Clark on Dean's "Confederate Flag" comments

[Nlighten1]

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/gossip/story/135064p-120343c.html

Q: And what is Clark's reaction to former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean's pandering comment that that he, Dean, wants the votes of Southerners, i.e. "guys with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks"?

A: "Well, he shouldn't have said those things. I think all Americans - and this is a joke! - all Americans, even if they're from the South and 'stupid,' should be represented."

OMG...Clark really speaks his mind. I want to see Dean and Clark on the ticket together.

[Bucky]

1. "from the South and 'stupid,'" ?

ARRGHHH!!

Poor Wesley Clark. He's about to find out how you words get twisted when Republicans hate you. Hannity, Colmes, Mike Reagan, Gordon Liddy, and whoever the hell is substituting for Rush right now is going to start announcing "Clark says everyone from the South is stupid."

Yes, yes. I saw the quoty marks around the word "stupid" but you can't hear that on the radio. My boy's gonna get nailed on this one.

[xultar]

5. OMFG...OUCH!!!

The fat lady is warming up...

[IndianaGreen]

6. Yep, Clark will find out how easily his words will get twisted

from the joke part it will become something along the lines of "we should reach for stupid people."

[slinkerwink]

2. ouch.....

::does a sympathetic wince::

[tsipple]

3. Will Kerry-Gephardt-Edwards Beat Up on Clark Now?

Will they have a conference call to discuss "strategy"? :-)

I laughed. I wish more people would lighten up. We get exactly the presidents we deserve otherwise.

[NashVegas]

15. I expect so

..

[jarab]

4. The author of the piece ....

"Lloyd Grove is The Daily News' newest gossip columnist, joining us from The Washington Post, where he wrote the widely read 'Reliable Source' column."

...O...

[kentuck]

21. And most Southerners are not so arrogant to believe that....

that we don't have a bunch of stupid people amongst us. If only some Northerners could be so honest? However, as some might say, some things might be better left unsaid. :)

[Roark]

7. Man..

I can tell he is joking, but that was a bad joke to make.

Why?

[TennesseeWalker]

8. *sigh* (n/t)

[Toucano]

9. Doesn't play well in print, I think

Don't forget:

"I think all Americans - and this is a joke! - all Americans, even if they're from the South and 'stupid,' should be represented."

I suspect there was a mocking tone probably accompanied by "finger quotes" around stupid.

Even so, jokes don't work well in print much of the time.

[wndycty]

10. Wow. . .

. . .can you imagine it. I join those in admitting that our guy (Clark) made a mistake but not understanding that most people would not see it as a joke.

PLEASE NOTE: I am not going to blame those who are offended for not being intelligent enough to understand.

Take note Dean supporters, we back our candidate but we are not afraid to say he made a mistake!

[slinkerwink]

11. I know, but it's a lot like the "Help, Mary!" which was supposed to be a..

joke. It's politically dangerous to make jokes......especially when Clark's #2....

[wndycty]

12. Yes it is. . .

. . .and I will be consistent and I am criticizing the candidate that I am backing and I hope he learns from his slip ups. I am not going to let him slip up and pretend nothing happened. Unlike others.

[Kahuna]

13. Well now! My take/s....

I wouldn't have put it that way. But, I think Clark believes that the redneck votes is owned by the GOP so who cares what they think? He thinks the CF waving confederates are treasoneous bastages and he says so. :shrug:

The GOP may try to make hay out of it but it's very unlikely that the redneck vote will abandon the GOP under any circumstance. Will it cost him support in the south? Probably.

[xultar]

14. There may be one saving grace...It is a long shot...

You know how you can talk about people in your family but no one else can.

Clark is from the south...he is a southerner.
but I agree I'm waitin' for the fat lady and the shoe

[Kahuna]

16. True that. But the more I think about it....

I'll bet that once again... something is missing from the quote. I hope that Clark will address this as soon as possible.

[jeter]

17. Jesus, he didn't say anything wrong

You see that is why twisting Dean's quote around is dangerous. Because Clark essentially said the same thing. Now he will be accused of calling southerners stupid. The "Washington three" (Gept., Kerry, and Lieberman) will take pot shots at him.

Unfairly, yes. But now you Clarkies will realize how unfair what happened to Dean was.

Since you didn't stand up for Dean, many Deanies now won't stand up for you.

[Kahuna]

18. Sorry but... When you're trying to appeal to voters..

you don't call them "stupid" or rednecks even if you think they are. That is very amateurish, regardless of whom is doing it.

Don't try to lump us Clarkies in with the Deanies. We tend to take a more... enlightened approach to issues.

And when did we Clarkies ask you to stand with us on this issue?

[xultar]

19. That's not true....go back and read

Many Clarkies did stand up for dean.

[Rowdyboy]

34. I stood up for Dean over the flag remark

Repeatedly and loudly, along with several other Clark supporters. Perhaps you weren't listening.

[slinkerwink]

20. I respectfully disagree....

I recognize that Clark meant it as a joke, but it'll be taken out of context at the next debate. I expect to see Edwards and Kerry pounce on Clark for this. :-(

[kentuck]

23. Then "stupidity" might be expanded to the podiums...

from which they speak also...No one has a monopoly.

[in_cog_ni_to]

24. I stood up for Dean n/t

[in_cog_ni_to]

22. This won't play well on

TV and radio shows. They, undoubtedly, will omit..."and this is a joke!" to spin their spin. He needs to address this before they start their twisting and spinning. He will learn what to say and what not to say....he's still learning. Unfortunately, he has to learn from his mistakes and the RW will make hay with those mistakes. :(

[wndycty]

25. Another Clark supporter who is not afraid to critique the General. . .

. . .we are not downplaying how this will be received, we are not blaming the people who could be offended. We think it will be twisted, but we are not bitching and moaning about that...we understand the way the game is played.

[in_cog_ni_to]

30. Exactly,

No one is perfect. ALL of the candidates are going to stick that proverbial foot in their mouth at one time or another. You can bet your sweet bippy that the RWers are perched and have their ears peaked for each and every gaffe, too. They will jump on it like flies on shit....not to worry. We all need to be able to recognize our candidates as human beings who make mistakes, and move on. Hopefully to learn from those human errors.

What I really find disturbing is when supporters of a certain candidate or the candidates themselves attack "one of their own". We are ALL in the same boat. We are ALL "floating" toward the same goal...to get Bush out of the WH. We should ALL "float" toward that same goal and stop degrading those who are trying to rock the SAME boat....unless we want to sink that BEAUTIFUL Democratic boat! :)

Personally, I like all of our candidates. I think they all represent us well and it would serve us well to oar the boat TOGETHER to get that asshole out of our WH. JMCPO.

[RandomUser]

26. I agree

He will learn what to say and what not to say....he's still learning. Unfortunately, he has to learn from his mistakes and the RW will make hay with those mistakes. :(

The biggest challenge facing Clark is not Dean or any of the other candidates. The biggest problem is time.

Clark has an amazing mind, an amazing ability to learn quickly and master the nuances. He's already shown a considerable leap in his ability in these "debates." And he will continue to improve. The question is whether he can improve fast enough. He's already improved to the point where he's ahead of many others who have been in the race much longer than him.

Conversely, it also means he's not a the end of his learning curve. With the other candidates, they've already had years to improve, so they won't really change much more. What you see, graffes and stumbles and all, is what you get with the other candidates. Clark has the potential to keep right on going on this learning curve and exceed them -- he's already ahead of many of them, IMO.

The dynamic I see would be like with Gore and Bush. The week before the elections, Gore was still behind Bush in the polls. But every day, the polls showed Gore gaining ground in the polls. The question was not whether Gore would increase and exceed Bush (which Gore did, if you count the popular votes). The question was whether Gore would be able to do it before the cut-off date of the elections. Had the election been held a few days later, I think the margin of difference would have been even larger.

Clark is not racing Dean or any of the others. He's racing the clock. Just like Gore was that last week before the election.

[_NorCal_D_]

27. LOL

Not exactly the best choice of words, even if it is a joke. :crazy:

[dd123]

28. Dems beating up Dean on the CF have done the party a huge disservice

Look at the latest races in the South and how the confederate flag was used to win both governorships.

As long as we keep attacking that danged flag, we will lose the south because many southerners, many of whom are not racist, consider that a part of their heritage to be proud of.

The people being most hurt by Republican governance are poor African Americans. Instead of reflexively condemning those who fly the flag, African Americans need to figure out how to coalition build in order to achieve what they want. The future of their kids depends on this. Even if we Dems win the Presidency, there is only so much you can do on the national level. African Americans need local governments to provide a good education and opportunity.

[chaska]

29. Thinking aloud.

I'm not certain this is a big deal. It may even be plus. The press has been ignoring Clark lately. This could get him back in the news. The comment he made is not serious enough to hurt him much, would be my guess.

What Dean said touched on a hot button issue (the flag) - no hot buttons in what Clark said. The press may not even think it a big enough deal to mess with. And they appear to be all about the Dean juggernaut right now. The Clark thing would be a distraction from that.

As for the other dems attacking him for it. Do they really want to take that chance when they just did it to Dean? The may look kind of ... what, petty, and certainly desperate? It probably wouldn't reflect well on them.

About defending Dean, I said (in a nutshell) that he was right, but that he wouldn't pick up the poor white vote (the CF vote). Take that as you will.

[FrenchieCat]

31. Yes, I am sure they don't want to bring up his name.....

and this will just look "petty" on the part of the press and those who bring it up. There is most likely footage of this being said that does not translate in the way the RW would want it to in order for it to be damaging!

[Donna Zen]

32. Ignoring Clark...

The Sunday gasbags continue their three week run of lockstep silence regarding all things Clark. Biden usurps Clark's international coalition for Iraq; not a word about Clark. Edwards hit on the Nato element; not a word about Clark. And they never said a mumbling word.

Now let us just suppose that the repubs had a highly decorated general running for public office and it's the weekend before Veteran's day, who would be featured on the talkies. Hmmm?

Picking our candidate, they are...said Yoda.

[in_cog_ni_to]

33. They FEAR Clark.

No doubt about it. They KNOW he can demolish the shrub in the election....that is why they pretend like he's not there. Notice, just notice who they spend the MOST time talking about. The one person the WH thinks they can beat. Dean. There will come a time when they cannot ignore Clark...when he has so many supporters it will be impossible to.

Just as a side note...I do not agree with the WH about Dean. I think he CAN win but, Clark would be a landslide. A Clark/Dean ticket or Dean/Clark ticket? The shrub is TOAST!

[mikehiggins]

35. Say, you don't suppose

Clark said it on purpose to stir things up?

[Adjoran]

36. Clark's inexperience

at politics is both an advantage and disadvantage. Many of the middle of the road/independent/undecided voters are drawn to a candidate who hasn't made running for office his life's work. But inexperience in how quotes are used and/or misused sometimes make him look like he's stumbling.

One thing is certain: we MUST win at least two southern states next year if we are to win the White House. No Democrat has EVER been elected without a least that many.

The Congressional races are not looking good. We have at least four, and maybe five, Senators retiring and already had 19 seats to defend to the repubs' 15. Unless the Texas redistricting is overturned by the courts, the repubs will pick up at least 6 House seats in that state alone. This makes winning the Presidency even more important.