Oh No he Didn't! W. Clark Six Loose Lips Quotes that make him unelectable

[FrenchieCat]

According to a Slate article dated January 12, 2004, Wes Clark was speaking nonsense and should not have stated certain points on the primary trail.

According to the author, Clark has a "...propensity for speaking imprecisely off the cuff."

These statements made him clearly not ready for primetime!

Wes Clark deemed a flake because of the following statements:
http://slate.msn.com/id/2093825/
Bush was "warned" about 9/11: "President Bush didn't do his job as commander in chief in the early months of his administration. He was warned that the greatest threat to the United States of America was Osama Bin Laden, yet on the 11th of September in 2001, the United States had no plan for dealing with the threat posed by Osama Bin Laden. The ship of state was on autopilot.
(More to this statement in the article)
(Jan. 6, McKelvie Middle School, Bedford.)

Bush "never intended" to get Osama Bin Laden: "We bombed Afghanistan, we missed Osama Bin Laden, partly because the president never intended to put the resources in to get Osama Bin Laden. All along, right after 9/11, they'd made their mind up, I guess, that we were going to go after Saddam Hussein. That's what people in the Pentagon told me. And they capped the resources, stopped the commitment to Afghanistan, and started shifting to prepare to go after Saddam Hussein." (Jan. 6, McKelvie Middle School, Bedford.)

President Bush doesn't even want to find Bin Laden "Newsweek magazine says he's in the mountains of western Pakistan. And I guess if Newsweek could find him there, we could, too, if we wanted to." (Jan. 8, Havenwoods Heritage Heights senior center, Concord.)

There wasn't a single terrorist in Iraq before the war "The president was not and has not been held accountable yet for misleading the American people. He is continuing to associate Saddam, Iraq, and the problem of terrorism. Yet the only terrorists that are in Iraq are the people that have come there to attack us." (Jan. 7, Town House, Peterborough.)

Fifty-five million voters are "ill-informed" dupes of the Christian right "Now, there's one party in America that's made the United Nations the enemy. And I don't know how many of you have ever read that series of books that's published by the Christian right that's called the "Left Behind" series? Probably nobody's read it up here. But don't feel bad, I'm not recommending it to you. I'm just telling you that according to the book cover that I saw in the airport, 55 million copies have been printed. And in it, the Antichrist is the United Nations. And so there's this huge, ill-informed body of sentiment out there that's just grinding away against the United Nations." (Jan. 7, Fuller Elementary School, Keene.)

One of the reasons for Islam's problem "Young men in an Islamic culture cannot get married until they can support a family. No job, no marriage. No marriage, unhappy young men. They get real angry, they feel real frustrated, they feel real powerless. And a certain number of them are being exploited in the mosques by this recruiting network." (Jan. 8, Havenwoods Heritage Heights senior center, Concord.)

And in another article, same author justifies why he wrote the article....

The point of the piece, which was admittedly not clear, was to suggest that Clark may not be the "electable Dean" that his supporters believe he is. Both candidates have a propensity to make statements that range from impolitic to provocative to simply inaccurate. If you like Clark or Dean, you're predisposed to excuse these statements or to see them as courageous truth-telling. If you don't like them, you have a different reaction. I wanted to highlight this similarity between the two candidates, which belies the consensus that Clark is supported by careful centrists and Dean by angry liberals. I wish I had been more precise.
http://slate.msn.com/id/2093956/

[tk2kewl]

1. He sounds like a Deaniac

:D

[Moochy]

3. election 2004

Can we have a Do-over?

[XemaSab]

8. Primary, General

or both?

[FrenchieCat]

10. Guess anything and everything....period!

:shrug:

[XemaSab]

15. Like an earlier poster

is it too late for a do-over?

[Vincardog]

2. How dare he? Where does he get off

speaking the truth? No wonder they had to sink his candidacy.

[FrenchieCat]

17. Speaking the truth, and doing it when it was not the "safe" thing

to do....and Clark had something to lose--elections.

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."--Martin Luther King Jr.--1963

[CarolNYC]

23. speaking the truth

I became sadly convinced after this last election cycle that, in spite of what people say, they don't really want honesty from their political figures...and that goes for both sides of the spectrum, not just the right. :(

[FrenchieCat]

25. Tragically true!

and tragically sad! :(

[CarolNYC]

60. I think that was probably the most disillusioning thing about

my first foray into politics....how little truth and honesty are valued in the political world...Most upsetting to me was that it wasn't just Republicans but Democrats also who felt this way.

Reading these things that Clark said now after all of this time, it really is astonishing how far ahead of the curve he was on so many things...and how little he was respected for it....

[bullimiami]

4. dumb ass premise.

bush is the stupidest, tounge-trippinest, dumbfuck who ever said anything,

and he is the president, twice.

so to analyze anyone else and tell us what they did wrong to cause their political demise is moronic. its all about money and control of the political and media strings.
and rigged voting machines and corrupt voting officials of course.
its organized crime on a never before seen scale and to misdirect us with this drivel is pointless.

turn off the msm, turn off the tv and turn away from slate.

[FrenchieCat]

6. I don't understand the "dumb ass premise" part?

Are you stating that my OP as a dumb ass premise?

[girl gone mad]

31. I think he means..

the author of the Slate piece, whom you quote.

[FrenchieCat]

32. Oh!

Thanks! :blush:

[LittleClarkie]

5. Okay, I'm waiting for the flakey comments

Where are they?

[Texas_Kat]

20. Wait for it.... they're on their way!

[Tom Rinaldo]

7. Great job Frenchie. People forget the flak Clark took for all of this

when he was virtually alone saying most of it. Clark was thought to be "off message" talking about things beyond the political pale.

Same thing happened when Clark refused to disown Michael Moore for his "outrageous", "disrespectful", and "unsubstantiated" comments about Bush being A.W.O.L during Viet Nam, which Moore made right before the NH Primary. Clark got roasted over that during the NH primary debate, and on the news all week leading up to Tuesday's vote. No other Democrat backed Clark then, but they sure had fun with the issue about Bush's war record AFTER Kerry won the nomination. No hard feelings over Kerry here, I'm glad he ran with it, but that was after Clark was left out hanging for the media jackles for not denouncing Michael Moore.

[FrenchieCat]

19. Yes, people do "forget"......

and others just weren't paying "attention" to what he was saying....they were too busy calling him a Republican!

Too bad, isn't it?

[Oversea Visitor]

9. Bingo

every one of them is true

[Cha]

11. Everything Clark said

has turned out to be TRUE!

Chris Suellentrop doesn't know what the fuck he's talking aobut.

[FrenchieCat]

16. Not even in the slightest.

Would'nt it be fun to send him a letter with this article now in where we state......

WTF were you talking bout' Willis? :rofl:

Suellentrop can be written to at: [e-mail]

But seriously, this is the type of work our media does? Hell! Slate ain't even corporate, or is it?

[Donna Zen]

59. Slate was a joint venture

with Microsoft.

That was when I first heard about it. Who knows since then.

[depakid]

12. Seems as though speaking the truth did make him unelectable

Just as it did Howard Dean-

With the far right in control of the media and with nearly 1/2 of the country without the slighest interest in critical thought, it's going to be damn hard to elect someone with the intelligence and integrity of Wes Clark. People don't like having their delusions shattered.

Of course, as the war drags on and the economy tanks, some few will wake up. Whether that will be enough to overcome the dishonest media and fraud at the ballot box- we'll just have to wait and see.

[Totally Committed]

34. "Blessed are the truth-tellers,

for they should be the ones elected to office." -- The Gospel according to TC

[Tom Rinaldo]

13. In the same spirit of hind sight

I just went and reread a piece I posted on 2/10/04 to my blog at Clark's then campaign site. Admittedly it was written while Clark still had a slim chance of winning the Democratic nomination, so yes it was a Clark promotion, and no disrespect was meant to other Democratic Candidates, but more than a Clark promo it was a summary of the work Clark had already done for Democrats against Bush. I already knew Kerry was going to get the nomination. Here it is:


Only Clark Can Shred Bush

Today I will be making calls to Tennessee, but before any votes are counted, there is something I wanted to say.

If the Democrats win in November, with or without Clark as our nominee, it will be because of the hard efforts made by many people, including all of our potential candidates and all of their supporters. Bush WAS a popular President. All of us, working together (intentionally or not) have changed that.

There is something unique about Wesley Clark however, and he has already made an irreplaceable contribution toward bringing down George Bush. Listening to Bush on Meet The Press it was starkly clear that Bush will run as a War President. When Bush boasts about anything, it is about his fighting Terror. When Bush is faced with any failure of his domestic and economic policies, well that is because of the Terror, and his need to fight it. That has been Bush's script. That, and wedge issues, is his whole play book actually. Don't blame me, blame Osama Bin Ladin, and aren't we proud to be Americans?

Clark looks Bush straight in the eye, says I dedicated 34 years of my life to defending America, and then he blames Bush. Clark blames Bush for not having the country prepared to confront the threat of Osama Bin Ladin before 9/11. Clark blames Bush for not organizing the sympathy of the world into a coordinated international strategy to confront Osama Bin Ladin. Clark blames Bush for not following through and concentrating and GETTING Osama Bin Ladin. Clark blames Bush for giving Osama Bin Ladin fertile new recruiting ground throughout the Arab world by invading Iraq. Clark blames Bush for botching the Iraq invasion aftermath. Clark blames Bush for overextending and pinning down our military, and threatening the viability of our National Guard. Clark blames Bush for needlessly putting our Sons and Daughters in harm's way. Clark blames Bush for squandering 150 Billion Dollars in Iraq when we have urgent unmet Domestic needs at home. Clark blames Bush for subverting our very democratic process in an attempt to manipulate a pre conceived War agenda down the throats of the American people. Clark blames Bush for being a TERRIBLE War President, and there goes the entire rational of the Bush Presidency.

There was no one else in the Democratic Party with the clear stature and authority to so thoroughly tear Bush down as a War time President, than the former Commander of NATO; retired Four Star General Wesley Clark. There was no one else with the experience needed to speak clearly and directly to the American people and so thoroughly call George Bush's bluff. Rumsfeld has been shrunken from the swaggering Grim Reaper, to a withered pile of dust. Chaney is cowering in an undisclosed location, and Bush looked like a total idiot trying to answer Tim Russet's questions about how and why he took the United States to war. Many people contributed to this turn around, but Wes Clark was the man.

Early in this campaign season, many accused Clark of being a one trick wonder. The public Backed Bush on Iraq, he brought Turkeys to our troops, they CAUGHT Hussein for God's sake. Democrat's have to talk about the economy. Well the truth is, Democrats for the most part all agree about the economy. We will carry that issue into the Fall with whoever our nominee is. So much of what has passed as a campaign this year has actually been one long screen test, to see who could best deliver the best anti-Bush one liners about the economy. But Bush was always running as a war time President. 9/11 was Bush's teflon, and Wesley Clark shredded it. Sure, other Democrats have been highly critical of Bush over Iraq, but it usually came down to either; "Bush abused the public trust", or "I never trusted him in the first place." Clark has been the heavy hitter. Clark was the one who kept explaining exactly what should have happened instead and all the reasons why. Clark is the one who had the specific proposals for what could and should be done now. Clark had the global vision for America's security in today's world, he was the in house expert for the Democratic Party on the issues of war and peace, and Clark shredded Bush on it, relentlessly, Turkeys or no Turkeys, Hussein or no Hussein.

And now the Democrats are starting to reap the rewards, and Kerry has stepped forward to gather the bouquets. Dean sounded the alarm, Clark made the case, and Kerry is taking the credit as the experienced war veteran who can take it to George Bush.

Well there is another experienced war veteran in this race, and he already took it to George Bush. Clark stripped Bush Bare on War and Peace. He took him down for all of us, and now Bush is looking vulnerable. Thank you General Clark, your country AND your Party needed you, and one more time, you didn't let us down.

[FrenchieCat]

24. Boy...you need to be hired as a campaign consultant!

Looks like you knew better than the "Paid" high powered Consultants what the GOP take would be!

Loved your brief summary of the '04 primaries!
Dean sounded the alarm, Clark made the case, and Kerry is taking the credit as the experienced war veteran who can take it to George Bush.

[Donna Zen]

27. With a few edits, this could have been written today:

Tom, I'd never read that before. On 2/10/04, I too was busy with those last minute campaign chores to spend much time at DU. And yes, Wes can and still does shred them.

Today Wes is meeting with the senate Dems. with a message of unity and protecting each others backs.

There is a book, I can't remember the name right now, written by a RollingStone reporter who followed a class of West Point cadets through four years. He says that the place, as expected, is a high-pressure competitive environment. And yet, on a march, if someone stumbles, every hand goes out automatically.

I hope that we can learn that lesson. Wes took a few for the cause in 04, now may they learn to help one another.

[Texas_Kat]

38. How can I say this without sounding like

a cheerleader? :dilemma:

Oh hell .... I'm just gonna have ta.

:woohoo: :applause:

[Ilsa]

14. I'm waiting for those "Bart" Republicans with buyers remorse

to switch and help elect Clark instead of a CondiNeocon in 2008. I may not like them for being so uninformed and toting the Bush line until it has almost sunk their own boats, but I bet Clark would be happy to take their donations and votes.

Regarding the Dupes on the Christian Right: A relative in Florida is a Dem who attends a So. Baptist Church. She said their pastor told all of them in Oct 2004 to "vote with your conscience, not your pocketbook." It was a clear admission of Bush economic policy failure, and the minister's failure to see the war as immoral and unconscienable.

[Totally Committed]

18. All these things...

have made me a true believer in Wes Clark.

He spoke the truth then, and he speaks the truth now. It's just that heh's always so ahead of the curve, reality needs time to catch up. But, in the end, he's always right.

Wes is a truth-teller.

Wes is courageous.

Wes doesn't take sh*t from anyone.

Wes always takes responsibility for his actions and his words.

No wonder there are those in this Party who doubt he's really a Democrat. LOL!

Wes will be an extraordinary POTUS.

TC

[Ishoutandscream2]

21. Clark's the man for 08. I don't think anyone else comes close

eom

[Coexist]

delete - dupe

[Coexist]

22. I love Wes

[emcguffie]

26. Again, I say,

my dream team is Dean/Clark, or Clark/Dean. either way. I love them both, and one is from the north, a fiscal moderate, and approved by the NRA. the other one is from the south and the military. They're both brilliant, in my book.

I think they complement each other nicely.

[ooglymoogly]

30. yes my dream exactly

these two who believe truth is the best politics

[Totally Committed]

33. And they have guts (n/t)

TC

[FrenchieCat]

35. AND

Brass Balls (better yet...Copper?)

[Tom Rinaldo]

36. LOL! n/t

[emcguffie]

57. I honestly think the'd be unbeatable.

I don't know why others dno't see it.

[Donna Zen]

28. Thanks for taking the time

...to get this together. Amazing isn't it?

[ClarkUSA]

29. Yesterday's conspiracy theories are today's conventional wisdom...

Many of the things that General Clark said were and are still treated with this type of ignorant disbelief and derision from both the radical right and the loony left....
but somehow he manages to be proven 100% right everytime.

No surprise there. General Clark is positively prescient in his assessments.

I wrote Mr. Swillingcrap and asked him to write an update piece to make up for the crap he wrote on Wes Clark during the primaries.

Not holding my breath.

Thanks for the great thread, FrenchieCat! :thumbsup:

[Tom Rinaldo]

37. The question is, who is listening to Clark about Iran and Syria now?

"I told you" so brings no comfort.

[FrenchieCat]

39. You mean what he said in the debates? back in October of '03?

Clark also criticized his Washington-based rivals for failing to take action against Mr. Bush's foreign policy. He said North Korea and Iran are accelerating their nuclear weapons development in reaction to the administration's "pre-emptive doctrine" and the Democrats in Congress are doing nothing to stop it.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/10/09/politics/main577411.shtml

[Tom Rinaldo]

56. Yes, certainly that, but also this Spring in testimony to Congress

Clark flat out said that his Administration's regional policies and priorities were leading inevitably toward war with Syria and/or Iran. It was matter of fact and chilling. He basically said stop it or prepare for the consequences. I admit this is oversimplified and my short hand summary, but for a while there was a thread up at DU with a link to the audio of Clark's testimony where he also, as it went, totally ran right over Richard Perle who was testifying also. It was long but well worth listening to.

[dogman]

40. Wouldn't it be interesting to ask the author what was inaccurate?

If he considered the statements "not ready for primetime", he may have had a point. Look at the people on DU who think the DSM is some great new revelation. To those who listened to Clark the DSM is just one more confirmation that we were right when we recognized Clark as a patriotic truth teller. As noted, more people should be listening to what he says now.

[FrenchieCat]

42. and don't forget the New Revelation by our Corporate press......

one that Wes Clark presciently stated would be the result of an Iraq Invasion back in September of 2002, and which Paul Wellstone felt compeled to include in his own statement against the Iraq War (giving Clark full attribution--of course!).

"But as General Wes Clark, former Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in Europe has recently noted, a premature go-it-alone invasion of Iraq "would super-charge recruiting for Al Qaida."
http://www.wellstone.org/news/news_detail.aspx?itemID=2778&catID=298

I just read that in the Corporate news.....like this year? Doh!

War Helps Recruit Terrorists, Hill Told
Intelligence Officials Talk Of Growing Insurgency
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A28876-2005Feb16?language=printer

Iraq New Terror Breeding Ground
War Created Haven, CIA Advisers Report
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7460-2005Jan13.html

CIA: Iraq Could Be Terror Hotbed
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/01/15/iraq/main667216.shtml

[Gold Metal Flake]

41. Clark 2008, if I have to hack the vote machine and add him.

[Clark2008]

45. Cool!

I'll help you. :hi:

Certified Ethical Hacker...


And, to me, preventing voter fraud and providing the average citizen a decent choic *is* ethical hacking!

[ClarkUSA]

43. Slate had a big hard-on in 2004 for a certain candidate in particular

but it sure wasn't either Clark or Dean.

Here's what Swillingcrap has to say about Clark and Dean supporters:

"Both candidates have a propensity to make statements that range from impolitic to provocative to simply inaccurate. If you like Clark or Dean, you're predisposed to excuse these statements or to see them as courageous truth-telling."

Guess he really understands what drives what are arguably the two largest liberal Democratic grassroots' supporters groups, huh? :eyes:

[Totally Committed]

47. This is why they say hindsight is 20/20....

"Here's what Swillingcrap has to say about Clark and Dean supporters:

'Both candidates have a propensity to make statements that range from impolitic to provocative to simply inaccurate. If you like Clark or Dean, you're predisposed to excuse these statements or to see them as courageous truth-telling.'"

In reptrospect, both Clark and Dean have proved to be courageous truth-tellers. I am proud of both of them. Slate should be ashamed of that statement.

TC

[Clark2008]

44. Frenchie, this was the article to which I was referring in one

of my earlier posts, fending off a Clark-basher.

I actually wrote this nimwit of a "writer" and pointed out that EVERY SINGLE THING ON HIS STUPID LIST HAD COME TRUE AND CLARK WAS CORRECT.

Needless to say, I never heard back from him. :)

[FrenchieCat]

46. Needless to say.....

Cause WTF was the presstitute gonna say? I was wrong?
don't think so!

[haypops]

48. If you only had one wish

If I only had one wish, should it be Clark's election, a true count of votes on election day, or a media that isn't worse than worthless?

[FrenchieCat]

50. Shit.....that's an easy one.....

Better media would be my answer.

With a better media, the truth about the fraudulent voting machines would be exposed and that would be changed to verifiable paper ballots.....

Better media would also mean that the truth about what a great leader Wes Clark is would spread ...and when people voted, and the verifiable paper ballots were counted, Wes Clark would win!

[Auntie Bush]

54. Frenchie...I 'm flabbergasted and absolutely marvel over the way

you ALWAYS find so many apropos articles or quotes to support or deny something someone has said about Clark. Always there on the job when needed. We Democrats are so lucky to have you fighting for Clark!
Thanks, love and hugs to you and Clark and to all on board.
:loveya: :hug: :grouphug:

[FrenchieCat]

58. I just followed the Primaries really closely......

and I researched quite a bit. When I find interesting items, I archived them for future use.

I don't believe in allowing the memory hole to take over my senses...is all.

Thanks for the kudos, though. One can always use those ! :hi:

[Ksec]

49. truth is truth

no matter how bad they hate it.

[Jim Sagle]

51. Every single word he said is true. What's the problem?

[FrenchieCat]

52. The problem is that Clark was called a lunatic.....

and was called "not ready for primetime" based on what they labeled as so called "mispeaks" by the corporate media and others.

and the problem...is like you said, everything he had said was true.

[Jim Sagle]

53. I forgot - when the media "caters", truth is never on the menu.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

55. Can't disagree with anything he said

:said: