Reply #189: I respectfully submit that you may mistake the views of the average lefty

[tameszu]

activist for those of the average middle American. Counterpunch and znet's accusations of Kosova war crimes (which Human Rights Watch dismissed, I should add) don't even play well among lefty academics, nevermind average American voters. And Bush will find it much harder to use the sniping quotes of anonymous military rivals and disaffected subordinates or associates against Clark than you would think--he will have to get those people to step out on their own and write opeds; quoting them second-hand or anonymously will make him look like a coward.

Unless Clark really has an utterly wretched reputation--and I mean significantly worse than your average senior officer who has made a variety friends as well as enemies along the way up the ladder--the average American will see the 4 stars and the purple heart, they'll hear him speaking in strategic terms which sound both comprehensible and professional, and it will give him a bigtime edge.