Clark???

[renie408]

1) Is he for the death penalty or not?

2) Is he for school vouchers or not??

3) Was he for or against the war?? And if you say he wasn't, why is his latest statement more believable than the ones he was making four months ago?

4) Is he REALLY a Democrat or not? And if you say he is, when did he decide to stop attending Republican fundraisers and voting for Republicans and praising the current administration?


Where does he stand on anything?

[TakebackAmerica]

1. Well.

He stands for what's good for America.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. Health care?

What is his plan for health care?

What is his stand on tax cuts-repeal some or all or do nothing?

What is his plan for saving the social safety net, especially Social Security and Medicare?

Will he be willing to explain to Americans why hard choices must be made, and then convince them to make them?

This isn't an attack post. This is a sincere inquiry.

[Catch22Dem]

4. Health Care

Universal

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

6. Details, please!

There's universal health care that basically ignores holistic medicine and wellness. This is a mistake, imho. Stress on wellness and use of a holistic paradigm will lower medical costs in the long run.

Universal health care that insists that everyone sign up, with no option to opt out, ignores the rights of certain religious groups. If the health care program ignores holistic/alternative medicine, it locks many people into a health care system they will not use as they know that it doesn't work for them.

Has Gen. Clark told how he will pay for his health program?

Thank you for your answers.

[carpetbagger]

18. More answers...

He hasn't rolled out a detailed health care plan yet, but he says that it's always been a source of pride for him that the military took care of their own and their families, and he has said that the safety net that includes such things is a vital part of providing economic security to enable Americans to do well. I'm interested as well, but my individual background has left me jaded about reform plans. I'm a doctor who watched the 1993 plan with great hopes, and then watched it go down in flames. Clark is meeting with health-care activists pretty soon.

Tax cuts: keep the middle-class tax cuts, eliminate the others.

Safety net/social security: His solution lies in long-term fiscal discipline, paying down the debt, raising enough taxes to pay the bill for the things we want. He doesn't have a speicific proposal yet, but he's "not particuarly in favor" of raising the retirement age.

I'm willing to bet that he's got the best chance of any of the 10 of going to Washington with enough support to use the bully pulpit and enact some economic and budget plan that will cover about 80% of what most of the candidates are supporting.

[Catch22Dem]

3. Republican Fundraisers?

Which ones? I know he said he voted for reps in the past, but that doesn't exactly make him an activist.

[roughsatori]

7. Yes in 2001 here is a link

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=369183#369324

[carpetbagger]

13. Yeah, he told them to act like democrats.

It was a speech embracing Clinton's policy of involvement of America in the world.

[roughsatori]

16. Could you link me to the line "Act like Democrats"

Because I can't find it in the speech. Maybe you are being ironic, if so, sorry.

[carpetbagger]

23. Obviously those words aren't in the speech.

However, as I pointed out, the speech was about how America should follow the foreign policy of the Clinton administration.

[Edmundo]

15. People are desperate to smear the guy...

People see that Clark is pretty strong and can grab a lead that will be hard to catch up.

I don't know enough about Clark to support him or to attack him but I find it interesting that some people are not giving him a chance. Let the man speak, let him show his plan and let him debate first and then attack him.

But I know that the people who don't know clark and who are making condescending questions (but denying they are attacking him) are not going to like Clark regardless.

True, Clark is the flavor of the moment and potentially for the rest of campaign. That will depend on how well he does in the debates and in the months to come. It's too soon to say anything right now. Come on! It's been two days!

Anyway, Dean was the flavor of the moment up until now...

[roughsatori]

17. Facts are not smears

It would be a smear if it where not true. It is a fact he was the keynote speaker at a Republican fundraiser in 2001. You may be able to defend that (as some have) but you can not deny it.

[Edmundo]

19. The smear is not the fact you just stated...

...the smear is the fact that you are trying to portray Clark as a Republican for being the keynote speaker at the fundraiser in 2001.

Let the man show his plan, let him speak, let him debate and then make your conclusions. Right now you are just looking for something to bash Clark for and make him look bad. You are upset because he is a threat to the candidate you support.

[roughsatori]

20. You're right all Dems should raise money for Republicans

Because that is what you are doing if you are billed as a keynote speaker at a Republican event.

He does not need my help to portray himself as a Republican, he did that longer then his current portrayal of a Democrat.

[bowens43]

22. Don't you think that being a republican

is a prerequisite for being the key note speaker at a republican fund raiser? I do. 2001 isn't very long ago. I still haven't seen anything to convince me he isn't a republican in dem clothing.

But the flip flop on the war vote bothers me even more. One day he says he would have voted for it and the next says he would have voted against it? Not even bush has flip flopped on a major issue in 24 hours. The flip flop and the military career are serious negatives.

[carpetbagger]

24. Kerry and Dean did the same flip-flop.

They both supported giving leverage to Bush to get inspections, and to respond if there was a threat. They both opposed Bush's recklessness. Clark, like Kerry and Dean, has a long track record of statements regarding the war in Iraq.

The one sure conclusion is that none of these guys would have been nutso like The Boy Who Cried Wolf (R-TX). That's the real issue. These guys aren't running for Senate under a second Bush term. They're running so that the only things Bush can wage war on are the mesquite and feral hogs on his ranch.

[polpilot]

5. This is what happens when the DLC poots their pants. I don't know a

damn thing about Clark except what I've read the last week. I do know that you don't win a political race with this sort of bullshit last minute crap. If he's the viable candidate then why the hell hasn't he been groomed for this the last 18 months...that's right 'groomed, prepared..this is a god damn race not a f****** a hand holding circle session. This is crazy.

Dean '04...

[Nicholas_J]

27. Yup

Lots of other democratic candidates in the past waited until OCTOBER before announcing their candidacy and won the nomination.

Clark is a DLC loyalist sent in to knocks Dean doen a few notches and make sure he does NOT get the nomination. Looks like it is starting to work.

[polpilot]

28. 'in the past' is the common phrase of loser politicians who don't

understand the basic tenents of politics. Poltics, more than any other endeavor, is time and period specific.

Kerry's scripted run at the presidency, crafted pre-Dean, was unable to change when Dean hammered the door down. End of story.

Dean '04...The New Democratic Leader of The NEW Democratic Party

[mddemo]

8. clark, no way

This is one guy i will never vote for, I was in the British army contingent that this lunatic ordered to attack the russians at Pristina Airport. If it hadnt of been for General Sir Michael Jackson (a great commander and soldier, who told clark that he wasnt about to start WW3 for him) refusing the order my company would of been the one who started WW3. The Russians now admit they had thousands of airborne troops ready to go to support the unit at the airport, this thing would of escalated beyond belief very quickly. Clark for President no way.

New US citizen, voter and democrat.

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[mddemo]

10. clark

actually im scots, born and raised, now a US citizen, your free to defend CLark, as i am free to say i think the guy is certifiable. YOu can vote for him, i wont.

[jayson23]

11. Fair enough

I read your reply to my post in the other thread, so I hereby recind my "freeper" comment and apologize.
You have a valid personal reason to place your support where you do, and not having been there myself, I won't try to second guess you.
Good luck to the Democrat you do support, and as I've said before, I will support the Democratic nominee, no matter who it is. I hope that you will do the same.
And by the way, thank you for your service in the military. I mean that sincerely.

[mddemo]

14. no probs

much respect to you for your apology, one of the reasons i love america is the fact that we can have a free discource and all opinions are valid, even when they are wrong. :)

[kang]

30. I'm curious about the Pristina incident

I'm a Clark supporter and I've been hearing more and more from the far Left about how this incident indicates he's an unfit general. If you were there (what detachment were you?) could you please tell me what were the exact orders that Gen. Jackson refused? As I understood it, they were orders to occupy the airfield before the Russians fully controlled the area. I didn't think the issue was Clark ordered Jackson to shoot or attack the Russians, but that Jackson felt the act would be construed as an act of aggression and was worried it could lead to some kind of altercation.

Also, wasn't the Russian entrance into the Kosovo area unannounced and weren't they friendly to the Serb forces, the very same ones that were responsible for all the atrocities? I understand the KLA were no angels themselves, but what was your experience?

I feel this is important info because so many anti-war liberals seem to be attacking Clark as some imperialist mad-bomber of Serbia and they seem to forget what our mission was there. Your input would help.

[carpetbagger]

12. Answers.

1. I haven't seen a transcript of his recent press conference, but he indicated that he would favor a review of death penalty cases. The reports seem to indicate him hedging later, but strangely, or not-so-strangely, what follow-up question the reporters asked didn't actually make it into the reports. He's previously said that he believes that the death penalty should be reserved for exceptional cases (perhaps similar to what Tsongas had said about it in 1992).

2. He favors vouchers on an "exceptional basis" only.

3. He has always believed that the war in Iraq was premature, even if it were eventually necessary, and conducted without thought to the post-war objectives. He held these views even at the peak of public support for the war.

4. I know of only one local GOP fundraiser he went to, and it sounds like he went there to give a speech to them about how they should follow the policies of Clinton instead of what Bush was proposing. It's also not accurate to characterize him as going through a period of praising Bush's administration, probably not even as much as what some dem congressmen have done.

[sungkathak]

21. relates to the Jews and the

BEHIND THE HEADLINES Latest contender for president
comes from long line of rabbis By Ron Kampeas

WASHINGTON, Sept. 17 (JTA) — Raised a Southern
Baptist who later converted to Roman Catholicism, Gen.
Wesley Clark knew just what to say when he strode into a
Brooklyn yeshiva in 1999, ostensibly to discuss his
leadership of NATO´s victory in Yugoslavia.

"I feel a tremendous amount in common with you," the
uniformed four-star general told the stunned roomful of
students.

"I am the oldest son, of the oldest son, of the oldest son —
at least five generations, and they were all rabbis."

The incident could be a signal of how Clark, who became
the 10th contender in the Democratic run for the
presidency on Wednesday, relates to the Jews and the
issues dear to them.

http://www.jta.org/page_view_story.asp?intarticleid=13221&intcategoryid=3

[jayson23]

25. if the bubbes in Miami are any indication...

Clark will have a strong showing in the Jewish vote. My Nana lives in Miami Beach, she's a very active member in the Jewish community down there, and during our last phone call today, she told me that all of her friends are talking about how much they like Clark.
Interestingly, not a one of them likes Lieberman. Her quote - "The last thing we need is to get a Jew like Liberman into office. When he starts messing things up, who do you think people are going to blame?"

[LWolf]

26. Good question.

Clark supporters, does he have a well-designed platform on domestic issues, or is he still working on it?

When a candidate enters this late, I just want to know where he stands. I'm skipping all of the "he's great" and "no, he's the devil" stuff. I just want the real goods. What does he stand for, and where does he stand on my issues? With substance. Is there a place, a site that will lay that out in detail so that I can read it at my leisure?

[corgigrrl]

29. not yet

(not a Clark supporter) but i will say i do visit the site to see when/if the issues go up. Not yet. Presumably he'll say some things at the thurs. debate to lay some groundwork.

and i can respect that he was still considering a run up until he announced, but it does look like a little more prep would have been appropriate. I'm sure none of the other Dems launched sites OR announced without their position papers in some sort of order. seems almost a dis, or dare we say, arrogant.

I was just appalled by the interview he gave the London Times in April 2003. If i were a Clark supporter, i would be watching www.commondreams.org. They post progressive news articles and do not, as far as i know, have forums. That's where i go when i just want to read the news from a prog. slant. They're not shy about having critiques of my candidate, Dean, either!