. FYI.

Julie

[Blue_Chill]

23. Funny you would say that

being that almost all DU attacks on Clark and op-eds written against Clark can be traced back to Drudge and the rest of the Right wing media.

So I'll happily throw what you wrote back at you. :D

have a great day!

[dorktv]

11. More like a negative...he has no experience in handling domestic

affairs and when it comes right down to it, that is the way Americans vote. Remember "it's the economy, stupid?"

[Blue_Chill]

18. Ah yes the vast experience of Dean

Governor of Vermont. We all know how well Vermont prepare ones to deal with nation wide domestic issues and international crisis.

[Julien Sorel]

36. A big plus.

[eileen_d]

8. I agree with one point.

Clark is not Dean. Dean is also not Clark. They are two separate, carbon-based life forms, created from separate zygotes. I am in the process of collecting DNA to confirm this and will post the results as they become available.

[quinnox]

12. Good answer, lol

end message

[eileen_d]

16. oh, and i forgot to mention

They were both created in a lab by an evil mad scientist with PNAC ties to divide and destroy the Democratic Party! MWAHAHAHAH

[Uzybone]

9. andrewsullivan.com????

I know the truth is the truth regardless of where it comes from but damn!!! Im waiting on the next DUer to post a blurb from www.ilovenazis.com or something.

[Cocoa]

10. Andrew Sullivan?

what would move someone to post something from that blog over here, except to ridicule it?

That doesn't help Dean, in my view, it just adds to the impression of insecurity in the Dean support.

[Capn Sunshine]

17. Truth be told, I stumbled upon it

I'm looking for conservative pundits who have spoken negatively against th erecall; there are lots of them. I found this quote and threw it out there for rabid response teams to deal with.


I'm still waiting for a Little Rock denial of this......

[eileen_d]

19. Geez, contact Little Rock then!

If you want something from an official source, go to the official source. The lack of a "Little Rock denial" on GD is not conclusive proof of anything! rofl

[Capn Sunshine]

29. I expect the Clark people to do their job

It's not my responsiblity to provide refutations to my own assertions.

That's what they get PAID for.

LOL

[eileen_d]

33. Again, why not contact the Clark people DIRECTLY

rather than post at DU? Do you think they get paid to follow you around on the Internet?

I'm not saying you are wrong to ask; I'm saying if you want an official explanation you're coming to the wrong place IMHO.

[carpetbagger]

15. andrewsullivan.com??? Is this freeper hour at DU?

The digitalclark thing I think was a bad decision, fueled by some paranoid lawyer. But frankly, Clark's in the race. The Draft Clark movement, and its sites, need to evolve.

I think we've gotten so used to the 24 hour news cycle that we expect things to happen yesterday. Clark's been in the race about 10 days. Of course it's going to look disorganized. Of course it's going to be disorganized.

That having been said, the grassroots campaign continues despite the dissolution of the national web-forces that to a degree organized it. For instance, in San Antonio, we've got about 30-50 people who are regularly working for Clark. We attend meetings, attend party functions, pass out literature, and are organizing for Clark's appearence in Austin on Monday. We could care less about the goings-on of national organizers.

[Capn Sunshine]

22. *cough*

Clarks been the race 10 days?

AFAIK Clark was "inthe race the first time a Draft Wesley Clark activist posted here with their little troop of carpet layers.
That was when, March?

Howard Deans campain 10 days after his announcement was a lot more together my friends. Is this what we can expect from an "organized military professional"?

Yeah, Clark's no Dean all right
:nuke:

[Capn Sunshine]

32. I CHANGED THE LINK SINCE THAT WAS SUCH AN ISSUE WITH YOU.

Now it's Amreican prospect.
much more arcane

but this story is all over the place.

My question is, are you surprised that Clark is gravitating to a traditional campaign?

Is this cedeing the net to Dean?

[depakid]

21. Clark supporters are getting a taste of Mickey Kantor

and it's not a pleasant taste. Rather like liver to a vegetarian.

Mickey Kantor (Clark's senior campaign advisor) is the consummate insider, the same guy who tore down Gary Hart and helped to rig the superdelegates. If his sleazy past (and I do not use that word lightly) is any indication, Kantor is going to end up alienating a whole lot of people.

[diplomats]

30. I know Kantor helped Clinton in '92

I never heard he was sleazy. Oh well.

[foo_bar]

24. it's funny because it's true

They think Dean has some irreproducible charisma that generates money on the 'net. Quite the contrary, it's a testament to the internet that someone so uninspiring on television could rake in all the glory.

Clark had the same thing going. Then he smooshed it, apparently.

[MIMStigator]

25. Waahhhh! I don't get to run a web site!

Nothing worse than someone whose vote depends on whether the candidate paid enough attention to their fragile emotions than whether the candidate is good and can win.
Hope there aren't many of those here.

[Cleve Steamer]

27. And yet DOZENS of pro-Clark sites remain

Imagine that!

They're listed, among other places, at the official Clark site (http://www.americansforclark.com/grassroots/) -- go there for the actual links, which I don't have time to copy and paste:

By State/Location
» Arizona for Clark
» Arkansans for Clark
» CA - East Bay for Clark
» Central Nebraska for Clark
» Charlottesville for Clark
» Chicago Students for Clark
» Colorado for Clark
» Connecticut for Clark
» Florida for Clark
» Georgia for Wesley Clark
» Illinois for Clark
» Iowa for Clark
» Kansas for Clark
» Kentucky for Clark
» Los Angeles for Clark
» Louisiana for Clark
» Maryland for Clark
» Mass for Clark
» Michigan for Clark
» Minnesota for Clark
» Mississippi for Clark
» Missouri for Clark
» Montana for Clark
» Nebraska for Clark
» Nevadans for Clark
» New Hampshire for Clark
» New Mexico for Clark
» New York for Clark
» NJ for Clark
» North Carolina for Clark
» Oklahomans for Clark
» Orange County for Clark
» Pennsylvania for Clark
» Pittsburgh for Clark
» Santa Barbara for Clark
» South Bay For Clark
» Staten Island for Clark
» Syracuse for Clark
» Tennessee for Clark
» Virginia for Clark
» Virginia for Clark (2)
» Washington State
» Washington State for Clark
» Western New York for Clark
» Wisconsin for Clark

By Group
» Blacks for Clark
» Clark Sphere
» A Grassroots Daily Newsletter - The Clark Tribune
» Clark Web Sites - Steal This Code!
» Disabled Americans for Clark
» Environmentalists for Clark
» George Washington University
» GLBT for Clark
» Hispanics for Clark
» Hispanos Con Clark
» Independents for Clark
» Latinos for Clark
» Leadership For America
» MSNBC Clark Blog
» Republicans for Clark
» Republicans, Independents, Dems for Clark
» Students for Clark
» Support Wesley Clark
» The Clark Coalition
» The Wesley Clark Weblog
» US 4 Clark
» Veterans for Clark
» WesleyClark.us
» Wolf P.A.C.
» Women for Clark

[graham67]

31. We started...

our site after Clark declared and it's been rather warmly received. The grassroots is there.

[wndycty]

34. As the owner of www.illinoisforclark2004.com

This does not bother me at all. Maybe we will get shut down, maybe we won't. No big deal. . .this is not about me its about General Clark.

Some things to consider:

draftwesleyclark.com--He has been drafted already

digitalclark.com--A lot of COPYRIGHTED video there could be some type of legal issue.

Other Clark sites--might be counter productive, not staying on message, etc., misleading. www.illinoisforclark2004.com is actually linked to the official campaign site, I hope it stays that way.

At this point we have not received any direction, but everything we do is done with the intent of getting the General elected, not feeding our egos.

[wryter2000]

35. Look, I love Dean

And I love the blog and the bat. But one candidate's way of doing things may not suit another candidate.

[Kahuna]

37. We Clarkies are touched by your concern..

</sarcasm> :eyes:

[ignatiusr]

38. Simple, Obvious Explanation

Yep, this is really simple: ClarkRecruits.com was disbanded because it was assembling volunteers and it was independent from the actual campaign. That's just common sense; if the direct, official campaign has an organization to assemble volunteers already in place, why have an independent website run a parallel movement to assemble them as well? It would be confusing and unnecessary. DigitalClark.com was disbanded because of copyright infringement, so obviously there's not much you can do about that. And DraftWesleyClark was always going to cease major operations after the draft movement was over, for obvious reasons (the draft movement is over).

All the other sites, mostly state and issue-specific websites, are still in place. I operate MissouriForClark.com and my website is linked on General Clark's official page under the "grassroots" section. I've never once received any kind of e-mail from the campaign telling me how to run anything.