Wesley Clark Said What???
I just read the stunning statement that Gen. Wesley Clark (ret.) made with regard to John McCain’s qualifications as commander-in-chief. Here’s a transcript of Gen. Clark’s idiotic statement:
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?’
After a moment of stunned silence, here’s how Bob Schieffer responded:
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.
SCHIEFFER: Really?
Gen. CLARK: But Barack is not, he is not running on the fact that he has made these national security pronouncements, he’s running on his other strengths. He’s running on the strengths of character, on the strengths of his communication skills, on the strengths of his judgment, and those are qualities that we seek in our national leadership.
Gen. Clark is getting drilled by Rush as a hypocrite. Rush is playing a tape of Gen. Clark’s speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. Here’s what Gen. Clark said then:
John Kerry has heard the thump of enemy mortars. He’s seen the flash of the tracers. He’s lived the values of service and sacrifice. In the Navy, as a prosecutor, as a senator, he proved his physical courage under fire. And he’s proved his moral courage too.
John Kerry fought a war, and I respect him for that. And he came home to fight a peace. And I respect him for that, too. John Kerry’s combination of physical courage and moral values is my definition of what we need as Americans in our commander in chief.
To put it politely, Wesley Clark is a political chameleon. To put it bluntly, Wesley Clark is a political hack who’ll say whatever makes his candidate look best.
Let’s be clear about something: Gen. Wesley Clark is a sleazebag who hates Republicans. It’s nothing more complicated than that. It doesn’t have anything to do with principle. It doesn’t have anything to do with intellectual honesty. It’s all about political opportunism.
Let’s return to what Gen. Clark said. In 2004, Gen. Clark said at the Democratic National Convention that John Kerry’s military experience in Vietnam made Kerry the most qualified to be the next commander-in-chief. Now he’s saying that John McCain’s being held as a POW, having his arms broken, then serving on the Senate Armed Services Committee doesn’t qualify John McCain to be our next commander-in-chief.
Only a mental midget would attempt making that case. In that sense, Gen. Clark is the most qualified person to make such a silly argument.
Technorati Tags: Military, Wesley Clark, John McCain, POW, John Kerry, Bob Schieffer, Barack Obama, Election 2008
Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog
June 30th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
the attack of the surrogates has started.
June 30th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
Mental Midget? I think you are too kind. So, I think that Clark, who does not deserve to be called a general, went to Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar? Big deal. Has he ever been on a real battlefield? Not the air wars foisted by former President Clinton. Usually when a bombshell concerning Monica was concerned! All I know is that he is no different than another cretin, Merrill McPeak, another Mental Midget. Glad the Dems have them!
June 30th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
Agreed. We need to take away General Clark’s title of general for making political statements we disagree with. Also, McCain needs to be promoted to the level of general because he was tortured. And then promoted to president because the white house is white for a reason.
June 30th, 2008 at 10:40 pm
General Clark was removed from the U.S. European Command by his commander-in-chief, President Bill Clinton.
June 30th, 2008 at 10:41 pm
Clark sold out years ago. Anything for a position on Obama’s staff..
July 1st, 2008 at 7:51 am
Id like to any any of these clowns spend six to nine month’s deployment on an aircraft carrier in weather fair and foul, tending to the daily, weekly, monthly, semi annual and annual supply, maintainenance, arming and flight scheduling of 14 aircraft, reading and answering 50 to a hundred radio messages a day, and writing corresponding reports for all of that, in addition to dealing with the inflated egos of each of worlds finest pilots, the morale and welfare of a hundred or more enlisted, constantly answering the bell to two chains of commamnd, and doing all that on a 25 hour day with 4 hours of sleep.
Clark may not have been in the same environment, but he damned sure knows the routine of being a mid level commander.
Yeah its a peice of cake, a real hayride.
July 1st, 2008 at 9:17 am
What two chains of command does a Navy or Marine Corps squadron commander deployed aboard a carrier answer to?
July 1st, 2008 at 1:49 pm
I had a weird thought, what if it was a set up, to make Obama seem concerned, Clark attacks Obama rebukes him, Obama comes out smelling like a rose.
July 1st, 2008 at 2:08 pm
What two chains of command does a Navy or Marine Corps squadron commander deployed aboard a carrier answer to?
Administrative: Commander Naval Air PAC/LANT
Command: Commander Carrier Air Wing.
Obviously the most imnportant and demanding is the Air Wing, but still technically two different channels. Three if you want to add the carriers CO himself and the Admiral commanding the battle group.
July 1st, 2008 at 2:36 pm
Of course, all that command stuff went out the window when Mc Cain punched out and wound up in the Hanoi Hilton. All he had to do then was gut out the pain and torture he knew was coming as the 3rd generation officer and grandson of an Admiral and still keep his mind in one piece.
Thats still not saying he’d be better as a President, only that he’s been tested more than most of us.
July 1st, 2008 at 8:41 pm
Here are some more words from General Clark.
Apply Clark’s reasoning to Senator John McCain.
July 1st, 2008 at 10:20 pm
And, at the end of the day, you’ve all taken the bait. Instead of talking about the issues, you’re all wrapped up in name-calling and finger-pointing, as usual.
Thanks Karl! You’ve done a heckofajob!
July 2nd, 2008 at 2:41 pm
I’m confused. So military service only counts when running for the Presidency as a Republican. I certainly dont remember the outrage over the Smearboatliarsforbush, when they attacked Kerry relentlessly for months. I dont remember the outrage over the purple heart band aides or the lies about his testimony at the winter soldiers hearing.
I was in an auto accident, it was the other guys fault, and i was in the hospital and in rehab for years. Does that make me qualified to run the DMV ??
using GOP logic, I am.
July 2nd, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Comment by Mark J. Goluskin — June 30, 2008 @ 1:52 pm
Pot, meet kettle. LOLAY Mark
So to make your point about disparaging the troops, you, in turn, disparage a General. I guess you are ONLY outraged if it’s a General YOU AGREE with . Like Petreaus
Funny stuff.
July 3rd, 2008 at 6:36 am
Damn right Taguba, its the same game you guys play all the time! Wish I had a nickle for every duplicitis statement one of you loudmouths have made the last 20 years. Yeah its funny except when the future of the country and our liberties are at stake.
Its politics - get over it!
July 3rd, 2008 at 7:41 am
Oh, T.A Gray
Why are our liberties and country in peril anyways ?? You guessed it. Bush and his goose stepping brownshirts and their war first mentality, their using the Constitution as butt wipe, their use of torture, their illegal spying on Americans, their pandering to the corporate machine, etc..etc..etc…
the American VOTER knows who is taking this country into the sewer and they will kick the Grand Old Party the way of the Whigs this November.
That is ONE thing we can be thankfull to Bush, Cheney, and Rove for.
Tag
Dont spend your 15 cents in one place.
July 4th, 2008 at 8:37 am
Come back and tell me that when big mommy is talking half your income and telling where you will go and how long you will wait for somebody to come blow your liberal nose, and what kind of car you will buy to pump your ten buck a gallon ethanol poisen.
Better recount that 15 cents too. Last time I counted, I should probably have enough to spit shine my jack boots and get the brown shirt nicely pressed and starched. Now let’s see, where did I leave my peaked cap?
July 6th, 2008 at 7:18 pm
Poor TA Gray has to resort to typical GOP talking point LIES to end his debate. It really makes you look MORONIC and without a thread of reality.
Back to the crack pipe for you, Gray