Did anyone see Clark on CNN this AM?

[Auntie Bush]

He was tough on Putin. If this brave man is President...he's really going to be a strong president and the other world leaders will respect him and his decisions and policies. Everyone knows the Chimp doesn't know what the hell he's talking about...world's biggest fool!
When Clark talks...they will put it in his pipe and smoke it! When bush* talks...they spit it on the ground and stamp it.

[Donna Zen]

1. When asked about Putin in NH

Clark at a townhall meeting reminded everyone that Putin was KGB. He said that Putin still is not withstanding the cross on his neck. My friend thought the statement would get Clark in trouble, but instead it makes him look like a soothsayer.

Pragmatic as Clark is, he understands the difference between working with someone and gushing over them a la bushmonkey.

[Texas_Kat]

2. Damn, missed it!

[sjr5740]

3. I was a big Clark supporter during the primaries last year

I really liked his message and I am always impressed when he speaks. He is truly plain spoken (unlike the chimp-boys mangling of the english language) and lays things out clearly and honestly without pushing an agenda. I think he is a realist in national defense without blindly chanting "support our troops" over and over because he was there and he knows what it truly means to support troops and it is no inane slogans while cutting benefits and aid.

I also think he is a realist on domestic and personal issues. As JS said "I've heard * speak and his rhetoric doesn't match his record"

I just think WC wasn't ready for prime time in 2004 because he is not a washington insider. I really hope he is retooling for a run in '08

sjr

[Dread Pirate KR Read]

4. Clark repeated what he said from the Wolf/Perle appearance on CNN

Clark challenged Bush to "call on Putin", regarding their support in providing nuclear components to Iran, earlier this week.

[pdxmike]

5. he's a quick learner

I didn't support Clark during the primaries(I'm a Deaniac). I think he failed because he had a thrown together campaign and wasn't ready for the insanity of the process-kind of like Dean. But the man is sharp as a tack, and learns from his mistakes. If he decides to go for it in 2008- and I bet he will, I'd be surprised if he doesn't have a real machine behind him.

[ZootSuitGringo]

6. CNN Transcript now available

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: General Wesley Clark was NATO's supreme allied
commander from 1997 to 2000. He was also recently a presidential
candidate.

Joining us this morning. Nice to chat with you.

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK, FMR. NATO SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER: Good to be
with you.

O'BRIEN: We just heard John king laying out the areas in common,, the
signing agreements involving the nuclear security, anti- terror
security. Let's talk, though, about areas in contention, mostly
involving Russia's move away from democracy. Just how tough do you
think President Bush needs to be today in his meetings with President
Putin.

CLARK: Well, I think we won't know that. Privately, he needs to be
very firm, and he needs to be very candid with Putin. He said he has a relationship with Putin. And this is the time to use that
relationship, whatever relationship it is, to lay out and make it very clear.

What President Bush said in the inaugural is, America's interests are
our values. So it's good to have the agreements on nuclear security
and so forth. Those are important. Those are America's interests, but
our values are things like democracy, and in that area, he has to
exert pressure.

O'BRIEN: You mentioned the private versus the public. To some degree,
though, doesn't he have to come out publicly and say something that
underscores how the private discussions -- he cannot just say, can he, oh, yes, in private I definitely hammered him?

CLARK: No, because it wouldn't be private. But you're going to get a
different tone privately than publicly I suspect. I think you're going to see some hint of the pressure and the tension, but we've had the resolution in Congress by Senator McCain and others calling for Russia be thrown out of the G-8 on their economic basis, because they're not pursuing a path to democracy. That's the kind of public pressure. The president can use that and work more privately.

O'BRIEN: You talk about this relationship that the presidents,
President Bush and President Putin have. President Bush had said that
he gained a sense of President's Putin's soul when he looked into his
eyes, and found him to be straightforward and trustworthy. To what
degree can those words come back to he regret having said that when he is now in a position of contention, frankly, with the Russian president.

CLARK: I think it's always dangerous for a president to make too much out of personal relationships like this, and especially with overly flowery language, because ultimately, leaders have to represent their own interests and their own values. And those interests don't always coincide, especially the interests between the United States and Russia. So it's up to President Bush to lead America. He's got to use every tool in his arsenal, and he's got to help protect our interests and our values.

O'BRIEN: But if our interests -- our being the United States'
interests -- involve keeping Iran from having a nuclear program, and
you have President Putin saying very clearly that we're going to
continue our cooperation with Iran on that front, that completely
contradicts what President Bush has said.

CLARK: That's exactly right.

O'BRIEN: Does this lead us down the road to reigniting the Cold War?

CLARK: I don't know if it takes you that far, but you're certainly
going to see sparks in this relationship. And if we don't see those,
then the United States is not acting properly. We simply cannot allow
Russia to move forward on its own interests, taking advantage of the
United States, the president's supposed relationship, and then move
wee from the things we feel are important. We don't feel that Russia
should be helping Iran gain nuclear capabilities, and we don't feel
that they should be moving away from democracy, from freedom of the
press, from the election of governors and the other measures that
Putin has recently instituted that pull Russia in the wrong direction.

O'BRIEN: NATO Supreme Allied Commander General Wesley Clark, nice to
see you, as always.

CLARK: Thank you, Soledad.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0502/24/ltm.01.h...

[Sparkly]

7. And he was totally right about the emphasis on their "relationship"

Sure enough, the Chimp came out with flowery, flattering language about how trustworthy Putin is. Naturally, Putin's going to say "Iran shouldn't have a nuclear weapon," but the Chimp has gotten nowhere in getting him not to help them with a reactor. (I always get the feeling Putin is laughing at how easy these idiots are.)