I just shook hands with Wes Clark at his first 'True Grits' stop.

[TacticalPeek]

In Jackson, MS, at the War Memorial Building in the Right To Vote room, that is. I figure the Little Rock breakfast this morning was the start of the tour, so that makes Chimneyville the first stop.

Very nice crowd of a hundred or so crammed into the small room (a good way to fill a room :) ).

The audience was the usual suspects, plus an encouraging throng of the college ageish. He was introduced by US Rep Gene Taylor in fine form, contrasting Republican lip service with Clark's real service.

Clark's short speech was very well done and well received. One lone goonman boorishly interrupted Clark after a minute or two with something like "Where do you stand on the Confederate flag?". Clark said he'd get to that and continued.

Nice speech. Biggest applause line was near the end, when he was listing the things Democrats stand for, holding up a small flag, "We stand for this American flag, not the Confederate flag."

Loud applause went on and on. We be hungry. This guy can make Bush a bump in the road of American progress.

He and Gert were both great. No link or pic yet, but the local press fully covered. I heard that CNN's gear was too heavy for the plane trip, but they're hooking up later.

Here's the schedule. Y'all come.

http://www.clark04.com/truegrits/

:kick:


edit: add link

Clark criticizes Bush on campaign stop in Jackson

Associated Press

JACKSON, Miss. - Democratic presidential candidate Wesley Clark
told about 100 people here Monday that he shares their values of
patriotism, faith and family.

The retired Army general, on his two-day, eight-state, 10-city trip
"True Grits" tour to try to attract Southern voters, also criticized
President Bush.

"Our president, before 9-11, didn't do his job. He didn't do
everything he could to keep our country safe from terrorism and
then he sent our troops over to Iraq to distract us from the fact
that he doesn't have Osama bin Laden yet," Clark said.

Clark said he never would have sent troops to Iraq, but now that
Americans are there, "we're going to do the right thing, we're
going to make it a success."

"It's going to take a little bit of time and a little bit of patience to
do it right," Clark said.

[maddezmom]

1. thanks for the update :)

wish I could make one, but the flight is a little too long. Keep us updated with any local press he may get out of the visit.

[jmaier]

2. Thanks for the post.

I always like the first hand accounts and I am jealous.

[deminflorida]

3. He'll be in Pensacola this evening...

Going myself....

[maddezmom]

5. hope you'll give us an update

as soon as you get in the door...hehe :)

[in_cog_ni_to]

4. Thank you for your

first hand account. It's nice to hear he had a good crowd. He's a great guy and the more people who see him in person, the better. He's very personable, warm, compassionate and comes across as sincere.

Thanks for the post!

Go Wes!

[robbedvoter]

6. Nice article in NYT 9on the tour)

With Tour, Clark Focuses on Southern Votes
By EDWARD WYATT
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/29/politics/campaigns/29CLAR.html
ITTLE ROCK, Ark., Dec. 28 — The New Hampshire primary is less than a month away, but Gen. Wesley K. Clark will spend the waning days of 2003 far from the North. Instead, he will barnstorm across eight Southern states, even though most of them do not hold their primary elections until well into March and many Democrats expect their presidential nominee to have been chosen by then.

[TacticalPeek]

7. I added a link to AP coverage of the failed Bush presidency.

:)

[rucky]

8. What was the racial makeup of the crowd?

n/t

[TacticalPeek]

10. I'd guess about fifty-fifty.

I was impressed with the spread of demographics: young, old, in-between, suits, jeansandbackpacks. And a wide variety of dripping umbrellas logo-ed with schools and businesses, from the rain that did not dampen.

Most of the lobby-talk I overheard was about "Clark or Dean, but I like Clark". Lotsa black support, and I was heartened by the many smiling happy faces of my youngers.

[rucky]

11. Very Cool

:thumbsup:

[lurk_no_more]

9. Impressive isn't he?

I got to shake his hand at the Florida Convention where he got a standing ovation three times from a packed house.

We even had two supporters from one of the other candidates tables, come over afterwords and join the Clark team that day.

The man is great!


Food for thought from….“JAFO”

[TacticalPeek]

12. Honestly, he truly is impressive.

I was a tad concerned since he's a newbie. But I'm telling you, he's already got the campaigning thing wired. Gert, too.

I recognized what is becoming his trademark 'personalizing compassion' thing, where he mentioned the little girl who fainted at the Little Rock event earlier today. The article I linked mentions it, and he told us they had found out later that she has epilepsy, but her insurance does not cover the medicine/treatment she needs. When he then said his administration would get good coverage for everybody, you could tell he really felt the importance, and a personal obligation.

By the way, love your graphic. Clark seemed to not notice my KFOR shirt (courtesy of my son), but he was busy grabbing a bunch of hands. Its definitely worth some effort to see him in person.

[neverforget]

14. I love your graphic. It says it all.....

:thumbsup:

[Jack_Dawson]

13. Lucky Lucky Lucky

Wish some politician would pay attention to us lonely Californians.
:cry:

[TacticalPeek]

15. Y'all did get a mention today.

Clark was talking about his family roots, and where they were spread all over the South, and mentioned that some had even headed out to California in the thirties. When he said that, I briefly went to black and white movieland, and pictured Clark in overalls on the truck with the young Henry Fonda on the road in The Grapes of Wrath.

Long week-end, I guess.

[Mz Pip]

16. Shake my hand!

:hi:

My hand shook Wes's hand when he spoke in San Francisco last month.:-)

He'll be back!

MzPip
:dem:

[Jack_Dawson]

17. Rub it in why dontcha

:grr:

No but seriously, that's awesome. Was it a fundraiser?



:yourock:

[Mz Pip]

18. Not a fundraiser

He spoke at a luncheon for the SF Bar Assn. He talked a lot about Bush, Ashcroft the Judiciary, the Patriot Act and the Constitution. He also talked about the blacklisting of Judges that Ashcroft is pushing. He got a standing ovation.

I was a pretty solid supporter before the speech but he really sealed the deal after that.

MzPip
:dem:

[Jack_Dawson]

35. Nice work, Counselor

Spread the good word.

[Lefta Dissenter]

21. HAHA, you GOT your NEW politician out there in Cahleeforneeah! :)

Hey, if you can't get any real politicians to shake your hand, at least you can get groped by an acting one! :)

I shook hands with Clark twice when he was here in Madison (he probably thought I was a stalker), and even though I was already a staunch Clark supporter, I couldn't see how anyone could look that man in the eye, listen to him speak and not support him.

I LOVE hearing the first-hand accounts! :toast:

[JNelson6563]

19. Indeed, Bush didn't do his job pre-9/11

And we here all knew he wasn't doing his job. In May of that year we all hated him and knew why. We knew all about the BFEE and their slimey ways.

Our president, before 9-11, didn't do his job. He didn't do
everything he could to keep our country safe from terrorism and
then he sent our troops over to Iraq to distract us from the fact
that he doesn't have Osama bin Laden yet," Clark said.

But didn't the General think highly of Team Bush prior to 9/11? In May of that year?

'I'm very glad we've got the great team in office, men like Colin Powell, Don Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice... people I know very well - our President George W Bush. We need them there,' he told an Arkansas Republican dinner.

Does anyone see the contradiction here?

Julie

[DancingBear]

20. You know, Julie

If this had been posted in, oh, say, another candidates positive thread by oh, say, another candidates supporter (generally speaking), um, "someone" would probably consider it bashing, and maybe even hit the "alert" button a time or twelve.

We know where you stand, and how you see things. Please don't bother us here.

[SahaleArm]

22. You were a lot nicer than I would have been.

I probably would have got another warning if I posted something with a confederate flag.

[JNelson6563]

24. hey, ok, if you're "ok" with that

that's ok with me. I have a problem with it. Thought maybe a Clark supporter or two may have a more clear sighted comment on it.

You could not so easily dismiss it though if Clark were to win the nom and Rove was using it in commercials 24/7. Something to think about, no?

After all, with all the threads about what we'll face in the GE I figured this might be worth mention. I see at this point a "we'll cross that bridge when we come to it" attitude is preferred.

Interesting.

Julie

[DancingBear]

27. So start a thread about it

and see what happens. That's how it normally works, yes?

Not that you're transparent or anything....

[TacticalPeek]

37. "Rove was using it in commercials 24/7"???

Frankly, I'd love to see KKKarl wasting resources doing that. I guess his point would be to show how naive and trusting Clark was to say nice things about Republicans.

And I personally have no problem with these remarks. I have what I believe is a reasonable and supportable hope that many Republicans would vote for Clark in the general, especially veterans and military families. If you think about it, you should have no problem with them either.

In May 01, Clark nor I nor you knew that Shrub's bosses had shrugged off Sandy Berger's transition warning about UBL being the greatest threat to our national security, or called off the UBL stalkers, or moved to cut counter-terrorism funding, or planned to try to finish his daddy's war.

In short, the 'nice Republicans' quote means almost nothing. I'm sure I could google plenty of quotes of Clinton, JFK, whoever, saying polite things about the opposition. Clark is a warrior who can take the fight to aWol and win, which seems to disturb some folks, and not all of them seem to be Republicans.

:)

[SahaleArm]

23. Why was Dean asking for a review of civil rights after 9/11?

Here's what Clark was doing:

America is indeed at war. The attacks in New York and Washington have raised the dangers posed by international terrorism to a new level. But despite the awful familiarity of the devastation, an effective US response is likely to be something unfamiliar.

For the US, the weapons of this war should be information, law enforcement and, rarely, active military force. The coalition that will form around the US and its Nato allies should agree on its intent, but not trumpet its plans. No vast military deployments should be anticipated. But urgent measures should be taken behind the scenes because the populations and economic structures of western nations will be at risk.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,4257771-103677,00.html

[JNelson6563]

25. why we discussed this yesterday

ad nauseum. Surely you recall, you posted to it:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=33728

If you want to continue that discussion, why not kick that thread? Or perhaps take a whack at explaining away the quote....

I mean, if Clark is so dissatisfied with Bush's pre-9/11 performance why was he singing his praises pre-9/11?

Julie

[SahaleArm]

33. We've discussed your epiphany as well...

Why not start another thread?

[blm]

26. because Dean has the core of a fascist.

Too bad his supporters are so blinded by his shiny new persona.

[JNelson6563]

28. What do *you* think of that Clark

qoute blm? I see a thread full of Clark supporters who are so blinded by his shiny new persona they cannot address it. How about you?

Julie

[jmaier]

31. I see a Clark antagonist

so blinded by her distaste for the candidate that she cannot even let a harmless "hey I got to shake Clark's hand thread" go by without dripping venom. Insecurity or merely antipathy?

[JNelson6563]

36. No, no, dear, you have it all wrong

I figured, you know, considering all the comments about Dean supporters being kool-aid swilling zombies who swoon at our master's voice, well having this captive audience of Clark supporters, seemed like a good opportunity for you all to demonstrate you ARE NOT what so many of you claim Dean supporters are.

Apparently though that was simply more projecting. No big deal, no big surprise.

Julie

[jmaier]

30. Actually

those remarks came barely five months into Bush's tenure and pretty much nothing publicly happened on any related national security issue so WHO knew what kind of job was or was not being done? Wes Clark was commenting upon a team that was in fact rather highly regarded among foreign policy types: inside and outside the administration.

[Myra]

29. Thank you for the update!

One thing General Clark can do better than most
is handle goons, 'cause he's tough but composed.

Tho' Kucinich handled the Koppel goon pretty damn
well, as did Sharpton. And I've seen Kerry rip some
new ones, yet still come across as diplomatic.

The ability to be tough yet statesmanlike is essential.
Clark can do that, big time.

[TacticalPeek]

34. "Clark can do that, big time."

Got that right, Myra.

He handled the disrupter with textbook dispatch. Clark used a little of his 'command voice' tone to shut him up with "I'll get to that", then later cut the guy's pants off with "We stand for this American flag, not the Confederage flag." The guy skulked out into the rain during the lengthy applause. Made me proud to be a Southerner.

Don Rickles couldn't have handled it better.

:)

[Fleshdancer]

32. I wish he would use another name for this tour

I can't hear or read the word grits without getting a craving for them. grrrr.