Wes Clark : Iraq is the real issue, not John Kerry

[Quixote1818]

We Owe it to Our Troops to Return to the Real Issue of the Election

The American public should simply accept no distractions. In our democracy, it is our duty to hold our elected leaders accountable. We do it at the ballot box. And we should do it not on the basis of personalities or stereotypes, but on the basis of results. Our men and women fighting in Iraq are held accountable for their performance and their conduct.
On duty and off, twenty-four hours a day. They're fighting for us, for our safety, our rights, and our freedoms. Surely, we owe it to them to push aside the distractions and bring the focus back to the essence of this election:

Iraq.

In my short time in politics, I have learned many new clichés. One of them surely is that quote, "This is a critical election." In this case, it is dramatically true. The incumbent administration seemingly can not, or will not, make hard choices about the most important issue ever to face government officials: war and peace. The only hope for a national change of course is a Congress far more willing to play it's constitutionally required role of counter balance to a misguided executive. If citizens allow this great debate to be derailed by a momentary fracas over a mistake in a speech (by a man who has actually served in combat and does support the troops), we will have tragically missed a rare opportunity.

John Kerry made a mistake trying to joke about "getting stuck in Iraq." But this election isn't about John Kerry; he isn't running. But, for a crazy day or two, his gaffe has provided a powerful distraction to an election shaping up to be a referendum on the President's national security policy, and his mission in Iraq, in particular. We can not allow the most powerful country in the world to get sidetracked when American lives and the future of our leadership in the world is at stake.

More here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gen-wesley-clark/we-owe-it-to-our-troops-t_b_33048.html

[Clark2008]

1. Waiting for the stampede to call Clark either a wimp or a DINO

:eyes:

It's a great article.

Have you seen this ad? http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2921033

[TahitiNut]

2. Guess what. It's not about Clark, either.

:shrug:

[dogman]

6. Self delete.

[Clark2008]

10. Oh - I know that - but judging from all the anti-Dem threads

today yelling at elected Dems for, you know, acting like the politicians they are, I just thought the stampede might do it here, too.

:hi:

[William Bloode]

3. I don't see why?

He did not ask him to appologize. He stated it was a mistake, nothing to see here move along. A few other dems could have tried that today instead of feeding the frenzy with their self serving circular firing squad.

Good for Wes!

[Quixote1818]

4. Self Delete

[BeFree]

5. The beauty of it all...

...is that Iraq and being stuck in Iraq, was on the news for a good ten minutes. And that is what matters.

Way to go Kerry... you got Iraq to lead off the news for two nights in a row! And, let's face it, it was not good news for the publicans. Not one bit of good news is coming out of Iraq.

And glad to see Clark recognizing and keeping the heat on. Geee, think they may all be working together?

[Quixote1818]

8. I think in the end Kerry's gaff will end up a plus for us.

Tomorrow no one will be talking about Kerry but NOW Dem's can continue to attack Bush exactly the same way they attacked Kerry. We are already seeing this happen.

Republicans should not have played that card. They opened the door and now it's going to swing back and nail them in the ass!

[BeFree]

9. Our own October surprise!!

And bushco took it, hook, line and sinker. Time to reel 'em in. Oh, they'll fight, but they swallowed the hook and they are in real shallow water, so this oughtta be fun!

Tempered of course by the remeberance of our troops stuck in Iraq. May they all come home soon.

[Jo March]

7. General Clark gets it.

Wish more Dems did. Kerry is not running. The real issue is Iraq and many other things - not Kerry and his gaffe.