A New Kind of Sleaze
Clark was Put up to it
By Mark I Posted in 2008 | Barack Obama | John McCain | Liberals | military service | Obamafiles | Same as the Old Politics — Comments (32) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
The Obama campaign officially says that Gen. Wesley Clark was not officially speaking for Obama when on CBS's Face the Nation this past Sunday, he denigrated Sen. John McCain's military experience. "I don't think that riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to become president, " Clark sniffed. Besides hinting that McCain was a substandard pilot-good ones do not get shot down-that remark necessarily discounts everything that came afterwards, McCain's five and a half years of voluntary confinement. Voluntary because the North Vietnamese, after learning that McCain was the son of a top U.S. Admiral, offered him early release, ahead of others who had been captured before McCain. McCain refused, not wanting to hand his captors a propaganda victory and undermine the morale of his co-prisoners. McCain never had to endure the debilitating torture, the beatings, the psychological torment, and the spirit-breaking confinement. He did it out of love of country and dedication to duty.
This is not to try and make McCain into a Christ-like figure, willingly suffering for the nation's sins. But it does illuminate just how egregious and despicable Clark's comments were. To boil McCain's entire military record down to the singular event of the loss of his plane while flying bombing missions over Hanoi, the most dangerous duty for an aviator in the Vietnam War, is so callous and dismissive that it had to have been intentional.
Read on...
Clark's defenders, and Clark himself, have said that he was merely responding to a question from host Bob Schieffer. But this only underscores the point that Clark was deliberately taking a shot at McCain's military experience. Schieffer's question pointed to the fact the Obama has no military or comparable executive experience that approaches McCain's. Clark had to diminish McCain in order to build up Obama.
But Clark was not the first, nor will he be the last, Obama surrogate to question McCain's military service. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) have both made comments questioning McCain's service, the latter going so far as to say that McCain does not understand the human cost of war because he was a pilot that dropped bombs on targets from high above. In each instance, the Obama campaign has refused to denounce the smears against McCain. In Clark's case, Sen. Obama made an oblique reference to the comments in his grand speech on patriotism, but did not denounce Clark by name.
This is not the "new kind of politics" that Sen. Obama plans to bring to America, it is the new kind of sleaze: send out surrogates to make baseless and despicable charges against your opponent all the while keeping the candidate above the fray by refusing to address or acknowledge the statements made on the campaign's behalf. Trouble is for Sen. Obama, as with almost everything else about him, this isn't really new. It is easily recognizable by the American people as the same kind of partisan politics that has so turned them off to politicians. Whatever short-term gain Obama may think he is getting from taking McCain's experience and qualifications for office down a notch will be more than outweighed by the disappointment many will come to feel when they realize that Obama isn't a new kind of politician after all.
Cross posted at Mark on the Right.
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A New Kind of Sleaze 32 Comments (0 topical, 32 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
the right name for this cretin Clark after all. Having a tough time coming up with a suitably despicable moniker, though.
OMG I cannot believe how low some will stoop and I thought I'd seen it all. This really makes me sympathetic and warm towards McCain. Was that this moron's intention?
And I don't even want to discuss Obama and the way he surrounds and insulates himself with utter stooges and scum.
I may need a barf bag...
You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you.
qualifies one for Vice President either. So we can just take that off the table.
Touché.
"Nec Aspera Terrent"
bene ambula et redambula
Contributor to The Minority Report
Let's just go ahead and donate to Obama so he can invest in a hover-bus. It will make it so much easier to fit all the people he needs to under it.
This man is disgusting and vile...I had a little respect for him at the beginning of this process, thought he was a generally nice guy, if thoroughly wrong-headed and inexperienced. Now I see that he is just a power-mad, arrogant fool.
He made a career out of being a headquarters "warrior" and sucking up to General officers. He was fired from his combat command in Bosnia for gross incompetence and isn't qualified to shine McCain's shoes.
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"Enlightened statesmen will not always be at the helm." -- James Madison
Wikipedia shows Clark had the usual fast-mover career with typical commands.
What is interesting is that Clark got shot by the Viet Cong not once but FOUR times! I simply don't know how this person is capable to lead anything with that kind of poor military record. (/sarcasm)
Interestingly he was involved in the tragic Waco debacle, which provided blowback in the form of the Oklahoma City bombing.
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Oil: Drill here. Drill now. Pay less.
Is that standing in front of a VietCong with an AK 47 qualifies you to be a General?
I think the appropriate response to Gen. Clark is to say that good soldiers don't get shot.
Blaming McCain for the Forrestal fire. Obscure cranks are already tallying up the various planes lost by McCain, and they will stop at nothing to add a ship to that tally.
Now Jim Webb is repeating these Wesley Clark (Obama) attack lines.
What a pitiful excuse of a U.S. Senator - I miss GEORGE ALLEN!!!
http://briefingroom.thehill.com/2008/07/01/webb-mccain-should-calm-down-...
So now Howdy Doody is shooting off at the mouth.
Someone needs to ask this jackass why he insisted on wearing his Marine son's boots during his campaign for the Senate, and why his little motto was "Born Fighting" if he thinks military service should not be a part of politics.
As a Virginian, let me also add that the people of Virginia need to wake the hell up.
is ask anyone who is a possible running mate to attack McCain in a false derogatory way. The one that the controversial statements do not stick to them will be his VP. He needs another guy like him that nothing seems stick to him.
He's just another chattering ney-bob.
From Retired General Wesley Clark's Address to the 2004 Democratic National Convention
John Kerry has heard the thump of enemy mortars.
He's seen the flash of the tracers. He's lived the values of service and sacrifice. In the Navy, as a prosecutor, as a senator, he proved his physical courage under fire. And he's proved his moral courage too.
John Kerry fought a war, and I respect him for that. And he came home to fight a peace. And I respect him for that, too.
John Kerry's combination of physical courage and moral values is my definition of what we need as Americans in our commander in chief. And John Edwards with his leadership and extraordinary intelligence, he's going to be a great member of that command team.
John Kerry is a man who in time of war can lead us as a warrior, but in times of peace, he will heed the call of scripture to lead us in beating swords into plowshares.
John Kerry will lead American with strength and wisdom. He has the will to fight. He has the moral courage born in battle to pursue and secure a strong peace. Under John Kerry, I have no doubt -- and neither should any American -- that we are going to attack and destroy the terrorist threat to America
So Kerry gets this kind of cred from, what, five months in combat, but McCain doesn't get it from all that he persevered through?
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i watched clark when he made the comments. sorry folks, but what he said was absolutely true. being shot down, being a prisoner of war, being part of the military, etc. are noble, heroic and honorable. but, taken by themselves, clark is right -- they do not qualify one to be commander-in-chief. if what he said was wrong then the opposite must be true -- that everyone that has served or has been shot down or has been a prisoner *is* qualified. sorry, no way.
now, there may be lots of other reasons by mccain, in addition to his military service, would be a good CIC. hopefully his campaign will start talking about those things rather than continue to triumph his service as though that alone has earned him the right to lead this country. it hasn't.
And it is a real shame you are not able to discern what his campaign has said. What is absolutely not in question is that the character that McCain showed before, during and after his imprisonment is absolutely a qualification to lead this country.
Barack Obama has absolutely no qualifications to be President. None. Zero. He has achieved nothing, has changed nothing, has stood for nothing, and means nothing. He is as close to an empty suit as has ever run for the Presidency. Support him if you want, but I heard what Clark said, and the intent was to minimize and degrade John McCain's service to this country.
"...noble, heroic and honorable..." Say that about Obama with a straight face, freshman.
for obama so why would i? and i'm not questioning mccain's character. i think he's great. your knee-jerk reaction really was, well, unnecessary. especially for such an elder-statestman as yourself.
but diss me all you want -- my original point stands. what clark said about mccain was dead-on. and the mccain campaign will need to find something else to build on if they want to win the election. period. military experience, no matter how great, won't do it.
John McCain has never, ever, ever once said that his military service is his sole qualification to be President. Never, ever, ever. It is undeniably a STRONG qualification, as anyone with a brain can see, particularly in the way he handled himself during an imprisonment he could have easily avoided by handing the VC a propaganda victory. (Fortunately for them, John Kerry and Jane Fonda and other Democrats of the time filled the gap quite well.) This is a strawman argument started by Democrats and parroted by people like you, willingly or unwillingly.
The reason that Democrats have conducted a systemic, organized attack on this aspect of John McCain's record is that Barry Obama has nothing - nothing that remotely compares to this. As a matter of fact, in any category of leadership, legislation or character, Barry is profoundly deficient, but in this area, in a time of war, his deficiency stands out even more.
And I appreciate your characterization of me as an elder statesman, but it is hardly deserved. And as for a knee-jerk reaction, I am pissed off in the most profound sort of way.
Hope this helps.
McCain's credential & experience for being president are much more than his military service. The "pit yorkies" for Obama are pulling this out in some jabberworky-type fashion to make it seem like McCain's military experience is the sole claim to qualification for presidency. McCain was a Congressman & is still a Senator, & has been involved in many weighty matters. McCain's qualifications & experience so far outstrip Obama's that the only recourse is to try & tear him down, & from what I've seen it's not working.
Has McCain even claimed that it is "a qualification" of any kind to be President? It has to be in his biography, but as a fact, not a qualification.
The qualifications for being President are (1) 35 years of age and (2) a natural-born citizen.
Beyond that, McCain has a lot of qualities that recommend him over Obama.
Pluto, the Ninth Planet - Forever!
The issue here isn't whether or not McCain's military experience qualifies him to be president, that's a red herring, just like Obama trying to make the whole thing about "patriotism." The issue is that Obama's hatchetman Clark is hypocritical sleaze.
The interview Power Line quotes here pretty much sums things up.
In 2004 Clark cited Kerry's military experience as a qualification for the Presidency (see my quote above). In this interview, he says that it's what Kerry did after the war (i.e. lie about war crimes comitted by U.S. troops & opposing the war, something that even Clark says he didn't agree with) that showed the "moral courage" that one needs to be a good president.
Apparently Clark believes that voluntarily remaining in a Vietnam prisioner of war camp for the good of your country & fellow soldiers shows less "moral courage" than thumbing your nose at them from the safety of the homeland for the purpose of launching your political career.
Clark has forgotten the first rule of holes.
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Love Jack Savages comment. Thats a goodie.
I think he and others may like my take on this mess. The story is entitled, "Exchanging Hats."
Have a Happy Fourth, everyone.
No one be fouled Clark is working for Obama campaign.
I fail to see how Clark's comments are very important. He never questioned McCain's patriotism, dedication to duty or the suffering he experienced at the hands of those who approve of torture. His comment simply stated that McCain's experiences were not something required on a candidates resume. Get over it.
Just highly outraged and now a McCain supporter.
See you in November, pal.
"First you win the argument, then you win the vote." - MARGARET THATCHER.
So let's start winning the argument.
They intended to diminish McCain's service and did. Hence, we have the Obama spinners to try to claim the intent was otherwise. You can tell your peeps that the anger they have created is real, and Obama is about to lose now. I didn't believe that earlier, but this exposed not only what an empty suit Obama is but how he has never served anything larger than himself, which is to say he never served anything larger than a parasitic opportunist and pathological liar.
Don't think throwing Clark and Webb under a bus will help this time, either.
watching these pinheads fling themselves against McCain's service record, while Keating5 gathers dust in a corner.
Trouble is for Sen. Obama, as with almost everything else about him, this isn't really new. It is easily recognizable by the American people as the same kind of partisan politics that has so turned them off to politicians.
I'm sorry to disagree with this, but until and unless this is pointed out on the boob tube on a consistent nightly basis, I really do not think the bulk of the American people are going to see through the swooning Press coverage and Hope & Change™ glamor.
"First you win the argument, then you win the vote." - MARGARET THATCHER.
So let's start winning the argument.
the boob tube thought it helped their puppet so they went wall to wall with coverage of this sleaze. The fawning coverage actually backfired on their guy pretty substantially. I have noticed that since the Clark remarks first aired, Obama's numbers have started to drop in the daily tracking polls. I can't say it is directly related but it didn't help.
What the boob tube needs is a cartoon showing Obama hiding behind his pit bulls with the comment "Leadership Indeed"
John McCain gained a vote that he absolutely did not have prior to the comments by Clark. This organized effort to diminish what cannot be diminished is absolutely beyond the pale, and will backfire in ways they cannot calculate.
An empty uniform tearing down a patriot to prop up an empty suit.
Perfect.