WES CLARK DECLARES BUSH Mishandled Storm! - DesMoines Register article

[FrenchieCat]

Well at least, a Democrat is getting some press on the Bush Fiasco aka Hurricane Katrina!

This morning I received this article as a Google Alert. When I hit the Google link though....it took me to the Register, but no article. I wrote them inquiring about "what happened?" to it. Looks like they put it back!

Politics
In Iowa, Clark declares Bush mishandled storm

By JOLENE STEVENS
REGISTER CORRESPONDENT
September 2, 2005
Sioux City, Ia. — Retired Gen. Wesley Clark, traveling in Iowa on Thursday, was sharply critical of the Bush administration's preparation for and response to the Hurricane Katrina disaster.

"I think it's awful that we left 100,000 people stranded in New Orleans," Clark told reporters at a Sioux City news conference.

He said federal officials had plenty of warning and should have been more prepared.

"First of all, we all saw the storm coming. This did not come in the middle of the night like a terrorist attack. It was very clearly presented for hours before it struck," he said.

"We should have mobilized a joint task force, pre-positioned the National Guard, and lined up the evacuation assets," Clark continued.

"We can do much better than this in our country," he said.
snip
Addressing the high gasoline prices in the wake of damage to the oil industry on the Gulf Coast, he said that "assuming we can get the materials out and ease supply restraints," he would support a move to tap into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve at this point to ease gas and oil prices.
snip
For the longer term, he advocated an alternative energy policy, including using ethanol, to ease the country's reliance on fossil fuels. http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050902/NEWS09/509020383/1056

[Melodybe]

1. Thank god! Go Wes, my hero

call this mother fucker out.

Screw you Pelosi

[nickshepDEM]

6. What did Pelosi say that pissed you off?

[truebrit71]

10. She said that saying that the president (sic) mishandled things is...

...inappropriate at this time...

You know, apologizing for the coward, AGAIN... :eyes:

[FrenchieCat]

16. Scary is

is as scary does :scared:

Ms. Polosi should not have made that comment....because if she did, as a leader of the opposition party, she's digging her party's grave.....

[Gloria]

2. Good for Clark!

eom

[AX10]

3. President Clark!

[FrenchieCat]

19. That does roll off the tongue in a very

natural way....doncha think?

[Lena inRI]

4. Sweet sound of reason. . .

why oh why can't we have this man for POTUS???

Get out of the way Hillary and Bill!

God help us win in 2008!


For Clarksanity in 2008
:kick:

[FrenchieCat]

5. What I notice, even here on DU......

Clark just ain't gonna get credit much for this from most Democrats. IT will all soon be forgotten, as it always is, everytime he does something first......and it will be back to business as usual.

Watch and see!

[LittleClarkie]

12. Ya ever wonder

how many of those folks not giving him credit are actual, honest to God, Democrats. I wonder.

Those who don't notice what Clark and others are doing stopped looking long ago. Because a conclusion is where a person got tired of thinking.

[FrenchieCat]

17. Of course you are right......

that the biggest critics are normally the least informed!

[robbedvoter]

7. The only Dem who doesn't mince words - war, storm. PNAC -

the only one who speaks the truth.
That of course earns him enemies on both sides of "business as usual"

[FrenchieCat]

18. Hey!

Hi there my friend! :hi:

[robbedvoter]

24. Right back a'cha!

[PurgedVoter]

8. 2008 I'm voting for Wes!

[FrenchieCat]

9. Well that would be Great! Hope he runs!

Here something to read that migh reinforce the notion that you have just conveyed.

Powerful shit as far as I am concerned!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=108x122187

:hi:

[Texas_Kat]

11. I've decided

that we need more full-service Democrats like Wes Clark. Tactics AND strategy!

[wiley]

13. Clark is a great leader

President in 2008. Everything else I'm hearing sounds like recycled campaign pablum.

[Adelante]

14. Frenchie, isn't that the article they zapped?

How did you get it?

[FrenchieCat]

15. It got "unzapped".....

Like Randi Rhodes said...."it was a miracle"....

Or some pointed letters...and maybe a phone call? :shrug:

[Donna Zen]

20. A rare memory-hole recovery

As for remembering who speaks out for the people of this country, I can only hope, but when even the members of DU and other boards keep up the steady cry of "where are the Domocrats?" ya gotta wonder.

Most days I can shake my sorry head and let it go. But there are moments when I wish there was a way I could jump through this screen, grab the poster, and say "there! see that statement, read the article, General Clark is speaking up and out."

Begging those who sit on the sidelines and count our donations to tell truth to power seems a waste of time and energy. That same time and energy is better spent supporting the voices, Wes Clark's and others, who don't need to be told what is right, they just "do it."

Thanks for getting this article out of the dark and into the light.

[sharonking21]

21. Clark is right

He talked about these very issues during his campaign--the need for a civilian service corp, the sorry state of preparedness here at home, the way our armed forces were being dangerously stretched too thin by a crazed foreign policy.

And he is right in raising these criticisms now. Please see my comments at:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4587483&mesg_id=4591610

And we should be really angry that more of our Democratic politicians have not stepped up to the plate! I'd like for them to listen to the Mayor of New Orleans, both when he sent out an SOS Wednesday night and when he lambasted the response from the federal government last night (Thursday) on the radio.

[Clark2008]

22. I'm so glad this made some newspaper - somewhere.

And in IOWA.... oh thank you, thank you, thank you!!

[mcscajun]

23. President Clark

Damn, I hope I can see that in print before too much longer...

[CJCRANE]

29. Future possibility: US - Pres Clark, UK - PM Clarke

Former Chancellor Kenneth Clarke is a candidate for the leadership of the UK Conservative Party.

He has interesting views on the Iraq invasion and terrorism (opposite to most Conservatives).

"Clarke attacks catastropic war":

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4203296.stm

[CarolNYC]

25. I am so glad to see this....

And I am so glad that Clark has spoken out about Bush's responsibility in all of this. I am so tired of Bush being let off the hook for one reason or another...Can't criticize him for 9/1 because we're supposed to unite against the terrorists, can't criticize him in the runup to the Iraq War because that would be unpatriotic, can't criticize him in the aftermath of Katrina because that would be politicizing the disaster....How many lives have to be lost because of this guy's negligence and incompetence before people will feel comfortable criticizing him?!?!?!?!?!?

And every time people let him get away without being held accountable for his actions, they are enabling him to let another such disaster befall us.

Thank God Wes has never shied away from saying the controversial when it needs to be said.

He was a welcome voice speaking out before the War when so many others seemed so timid for fear of being branded unpatriotic.

He was the first voice I heard declaring that Bush should take responsibility for 9/11 happening on his watch. I remember watching him say it in an opening address to that national security conference he spoke at shortly after he announced he was running for Pres. He'd been invited before he was a candidate and, although he couldn't attend, he addressed the conference by satellite. Luckily enough, they carried it live on the web and I got to watch it, even though I was at work. It's still one of the best speeches I've seen him give and it's too bad that it's not available for viewing or purchase somewhere.

When he made that comment about Bush's responsibility for 9/11, I thought, whoa....No one else has dared say that! And, of course, he took shit for daring to suggest it....and not just from Republicans...But, as usual, he was ahead of the curve for it's not such a revolutionary idea now, is it?

When I first heard Gen Clark suggest in the Alan Colmes radio interview(which by the way was a brilliant interview)that the disater unfolding in NO was not because too much of the National Guard was in Iraq but because Bush, even with enough resources at hand, didn't take the situation seriously enough and didn't respond as quickly or as seriously as he should have, my ears perked up immediately. It wasn't until later that I realized that that caught my attention so because it was something I wasn't hearing from the other Democratic leaders.

I was very glad to see him elaborate on Bush' responsibility in his next day's blog at TPM and on his website and I'm glad to see him stick with this in his press conference. Bush needs to be called out by someone on this! Not later, after everything has died down, but NOW! I heard them discussing this on AAR this morning....should Democrats wait to criticize Bush because people are suffering and dying now? They decided no, you had to criticize now, while the tragedy is in front of everyone's eyes. Give Bush a couple of weeks while this thing settles down and gets overrun by the next "big story" and he gets away with it again and is free to sit around until the next tradegy that he's not prepared for takes more lives.

I just hope Gen Clark keeps at this and I hope others follow....

I just saw Dennis' great speech posted. I knew he would come through too...Two of my very favorite people in politics, Dennis and Wes...both never ever afraid to speak truth to power. Neither has disappointed me this week...Once again, they are out there speaking for me. Thank you Wes! Thank you Dennis! True American patriots.

[Texas_Kat]

26. 11 huge caches of emergency supplies...

spread around the country in case of a catastrophe, have never been sent to NO. Caught this on the scroll on Aaron Brown tonight , because (And I quote...) "none of the governors of the affected states have asked for them."

Like the governors needed to fill out some sort of requisition or something. Waaaay beyond anyone in this "stepford bureaucrat" administration to use any initiative.

Can you imagine anyone in the government of President Clark using this unimaginably lame excuse and still keeping their heads on their shoulders?

Heads would roll, and other parts of their anatomy would be missing.

[Larry in KC]

27. In all sincerity, I've taken to asking myself... WhatWouldWesDo?

WWWCD? "What would Wesley Clark do?"

It's gotten to the point that on issue after issue, Wes is there, leading the way, in word and deed, and by all evidence, in heart.

I'm not kidding. Of course, Wes Clark is no messiah. I'm not implying that he is, and I mean no disrespect with the obvious parallel I'm making (although it's easy to imagine Freepers or other Clark-bashers deliberately misinterpreting my comment this way).

I've come to learn, though, that if you watch and listen to what he's saying on issue after issue of importance, it's a very good guide to any thinking, feeling person's response. And, if you've been watching and listening to him a great deal, as many of us have, you've gotten a feel for what he would do when a new situation arises. If you use that guideline to help in decisions about your own actions, I really think you won't be far off the mark.

Again, no flames, but I certainly can't think of another current political figure about whom this is even remotely true.

Of course, I'm sure it goes without saying, Clark '08

[Donna Zen]

30. You are on to something!

Often when I hear or read about thorny issues, my internal Clark-directory clicks in and there it is: the quote, the direction, and often the solution. Maybe it's because he not a politician, maybe it's because he actually does put America first, but whatever the reason, he tells it like it is.

I'm with Larry, I'm not a groupie, but when someone is "on the money" time after time, I want to know what they have to say. WWWCD indeed. Wes Clark when handed the mic, makes great use of the opportunity.

[CJCRANE]

28. Some-one please put Wesley Clark in charge. n/t