New Topic: Is Wesley Clark doing the right thing by not getting into the race yet?

[Up2Late]

I personally think this 2008 Presidential race crap in January, February, March... 2007 crap is all MSM hype, meant to distract from what's now beginning to happen in Congress, but what do you think? :shrug:

[derby378]

1. Honestly, I don't think he can build up the momentum at this point

It's gonna be a tight race, but I don't see Clark as a major player in it next year.

[knowbody0]

2. If my dreams come true

[Demobrat]

3. Clark will never run against Hillary.

He was inserted into the race to stop Dean, thereby insuring that there would be no Dem incumbent in 08. He served his purpose. It's back to the sidelines for him.

[truebrit71]

5. Bullshit.

Nice try though.

[Demobrat]

9. The Clintons giveth

and the the Clintons taketh away. You believe what you want though, you're not hurting anybody, certainly not the Clintons.

[truebrit71]

24. Nah, that's alright, I'll believe the General. You go on believing whatever tripe you hear

...won't bother me..

[Sparkly]

6. Fiction. nt

[Seldona]

26. Any sources on that?

I don't see Clark and Clinton agreeing on many positions, especially the war.

[Crunchy Frog]

36. Of course, you're the one who, back in '04,

accused the Clark supporters on DU of being closet Bush lovers. Well, I ain't been tombstoned yet. Your opinions don't exactly hold the most credibility for me. :shrug:

I do think your username is quite appropriate. Apart from the "demo" bit, that is.

[Demobrat]

37. Huh? You've got me confused with somebody else.

I never thought the Clark supporters were closet Bush lovers. Just suckers for an opportunistic Republican who thought he was entitled too start at the top. I have no doubt you fell for his act from start to finish. But it's all moot anyway. He's not gonna get handed the nom, and he sure as hell ain't gonna earn it, so it's not gonna happen.

[Crunchy Frog]

38. No, I remember it very well. If I have some extra time, maybe I'll try to dig up the post.

And yeah, I'm just a poor dupe who's been suckered into supporting a closet Republican who is dedicated to getting Hillary into the White House.:silly:

[Demobrat]

40. Well it looks like he might succeed! :-)

Good luck to both of you. Heck, good luck to us all. She'll make a great pres! Probably not as good as Obama would, but at least she was a Dem even BEFORE she decided to run!

[windbreeze]

44. Four years later....and we are still hearing the SOS!!

Since it's possible to be ignorant of some facts,(apparent from your posts about Clark) I want to explain that SOS does not stand for Sec. of State, or Save our Ship....it does however, stand for the SAME OLD SHIT...!!Clark was never a republican....it is no longer 2004...Dean is not in the race any longer....and Clark doesn't need the Clinton's permission to do anything....he's quite capable of doing whatever he wants....but then since you are a Democrat?...it would seem that by now, you would/should be very aware of the actual truth, and the disinformation regarding Clark...which makes me wonder, what exactly is YOUR purpose in spouting the SOS of 3/4 years ago, now?
windbreeze

[Demobrat]

45. Poor baby.

Doomed to disappointment. But hey, try not to be too sad - Hill will make a great pres!

[Le Taz Hot]

41. Demobrat is correct.

They have no need for him this year.

[Bonobo]

43. Boy it's a wonder Clark ever got anywhere without the Clintons advising him!

How did he ever manage to (after losing his father at age 4)

-Become Valedictorian at West Point
-Become a Rhodes Scholar
-Get an M.A. in Economics at Oxford
-Earn the Bronze Star
-Earn the Silver Star
-Earn the Presidential Medal of Freedom
-Become a 4-Star General
-Become Supreme Allied Commander Europe

He did all that without having the Clinton's wipe his ass. Wow.

As to him being a former repuke, is it not just possible that someone growing up in Arkansas and in the militart would have a slight tendency to start as a Republican. Then, as his thinking evolves and he learns more about internal politics as he moves away from the military, he undergoes a "conversion".
Isn't someone who has been on the other side and then "converted" more confident about his choices BECAUSE they are so considered and thought out? Wouldn't this "convert" be an excellent bridge to help lead other stray souls to the real party with morals? Maybe? Is it possible? Can you consider it?

[Auntie Bush]

51. Where the hell do you get those stupid ideas?

Nevermind...it was rhetorical.

"It's back to the sidelines for him." I guess you haven't been paying attention!

[Bitwit1234]

4. Getting in this race so early is costly

That is why I wish they would put a limit on campaigning funds. It is not fair that the person with the most money usually ends up winning.

[truebrit71]

7. Yes. Why start this early? He is biding his time, and will enter when he's good and ready..

...by that time the Anti-Hillary "liberal-media" will be in full-song, Obama-mania will have died down, and into the void comes the ONLY man that can take back the WH, General Wesley Clark.

Brilliant strategy IMHO...

[William769]

8. Then he will cut & run like the last time.

[Up2Late]

12. "...cut & run like the last time???" How so???

He lost the Primary to Kerry, how is that "cut and run?":shrug: :silly:

[William769]

13. Did you sleep during the last primary.

He dropped out before the convention a good while in fact. Nothing is written in stone until the convention.

[Up2Late]

17. OH, I see, so since when Dennis Kucinich stayed out on there until the convention...

...making a fool of himself until the bitter end, that's better?

Yeah, "cut and run."

[William769]

18. Dennis Kucinich didn't have my hard earned money that I donated.

Wesley Clark did!

[Jai4WKC08]

47. You would have rather he asked you for more money

Knowing he no longer had a chance of winning?

That's what some of the others did to their supporters. All for their own egos, or for being in denial, or for hoping for some other important position and wanting to keep their name in the game, or some combination of the three.

Clark was always in the race to win. He has said he knew when the Iowa returns came in that it wasn't gonna happen. But he stayed in as long as there was a reasonable chance to turn it around. After he lost TN and VA, there was no longer any reasonable chance. He felt it wouldn't have been right for him to keep spending other people's money for some personal motive.

And you're wrong. The 2004 nomination was over long before the convention. As I recall, Kerry had the needed delegates by April. Now, I suppose it's possible something terrible could have happened to Kerry, God forbid, but then Clark could have jumped back in. Technically, he had only suspended his campaign, not ended it.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

27. General Clark won Oklahoma, for your information. Very conservative state.

[Adelante]

14. "Cut & Run" too funny

If you call having the grace to step down once there was a clear Democratic nominee and campaigning almost full time for that nominee, instead of taking up space and money panting to be vice president, well, okay then, cut and run it proudly is.

[FrenchieCat]

21. Cut & Run? You mean he should have soldiered on although the

media couldn't seem to want to mention his name?
Hell, after his Oklahoma win, Judy Woodgruff was announcing out loud on CNN that people should stop donating to his campaign?

Geeze.....sounds like you wanted him to commit hari-kari for your own personal viewing.....and for what? :shrug:

Hell, Clark had just won Oklahoma and came in 2nd in North Dakota, New Mexico, Arizona -- yet He didn't even get a mention in the following story except for 1/2 of a sentence he had to share with Lieberman in being wrong in skipping Iowa!

"AND THEN THERE WERE TWO"
http://dir.salon.com/story/news/feature/2004/02/04/primaries/index.html
Kerry breaks into the open field, with Edwards still in pursuit -- while the Dean meteor continues to burn out.

February 4, 2004 | After a month of surprise, confusion and tumult, the race for the Democratic presidential nomination is, suddenly, much more clear: The nomination is John Kerry's to lose.

John Edwards won in South Carolina Tuesday, and he made a strong showing in an Oklahoma race that was too close to call even after all the votes were in. But Kerry, the liberal senator from Massachusetts, took the bellwether state of Missouri by a commanding margin over Edwards. In addition, he won in Delaware, North Dakota, New Mexico, Arizona, placed a strong second in South Carolina and was running strong in Oklahoma.
---------------

and studies showed that the race had long been decided by the media, and Clark was excluded!

NETWORKS ANOINTED KERRY, EDWARDS BEFORE IOWA DID
Study: Iowa Caucus Victors Received 98 Percent Positive Coverage

WASHINGTON, DC—Prior to their surprising Iowa caucus performances, 98 percent of the network evening news coverage of Democratic Presidential candidates John Kerry and John Edwards was positive, according to research conducted by the Center for Media and Public Affairs (CMPA). The study also found Howard Dean received more critical coverage over the same time period, at 58 percent positive.

Golden Boys Get Midas Touch-Not one person quoted by the networks had anything critical to say about North Carolina Senator John Edwards (100 percent favorable coverage) in the two and half weeks leading up to the Iowa caucus, while 96 percent of the evaluations of Massachusetts Senator John Kerry were positive.
http://www.cmpa.com/pressReleases/NetworksAnointedKerryEdwards.htm
--------------

OKLAHOMA CITY—Maybe Wesley Clark Jr. saw the early exit polls. For whatever reason, he's standing in front of a crowd of reporters outside Clark's campaign headquarters in Oklahoma, looking bitter and sounding as if he thinks his father's campaign is over. "It's been a really disillusioning experience," the candidate's 34-year-old son says. "We sacrificed a hell of a lot for this country over 34 years. We lived in a damn trailer when I was a freshman in high school."

....and "What did we get on the news for this weekend? A speeding ticket in Oklahoma. You gotta be fucking kidding me."
http://www.slate.com/id/2094860/
--------------

[Up2Late]

11. I hope you're right, I've felt the same way...

...but all this hype is really getting me worried.

Time to get back to normal life for a while, I guess.

Clark 2008:patriot:

[Dr.Phool]

10. I wish they would all wait longer

This just goes on for too long.

[MethuenProgressive]

15. Not "crap" it is all about early $$$

The sooner you line up donors the better off you are.
Gore and Clark are waiting too long.

[Adelante]

16. How do you know Gore and Clark

aren't lining up donors?

[MethuenProgressive]

20. lining up isn't cashing checks

And Clinton and Obama are cashing checks. Heck, I suppose even Edwards is cashing a few.

[Adelante]

23. Yeah, so?

Wes has never had a problem raising money, either for himself or other candidates. The fact is he has the same contacts as everybody else and a lot of people will support him financially, even those already supporting a candidate. I don't see money as a problem, I guess. I also don't see him spending half a billion dollars on a campaign.

[MethuenProgressive]

32. "I don't see money as a problem, I guess." Lordy, do I disagree!!

"I don't see money as a problem, I guess."
We'll have to agree to disagree here, I geuss. In modern politics, money changes everything.

[Adelante]

33. A problem if he couldn't get it, yes

I don't see the problem in him getting it. Maybe not as much as some of the others, but enough to campaign on.

[quinnox]

19. At this point I don't see him getting in

IMHO, Clark will not enter the 2008 presidential race. Just my opinion! (I know Clarkies can be touchy)

[Bucky]

30. Touchy? Touchy?! Who the hell you callin' touchy, Quinnox--if that *is* your real name!

[Up2Late]

34. LOL!

That was good! :rofl:

[davidwparker]

22. Well, not to me, since I'm just waiting on his name to appear on the ballot.

He and Gore need to be in by summer. Gore may be interested in saving the planet. I think Clark needs to save the country and the military (rank and file).

[dogman]

25. Not everyone is on the taxpayers dime, and some have more important issues right now.

There was an interview where Clark was asked if the early starts could be called the Wesley Clark effect. If we look at the top three candidates, they are in a horse race. It could also be asked if they have started too soon. The bigger effect is likely to be the states moving their primary date up. Unless someone can capture the public, money will rule. That is why I fear we will inherit the Corporate Media candidate.n While some campaign heavily Clark and Gore continue to work policy that is vital. They understand the damage to their issue if they politicize it. Just look at the blowback when Gore testified this week. If we let the Corporate Media pick our next candidate, we will have not learned from the selection of w.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

28. Gore and Clark should both wait.

Gore/Clark '08!!

[Bucky]

29. 3 Stages of Clark: I wonder he really might not know if he's gonna do it.

At first I assumed he was waiting, letting the early entry chatter on others die down, watch a few also-rans drop out, so that he could make a big entrance late in the game--only in Summer or May instead of September like last time.

Then when I saw how he was working feverishly to expose the calculations about hitting Iran, I figured that he was staying out of the race so that his candidacy didn't taint the appeal to reasonably negotiate out our differences with Iran.

Now I'm starting to conclude that his choices about the election are truly up in the air.

[AtomicKitten]

31. Don't know but I'm worried he may again jump in too late.

I do hope if he is going to run that he times it to his advantage.

[Clarkie1]

35. Having read through this thread, I must say I find it incredibly humorous. nt

[ripple]

39. I think he's running for VP-

or at least positioning himself for that role. If he's running for pres, he's incredibly behind on fund-raising and organizing. I think he's expressing interest because he wouldn't mind being tapped for a VP slot.

Maybe it's just wishful thinking on my part, though. I'd love to see an Obama/Clark ticket. :-)

[Bonobo]

42. I won't call anyone out, but after reading this thread...

I am embarrassed for the massive assholes on this thread. Surely they MUST know who they are. If they do, let them feel shame. If they don't they are too stupid to ever change.

[sampsonblk]

46. I love Wes, but its all about Hillary this time

I honestly believe he will see the writing on the wall and support Clinton. She is going to win unless she gets derailed by some bombshell.

[Colobo]

49. She'll get derailed by the voters

[Colobo]

48. There is nothing that indicates that Clark will run

and if he is, he is waiting way too much. Donors are already choosing sides and doing their thing for their favorite candidates.

[Jai4WKC08]

50. So? When the donors get a new favorite

They'll "do their thing" for him.

There's still plenty of time and plenty of money.