| Tuesday, July 01, 2008 |
| The big swindle |
The hysterical over-reaction by Camp McCain and their hacks in the blogosphere to Wes Clark's statement about military service not being a qualification to be president (duh...) continues. This time, Orson Swindle, a Vietnam vet who was a McCain cell-mate in the infamous Hanoi Hilton, and a former FTC chair, launches a REAL attack on the military service of a fellow veteran: Wes Clark. During the second McCain conference call on this non-story in two days, Swindle said the following (courtesy of TPM Muckraker.)
"General Clark probably wouldn't get that much praise from this group. I can't speak for them, but we all know that General Clark, as high-ranking as he is, his record in his last command I think was somewhat less than stellar." Huh? While no thinking person believes that Wes Clark, who has repeatedly praised McCain's Vietnam service, was demeaning that service, or McCain himself, Swindle's comments were a direct shot at Clark, the former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO. What about "his record in his last command" is Swindle referring to? And isn't THIS, the textbook definition of "Swiftboating"??? Perhaps we should ask McCain surrogate and official SwiftBoat Veterans smear merchant Bud Day.
TPM has audio of the call, as well as the following response to the attack on Clark from the McCain campaign:
It certainly was not an attack on his service - no one would ever disparage that. Everyone honors Gen. Clark's service and sacrifice -- he's literally bled for our country. It was about policy disputes. Except that it WAS an attack on Clark's service, again, completely unlike the comments Clark made about McCain. And by the way, the same McCain aide that sent TPMM the statement, sent this link to a 2004 National Review story disparaging Clark's service as the head of NATO. Go figure. ... But don't look to the righties to notice the irony. They are completely incapable of irony, or shame. (By the way, according to the Hot Air Blog, on that same conference call, Miss Lindsey Graham said that “Nobody expects John to be elected because he was a POW." Is Graham now going to be attacked on the right for essentially saying what Clark said?)
Clark has continued to defend himself, and well he should. Wes Clark gave 34 years of heroic service to the United States Army and to this country. He came back wounded from Vietnam and stayed in the service, making it his career, at great sacrifice to himself financially, and to his wife and son. Simply stating the obvious: that being shot down during wartime is not an automatic qualification to be president, is nothing like taking the shot at a man's actual service that Swindle did.
BTW, let's see if the media goes as ape-crap over the Swindle remarks as they have over Clark.
I really think we're witnessing the fiery, sputtering end of the conservative movement. They've gone from Bush-worshiping idolaters to utterly insane. These people are so off the rails, they've even accused Jim Webb of "coordinating" a conspiratorial attack on McCain. Absolutely, breathtakingly, unbelievably insane.
Meanwhile, Barack Obama gives the whole mess the inattention it deserves, and a blogger at TPM Cafe comes up with the best right wing rebuttal line yet:
"If John McCain believed that serving your country in uniform in wartime made you a better president, he would have endorsed John Kerry against George W. Bush." Boom.
| Labels: 2008 election, General Wesley Clark, John McCain, politics, presidential candidates, right wing nut-jobs |
posted by JReid @ 9:19 PM   |
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| Denial of service attack |
Wes Clark got a fresh defender against the silly, overblown attacks on his rather inarguable point that serving in the military, even being a military hero, is, in and of itself, not a qualification to be president of the United States. If it were, Clark could be president. Yesterday, Charlie Rangel, who served in the infantry during the Korean war, stepped up:
Rangel, on Fox News, said that McCain's service in Vietnam was "admirable" "And we should spend the rest of our lives thanking people for doing that," Rangel said. "It doesn't have any connection at all in being a good senator, as being a good president." ... Rangel went onto say that his own four years of military service didn't make him a better congressman. "I could have done so many things in life that probably could have been more productive in terms of being able to resolve legislative and other type of things," he said. "I think my training in law school better prepared me to be a lawmaker than getting shot in Korea, as I did in 1950. But I think that people who serve should be treated differently. I think people put their lives in harm's way."
Duh...
Meanwhile, the same nutball right wingers who made an industry out of attacking John Kerry's service and promoting the sleazy "Swiftboat Veterans for Truth" are now pretending to be just outraged ... OUTRAGED! at fictitious attacks on John McCain's service ... did I mention they used to hate John McCain, too? Of course, the winger mind will tell you that the big difference is, that Kerry deserved the attacks, because he's a Democrat and opposed the Vietnam War, while McCain doesn't deserve to be questioned, because, even though they hate his guts, he's a Republican, and favors not just the wars we're in, but even more wars ... bigger wars ... against even more "Islamists..." and therefore they support him ... or at least they oppose those who oppose his election ... you get the idea...
And then, like a bright light in the wilderness, along comes a lone, sane conservative, who cuts through the winger hysterics to make, at long last, a salient point that states the obvious, but needs to be said:
On a news show on Sunday, General Wesley Clark was asked a direct question about the war record of John McCain. Clark replied that he didn’t think being shot down and living in a prison camp qualified someone for Presidency. Guess what? He’s right! It doesn’t! In no way did he demean the service record of McCain. In no way did he question his patriotism. He said something that was a bit insensitive and it sounded a bit mean. But it wasn’t wrong. On come the rhetorical battles of the news shows. Either Clark must drop out his political activity and crawl into the same whole as Jeremiah Wright, Clark is a dastardly, evil man for impugning a man that paid such a heavy toll for his country and Obama must step up and once again apologize for someone else .... Or ... Clark, of course, is the "true patriot" for his dissent, blah, blah, blah. How about this, Wright, I mean, Clark was factually correct. John McCain’s war record, although admirable on so many levels, in no way qualifies him to be President, just like Bob Dole. However, what he said was a bit insensitive and in actuality PART of what makes McCain the type of individual that would make a great leader is his war record.
Duh, again.
| Labels: 2008 election, Charlie Rangel, General Wesley Clark, John McCain, presidential candidates |
| posted by JReid @ 11:52 AM |
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| Monday, June 30, 2008 |
| Pardon my surrogate |
Barack Obama takes a (not that big) step away from General Clark ... and John McCain goes to, of all people, a former member of the ironically-named "Swiftboat Veterans for Truth" to carry his response water. Huh??? Day, on a conference call today for McCain's new "military service truth squad," wasted no time doing what he does best: denigrating the service of a fellow Vietnam vet:
Defending McCain's service, Day was quick to personalize his remarks. "Things were very difficult for [McCain]," he said. "He was horribly wounded in his extremities, and it was questionable if he would survive his experience. He set a high standard for himself because the Vietnamese tried to release him and he showed courage by refusing that to come about. We had an opportunity to watch a president in office, a Democrat who was extremely ineffective during those years. [McCain] learned an awful lot from that... General Clark spent a month in Vietnam, got badly wounded and was evacuated, that was his experience. I say let's hold the two of them up and compare them." That Day would politicize Vietnam in his defense of McCain is not surprising. During the 2004 campaign, he said of Kerry: "My view is he basically will go down in history sometime as the Benedict Arnold of 1971." And after appearing in a national advertisement for the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth campaign, Day formed the Vietnam Veterans Legacy Foundation, an extension of the Swift Boat effort. Obama's chief spokesman, Bill Burton, meanwhile, issued the following statement about Clark's comments: "As he's said many times before, Senator Obama honors and respects Senator McCain's service, and of course he rejects yesterday's statement by General Clark." Yeah, except that Clark didn't smear John McCain, and what he said is accurate -- simply being a combat veteran, or even a war hero, doesn't qualify you to be president. Nor does it predispose the public to choose you as their commander in chief. Just ask Bob Dole, or George McGovern, whose war service was of no practicable use to them in getting elected. Besides, for all of Bud Day's politicking, Wes Clark spent 34 years in the U.S. military, commanding men and women in the field, in wartime. I think I trust his assessment on this one over a slimeball like Bud Day's. Translation: don't mess with the General.
Related: Any former fellow Clarkies out there, give me an email holla!
Previous:
| Labels: 2008 election, Barack Obama, General Wesley Clark, John McCain, presidential candidates, U.S. military |
| posted by JReid @ 6:15 PM |
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| The General whacks Mac |
Gen. Wes Clark's comments on CBS over the weekend about John McCain's lack of combat experience is getting a lot of media play. During an interview with Bob Schieffer, Clark said of McCain:
“Well, I don’t think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president,” Clark replied. For all the sturm and drang over those comments, all Clark was saying is that McCain, though a war hero, has no actual command or executive experience. The full context, from the show transcript:
SCHIEFFER: ... General. You heard what Senator Lieberman said. He said that Barack Obama is simply more ready to be president than Barack Obama.
General WESLEY CLARK (Retired; Obama Supporter): Well, I think--I think Joe has it exactly backwards here. I think being president is about having good judgment, it's about the ability to communicate. As one of the great presidential historians, Richard Neustadt, said, `The greatest power of the presidency is the power to persuade.' And what Barack Obama brings is incredible communication skills, proven judgment. You look at his meteoric rise in politics and you see a guy who deals with people well, who understands issues, who brings people together and who has good judgment in moving forward. And I think what we need to do, Bob, is we need to stop talking about the old politics of left and right and we need to pull together and move the country forward. And I think that's what Barack Obama will do for America.
SCHIEFFER: Well, you went so far as to say that you thought John McCain was, quote, and these are your words, "untested and untried." And I must say, I had to read that twice, because you're talking about somebody who was a prisoner of war, he was a squadron commander of the largest squadron in the Navy, he's been on the Senate Armed Services Committee for lo these many years. How can you say that John McCain is untested and untried, General?
Gen. CLARK: Because in the matters of national security policy making, it's a matter of understanding risk, it's a matter of gauging your opponents and it's a matter of being held accountable. John McCain's never done any of that in his official positions. I certainly honor his service as a prisoner of war. He was a hero to me and to hundreds of thousands of millions of others in the armed forces as a prisoner of war. He has been a voice on the Senate Armed Services Committee and he has traveled all over the world. But he hasn't held executive responsibility. That large squadron in the Navy that he commanded wasn't a wartime squadron. He hasn't been there and ordered the bombs to fall. He hasn't seen what it's like when diplomats come in and say, `I don't know whether we're going to be able to get this point through or not. Do you want to take the risk? What about your reputation? How do we handle it publicly?'
SCHIEFFER: Well...
Gen. CLARK: He hasn't made those calls, Bob. So...
SCHIEFFER: Well, General, maybe--could I just interrupt you?
Gen. CLARK: Sure.
SCHIEFFER: I have to say, Barack Obama has not had any of those experiences either, nor has he ridden in a fighter plane and gotten shot down. I mean...
Gen. CLARK: Well, I don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president. Clark knows of what he speaks. He HAS had command experience -- he commanded NATO for god's sakes. I think he's qualified to make the comment. Even more context: Clark's interview followed on in which the odious Joe Lieberman predicted a 2009 terror attack. | Labels: 2008 election, General Wesley Clark, Joe Lieberman, John McCain, presidential candidates, the commander in chief test |
| posted by JReid @ 8:42 AM |
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| Wednesday, June 11, 2008 |
| The General makes the case |
Back in 2004 when I was supporting him for president, we Clarkies used to call Wesley Clark simply, "The General." Well, these days, the General is doing what he does best: making it plain on John McCain:
"I know he's trying to get traction by seeking to play to what he thinks is his strong suit of national security," Clark said of McCain while speaking from his office in Little Rock, Arkansas. "The truth is that, in national security terms, he's largely untested and untried. He's never been responsible for policy formulation. He's never had leadership in a crisis, or in anything larger than his own element on an aircraft carrier or [in managing] his own congressional staff. It's not clear that this is going to be the strong suit that he thinks it is."
Resume aside, though, Clark also took issue with the Arizona Republican's instincts on national security. "McCain's weakness is that he's always been for the use of force, force and more force. In my experience, the only time to use force is as a last resort. ... When he talks about throwing Russia out of the G8 and makes ditties about bombing Iran, he betrays a disrespect for the office of the presidency."
Bump that man up on the short-list.
| Labels: 2008 election, Barack Obama, General Wesley Clark, presidential candidates, veepstakes |
| posted by JReid @ 11:16 AM |
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