Wes Clark in Texas: "I do not believe that al Qaeda was involved in 9-11"

[markburgess]

Clark in town, on offensive
At fund-raiser, he faults Bush for 'unpatriotic' decisions regarding Iraq


08:59 AM CST on Tuesday, January 13, 2004

By DAVE LEVINTHAL / The Dallas Morning News

Trodding deep into President Bush's back yard, Democratic presidential candidate Wesley Clark assailed the president for making "unpatriotic" military decisions in Iraq and deceiving Americans about the war.

<snip>

Gen. Clark's comments came on a day when the press called his own statements on Iraq into question.

<snip>

in explaining himself, he told reporters: "I do not believe that al Qaeda was involved in 9-11," and he made the same remark later. As the news conference ended, an aide pulled the general aside and whispered into his ear, apparently informing him of his gaffe.


http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dallas/politics/national/stories/011303dnmetclark.18d60.html (subscription required)

[mmonk]

1. gaffes

human mistakes. Can't have any of that.

[maddezmom]

4. nope none

:)

[bearfartinthewoods]

10. not a fan of clark AT ALL but

but the report i saw indicated he corrected himself almost immediately

[markburgess]

13. where do you get "almost immediately" from?

what part of "he made the same remark later" and "as the news conference ended" indicates to you an immediate correction?

Just wondering.

[jmaier]

16. I actually listened to a tape

and he corrected himself before walking off the stage. :-)

[markburgess]

22. ok, he corrected himself "after leaving the podium" then.

It wasn't until the speech was over. He's done this before. Expect him to do it again.

Clark's most animated moment, by far, came at the end of the event, when an audience member questioned his earlier statement that his wife hadn't worked throughout his military career.

"Correction! Correction! Save me! Wait!" Clark shouted, as guests were starting to leave the room. His wife Gert, he said, had always been deeply involved in activities on Army bases. "My wife worked herself to death! She just didn't earn any money! That's all I meant!"

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/president/clark/articles/2003/11/14/clark_sees_cold_war_as_blueprint_for_middle_east_strategy/

[liberalnurse]

2. Thats new ......

When did he change his opinion from 2002 and 2003?

[LuminousX]

3. Two ways to approach this

1. Give him the benefit of the doubt and let is slide.
2. Say that he is unfit to lead if he can't keep such simple things straight.

I am going to opt for #1, because I know people mis-speak, especially when under stress and when there are a hundred plus people clamoring for attention and information is constantly streaming at them.

Would Dean get the same consideration though? Probably not. But we can lead by example. Clark misspoke. It is nothing more than a minor, easily corrected error. He is human.

[markburgess]

11. Here's the problem with 1:

It was on tape.
He gave the whole speech, said it twice even.
Then he left the stage.

Karl Rove has a copy of the tape, you can be sure.
In the General Election, expect to see ads every 10 minutes showing Clark say it then leave the stage. Don't expect the Republicans to show his self-correction after the fact. It can easily be made to look like he meant what he said.

Now consider that not everyone is fooled by that. Still at the very best the constant replay will be humiliating to Clark, making him look foolish.

Now consider this is not the first time Clark has had to go running back to the stage to correct himself. Expect it not to be the last time either. He seems prone to these types of gaffes from what I've seen. Expect them in the debates. Expect them in debates against Bush should Clark get the nomination.

By the time the Republicans are done with General Clark, I'm afraid he will look more like Admiral Stockdale.

[11 Bravo]

18. Do you honestly believe that Karl Rove wants to initiate

a battle of dueling verbal fuck-ups with ANY candidate? Your statement and faux expression of fear are blindingly self-serving.

[LuminousX]

23. Have any of the candidates not had similar mis-statements?

I don't like being a hypocrit. I despise efforts to discredit Dean using these tactics and I won't stand for it being used against another candidate.

I save my hypocrisy for when it is important.

[markburgess]

24. probably not this extreme or this "Made for TV"

There are a lot of things Dean has said on a similar level, but he actually meant to say them. "America is no safer after the capture of Saddam Hussein" is one of the things he's said that initiated his freefall in the polls.

[Tim_in_HK]

26. Of course they have

Luminous X is right. This is silly.

Dean referred to Russia as the Soviet Union twice during an interview on Hardball regarding how the US should approach dealings with Iran.

A silly stupid gaffe by Dean, and a silly stupid gaffe by Clark. Move it along . . .

[kerry-is-my-prez]

30. It all depends on how often people make gaffes - if it's all the time

you have a problem. Also if it is a slip of the tongue rather than a flip-flop that is going to be much more problematic.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

27. Oh puhleeze. Stop grasping at straws - it was a slip of the tongue

and people know that. Rove can't use that for sh*t.

[jmaier]

5. welcome to irresponsible flame warring

It's so comforting to see another open-minded, only mildly partisan voice here at DU. :hi:

BTW, Wes Clark, on his own, immediately told the audience that he misspoke and meant to say "Saddam Hussein" had no role in 9/11. But hey, what's a little accuracy between fellow democrats.

[markburgess]

7. not until after leaving the stage when the speech was over.

[meow mix]

9. the poster knew it was a mistake

and yet he tried to pass it off as clarks real belief.
BWAHAHA
slimeyness is a typical trait of clark-haters.

[markburgess]

12. no, I passed it off as something he said, because he did

you may note I included reference to the discussion being on Iraq, and also that Clark was informed of his gaffe.

As for traits of "clark-haters", I have noticed that Clark supporters have a few traits of their own. Mainly extreme defensiveness over the slightest criticsm of Clark, and thinking everyone is out to get their candidate. If you say anything about Clark other than giving him the highest of praise, you are labeled a "clark-hater".

I believe the primaries are about scrutinizing the candidates and selecting the best one, not about cheerleading for any one candidate. We have a serious choice to make, and it will take a serious examination of these candidates.

I believe a gaffe this severe is in need of discussing.
Thank you.

[Dhalgren]

17. Hey, I've always had my doubts about Al Qaida's

involvement in 9/11. I have yet to see any "proof" one way or the other that anybody, for sure, was involved. But that's what happens when the government blocks the investigation of something like this.
We should be more concerned about the current government's criminal conduct, rather than that someone on the campaign trail misspoke. And save your flames, I am not a Clark supporter.

[SadEagle]

14. Right, but it will not stop people from mis-quoting him. :-(

There seems to be a huge disconnect between how reasonable people read things, and how partisans and the press do so. My read on this is simple --- it's easy to misspeak when you're tired, and anyone campaigning for presidency is tired... Chances are, he meant to say something like "It wasn't Saddam, but Al-Quaeda", but mangled it. I've done stuff like this myself on occassion -- reversing the meaning -- and funnily enough that usually happens when I am nervous about being extra-careful...

At any rate, IMHO this is another one of those silly non-story stories, where the press makes a big deal out of nothing, but as Gen.Clark seems to be picking up momentum, we will probably see more nonsense like this, unfortunately.

[RUexperienced]

6. Good thing he didn't use the word

"stratergy."

[rdfi-defi]

8. perhaps it was a freudian slip

the american people, to this day, have not been shown the actual evidence that links bin laden and al queda to 9-11

i am willing to belive that al queda is the guilty party, and i am not saying that it is not true, we just have not been shown the evidence

[sallyseven]

15. There will never be any evidence

Why hasn't Bin Laden been caught? bush made a deal with the royal family in Saudi Arabia. He will go from mountain to mountain forever. Maybe bush made it up that bin laden was to blame.

[Don Claybrook]

19. Did it occur to anyone he might be right?

I know it was a slip (and by the way, big deal, the slip is a non-story). But where is that proof we were promised about al Qaeda involvement? How many times now have we caught al Qaeda's "top people", and yet, they're still the biggest threat this world has ever faced and incidentally, we'll need to give trillions of dollars to the defense industry over the next several years to fight this menace. OK, then.

[mouse7]

20. Put it on the "DOH! list with...

-Kucinich and his graphic aids for radio debate.

-Dean and the his love of New Testament Job

-Kerry press release announcing he would not appoint John Ashcroft as his Att'y Gen.

-Gephardt and his executive orders to overrule Supreme Court decisions.

[rdfi-defi]

21. focus mouse focus

[Larkspur]

25. Oh oh, this gaffe must mean that Clark is unelectable

I mean how could a guy running on his foreign policy credentials make this kind of gaffe. And he wasn't even being attacked by his rivals at the time.

Oh wait!

I forgot. Clark was a general who in the civiliam realm became a consultant to a lobbying firm for the military industrial complex, so maybe he does know more than we were led to believe.

[Bonobo]

28. Your bitterness is sad.

Yes, some have said that Dean is unelectable. But that does not mean you should follow threads around looking for a place to interject your bitterness. Try to get over it and maybe you will grow as a person.

[Old and In the Way]

29. So what? Bush has told us twice he saw the 1st plane hit the WTC on TV

Apparently that's not considered a problem. Heck, I'm not entirely convinced Al Qaeda did the act either. If they were, why'd we give the bin Laden's safe passage out of this country and then let AQ escape Tora Bora? The "War on Terror" is way too important to this criminal administration to prematurely capture the 2500 people who might make up this organization* and kill the golden goose who provides the justification to make endless war profits.

* Anyone know where I can get a deck of Al Qaeda playing cards? Sure like to know who these people are. OBL apparently is The Joker, but who are the other players? Billions of dollars spent on the "War on Terror" and I've yet to see a decent deck of cards marketed.

[RevolutionStartsNow]

31. What? Huh?

I could understand making the mistake once, that's no big deal, but TWICE? What's up with that?

[RevolutionStartsNow]

32. What? Huh?

I could understand making the mistake once, that's no big deal, but TWICE? What's up with that?