Which way does the wind blow for Wesley Clark?

[unfrigginreal]

Joseph L. Galloway
October 03, 2003


WASHINGTON-Not many of those who served with the general who would be president are neutral about him. They either love Gen. Wesley Kanne Clark, or they hate him.

<snip>

Retired Lt. Gen. Paul Funk said of Clark: "The all important moral force just wasn't there when he was in command. His greatest asset was the ability to sort out which way the wind was blowing."

One recently retired general, who used the Massengale descriptive, said of Clark: "He is a bright staff officer who should never have commanded above the captain level. The Republicans will have a field day with this."

<snip>

A retired Air Force general who saw Clark operate in that war said Clark was "an extraordinary micro-manager - he would insert himself into individual cockpits." He added, "If Wes Clark gets the nomination I swear to God I will call the Republicans and volunteer to form a one-man truth squad and follow him around setting the record straight."

http://www.dailyvanguard.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2003/10/03/3f7d1d5e9b60e
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[Birthmark]

1. You've convinced me.

Up until now, I have been undecided as to which candidate to choose. No more. As of today, I will be supporting Gen. Clark. Anyone who pisses off this many people from both parties has GOT to be good for America. Thank you for helping me to decide. I appreciate it.

[Kahuna]

3. Clark pisses off the extremists on both sides...

That's what's good about it.

[Nicholas_J]

17. National polls have him at the top...

All of them.

The statement that he is not a regisered democratis is simple, as only 4.4 percent of Arkansas voters register for a party but register as independent. Voters could not even select a party affiliation when registering to vote until 1996, and the V.R. form is designed in such a way that it still does not reflect party affiliation but adds it as an optional at the end of the registration form.

[RandomUser]

16. LOL

Welcome aboard :) Now batten down the hatches, because the character smears will only get worse the higher Clark gets on the polls. The Far Right and the Far Left both hate him. (edit to add: well not all, there are some decent people in every camp.)

[mhr]

2. I'm Convinced, He is Unfit For the Presidency

"The all important moral force just wasn't there when he was in command. His greatest asset was the ability to sort out which way the wind was blowing."

"He is a bright staff officer who should never have commanded above the captain level. The Republicans will have a field day with this."

"an extraordinary micro-manager - he would insert himself into individual cockpits."

[Catch22Dem]

5. If it's that easy for ya

How does your brain handle the shit that comes out of the mouths of Rush, Hannity, O'Reilly, and Coulter?

[Bread and Circus]

4. Unfriggin, who do you support....

and why?

That would be really helpful.

Thanks.

[Catch22Dem]

6. Why would that be helpful?

[Bread and Circus]

10. Because I would have a better sense..

of why he seems to troll for negative opinion
pieces on Clark posting them liberally. I would
like to know who he supports and why.

One, this would give me some information on his motives.
Two, I think more energy should be sent on making a post.
Just clipping and pasting an opinion from somewhere else
seems kind of lazy.
Three, it seems reasonable to me that people should have
some form of disclosure for who they support so their efforts
could be more thoroughly evaluated. If I didn't have a Clark
avatar, I could say anything I want and it would have no
reflection or bearing on who I support.

[molly]

9. Geez - you are right - will this thread be locked

with the new rules?

[unfrigginreal]

13. I support Howard Dean...

If you want my motives for posting the article, here's a couple.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=108&topic_id=52042

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=108&topic_id=51323

[Catch22Dem]

7. Good article

Let's get some of the postive quotes out of there too. We all know Hugh Shelton hates Clark, and it wouldn't surprise me one bit if Shelton was the "recently retired general." So here are some other quotes:

"(He) is probably the most intelligent officer I ever served with," McCaffrey said. "(He has) great integrity, sound judgment and great kindness in dealing with people. He is a public servant of exceptional character and skill."

McCaffrey acknowledged that Clark doesn't fit the mold that most officers traditionally hew to, what he called the "model of courage, simplicity, lack of politics, total downward focus, scheming only to stay out of Washington."

What the generals who criticize Clark may not understand is that their ideal of a general officer-humble, honest Sam Damon-wouldn't stand a chance in politics. Wesley K. Clark just might.

[Mairead]

8. McCAFFREY? You want to take McCaffrey's word for something?

Gen. Drugs Warrior? Gen. Lie-in-his-teeth?

Jeez, your standards are lots different to mine. I care about the causes someone signs up for, because I think they reveal character.

[Bread and Circus]

12. Ad hominem attack on

McCaffrey.....

I don't buy it.

Here's something for you should read. Notice how McCaffrey
qualifies his statements that he is pro-Bush war. That
should tell you that even when people disagree with Clark
they have a helluva lot of respect for him. M. Albright
is also particularly impressed with Clark. Is everyone
a bad egg?

On Buchanan and Press (9/30), McCaffrey seemed to want to make a point of defending Clark over that statement:
McCaffrey: Hugh Shelton is a long-term friend. I have enormous respect for him. I think it was unfortunate. It was a comment apparently in a speech. You know, I'll bet he didn't think of the consequences of what he was saying. Look, first of all, I've known Wes Clark since he was 25. I think he's a man of incredible talent, integrity, extraordinarily thoughtful. I think we ought to be glad we've got people of his caliber working for public office.
I'm not working in his campaign. I'm politically neutral. I actually don't agree with him on the Iraq issue almost at all. I'm very supportive of what the administration is trying to achieve. Now having said that, this guy is a world-class talent and we ought to have a lot of admiration for him. I think there was a lot of bitterness about that whole Kosovo intervention. Wes Clark was over there acting as an international officer (UNINTELLIGIBLE {transcript} - but if I remember correctly, he said SACEUR) NATO and was also widely believed, perhaps correctly so, to going around Secretary Cohen and the chairman, working Madeleine Albright, the White House. Look, he won the war. God, if we did that another 1,000 times, we'd lose the next 999. He bluffed Milosevic out of Kosovo.
BUCHANAN: OK.
MCCAFFREY: Good for him.
PRESS: You've known him so long. Suddenly he just got in the race, he leads all the other Democrats and he's the closest to either beating or coming close to beating George W. Bush in a match up. Does that surprise you, he'd do so well so fast?
MCCAFFREY: To be honest, not really. Look, this guy is brilliant. He looks like a flipping movie star. He's articulate. He's got enormous amounts of experience. The White House, you know, fellow Rhodes Scholar. This guy is really world class, extraordinarily talented, so I think...it's, you know, it's useful for Americans to see people of that caliber out in public life. It's good for us.

Thank you, Gen. Barry McCaffrey!

[Mairead]

18. Oh, you don't buy it? Fine. Don't. I don't buy McCaffrey, nor anything

he approves. If he approves it, that's an automatic red flag.

The concept you seem to be missing here is 'integrity'. McCaffrey has repeatedly proven to my (dis)satisfaction that he has none at all.

[rads]

11. Not a Clark supporter, but....

He's a Democratic presidential candidate who's worked most of his life in an organization dominated (at least at the senior levels) by Republicans. Would you expect anything else from his former colleagues?

[Rowdyboy]

14. Glad you respect Joseph Galloway and Barry McCaffrey so much...

I prefer to get my information from less militaristic sources. Galloway has been the chief military brown-noser in America for 4 decades. Big buddies with Schwartzkopf, born in Texas, married to a General's daughter, lives in Virginia...need I say more.

[stickdog]

15. I wonder if Wes realize that the wind is now blowing

up his ass.