"I would have been a Republican” Clark said, if Rove called me

[usregimechange]

I have recently been interested in the newest Democrat to join the pack (Gen. Wesely Clark), at least until I did some homework. As it turns out Clark voted for Nixon and Reagan and said the following: “I would have been a Republican,” Clark told , “if Karl Rove had returned my phone calls.” (http://msnbc.com/news/969659.asp?0cv=CB10 ).

[QC]

1. 89 replies on this topic here-->

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

[MercutioATC]

2. Been discussed and most likely a joke by Clark.

Iwouldn't be overly concerned by this. Sounds to me like an offhand quip to an audience.

[retyred]

3. I would have been a Republican” Clark said, if Rove called me"

Me Too!


CLARK FOR PRESIDENT
Retyred IN FLA.

[Toucano]

4. Somthing's very fishy!

I've checked the other thread and didn't see this discussed. Forgive me if I missed it and am rehashing something, but I noticed that the exact quote is from the article is:

Last January, at a conference in Switzerland, he happened to chat with two prominent Republicans, Colorado Gov. Bill Owens and Marc Holtzman, now president of the University of Denver. “I would have been a Republican,” Clark told them, “if Karl Rove had returned my phone calls.” Soon thereafter, in fact, Clark quit his day job and began seriously planning to enter the presidential race—as a Democrat.

Why wouldn't they have revealed this when he declared himself a Democrat a few weeks ago? If, as they claim, they had this conversation LAST JANUARY it would have been the ideal time to say, "Oh he's a D now? He told me he was an R!"

I think it was more of an attempt to insult the arrogance of Karl Rove! I've no doubt Clark wasn't ready for retirement and would have offered his insight to the Bush administration after 9/11. If his phone calls aren't even returned, he'd be a little peeved. He is essentially saying, "I'd have helped, but dillweed dissed me. Now dillweed is going down!"

As for voting for Republicans, there are obviously a lot of Democrats who have done that in the past for a lot of reasons. We should be viewing this like Christian Fundamentalists would and say, "Yeah! We converted another soul to the light!" Aren't we supposed to be the party of inclusion? It is just another Republican tactic to induce apathy among the Democrats. It isn't going to work on me.

[LiberalBushFan]

5. That's terrible!!

He has a sense of humor!

[thebigidea]

6. ""I would have been really sarcastic" thebigidea said, if Rove called me."

[Jolene]

7. Um...generally, when a quote is offered

the source is cited. What is the source of that quote? Fineman?

I can't find that quote attributed to Clark, anywhere on the web. Nor can I find it attributed to Holtzman, Owens, OR Fineman. Why is that?

[Pastiche423]

10. It might help if you read post #1

[Kat 333]

18. "humourous tweak" ?

It does not seem that difficult to "find the source" nor wise to automatically discount anything said by a republican simply because it doesn't fit into the "things I wanted to become aware of" category. You may have Nooooo problems at all discounting what this says about Clark but I assure you ... Many people, myself included, find it rather alarming - it seems his actions speak even louder than the words he now claims were a "humourous tweak"

"Clark late last week insisted the remark was a “humorous tweak.”"
Though "Soon thereafter, in fact, Clark quit his day job and began seriously planning to enter the presidential race—as a Democrat.


<snip>

Sept. 29 issue — After Al Qaeda attacked America, retired Gen. Wes Clark thought the Bush administration would invite him to join its team. After all, he’d been NATO commander, he knew how to build military coalitions and the investment firm he now worked for had strong Bush ties. But when GOP friends inquired, they were told: forget it.

WORD WAS THAT Karl Rove, the president’s political mastermind, had blocked the idea. Clark was furious. Last January, at a conference in Switzerland, he happened to chat with two prominent Republicans, Colorado Gov. Bill Owens and Marc Holtzman, now president of the University of Denver. “I would have been a Republican,” Clark told them, “if Karl Rove had returned my phone calls.” Soon thereafter, in fact, Clark quit his day job and began seriously planning to enter the presidential race—as a Democrat.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/969659.asp?0cv=KA01

[usregimechange]

8. not so fast

you guys defend him like he is your new messiah! He voted for Reagan, Nixon, maybe Bush sr! I don't find this comment completely out of the blue.

[Jolene]

9. I just want to know

the source of the quote. That's understandable, is it not?

[usregimechange]

11. Yes

it is understandable. I think the source was the reporter from the two Republicans listed.

[Jolene]

12. Was Fineman there?

I guess I missed that part.

Wait...wait...here we go:

Messaging NEWSWEEK by BlackBerry, Clark late last week insisted the remark was a “humorous tweak.” The two others said it was anything but. “He went into detail about his grievances,” Holtzman said. “Clark wasn’t joking. We were really shocked.”

Um...I think I'll pass on believing the judgements of republicans, if you don't mind.

Moving on...

[usregimechange]

13. he did say

he voted for Reagan/Nixon. Seems very centrist to me. It could be true.

[whirlygigspin]

14. Attention Ralph Nader,

Please call Mr. Clark immediately!

[Jolene]

15. I don't care if he voted for Daffy Duck

we've got two very prominent democratic candidates, right now.

One is pounding Bush on domestic policy, and the media trivializes it as much as possible...

And we've got one pounding the 9/11 pRez on foreign policy, which the media will have a harder time trivializing.

So long as Clark is in the media giving Bush hell on his failures, I've got no problem with it. Do you?

I'm somehow having a bit of a problem seeing how he's helping republicans, at this point. Perhaps you could illuminate it for me.

[Pastiche423]

16. Just voting for Nixon

is enough for me to know what he is.

[Jolene]

17. What does the republican wing

which goes after Bush call itself? I think I may need to check into that.

[Ignoramus]

19. way off topic..

I looked all over for that quote from jefferson, and variations on it and came up empty (including scanning the archive of his writings at electronic jefferson or whatever it is). I think jefferson did not say that. Howard Zinn said it. If I'm wrong I'd like to know.

[TSIAS]

20. Dupe

Please continue here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

Thanks,
Taylor
GD Moderator

[kaitykaity]

21. Howard Fineman is a media whore.

His work is guaranteed to distort negatively
for a Democrat and positively for a Republican.
That Fineman would try to use this 'quote' to
trash Clark is par for the course.

http://www.dailyhowler.com/h121101_1.shtml

http://www.dailyhowler.com/h033100_1.shtml

http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh111902.shtml

http://www.dailyhowler.com/h110201_1.shtml