Edwards campaign responds to Negative Clark attacks

[ShaneGR]

From the Edwards website, issued today.

Edwards Tennessee campaign spokesman Colin Van Ostern today issued the following statement in response to the negative attacks launched by Wesley Clark earlier today:

"It's sad to see General Clark making these negative attacks. The fact is, Senator Edwards voted against Bush's tax cuts and has proposed rolling back his tax cuts for the wealthy, he has a plan to fix and fund No Child Left Behind, and has been a strong advocate for more international involvement in military action and reconstruction in Iraq."

[windansea]

1. gosh

what did Wes say to deserve this blistering retort??

[arewethereyet]

3. he said Edwards voted for the tax cuts, he didn't

it was an attempt to group Kerry and Edwards and mark them as insiders and draw a clear distinction.

He really MUST get his facts straight before doing this kind of thing. This one will probably leave a mark.

But its great for Edwards, free volunteer sniping and he gets to be righeously indignant and more clearly define himself when he most needs to !

Its almost like its planned...

Do you suppose that maybe it wasn't Mrs General Clark who talked him into staying in it a while longer ?

[windansea]

5. linky??

[ShaneGR]

8. See my post below

Seemed like a good attack for Clark, until he screwed up and said they supported the tax cuts, which is a total lie.

[jenk]

6. Since when have facts gotten in the way for Wes?

These crazy allegations are his trademark

[arewethereyet]

10. I heard all I needed to hear when the General said the White House called

If a person's first impression is a vain lie to look important on TV, there is no reason to listen any more. Who would doubt Shelton after that ?

[Quixote1818]

47. Have you been hiding in a cave? Clark was cleared on this months ago

I can't believe people are still bringing up the White House Phone call thing. I havent seen anyone bring this up for months. www.clarkmyths.com

http://www.spinsanity.org/columns/20030903.html

[Skwmom]

12. Oh really?

In Congress, there was an earlier vote in which Edwards, Lieberman and Kerry voted against completely eliminating President Bush's proposed $726 billion tax cut. Graham supported that measure, but it didn't pass the Senate.

When that measure failed, all four of the Senate Democrats running for president voted for a measure to limit the tax cut to $350 billion."

http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/democrat/news/local/5739629.htm

[windansea]

14. pesky little voting records n/t

:)

[Renew Deal]

16. What tax cuts did Edwards vote for?

You are saing that Edwards didn't vote for any tax cuts?

[ShaneGR]

9. Lol, blistering

To be honest, for the Edwards campaign, that is a blistering retort. Just the style of the campaign I guess.

[hope42mro]

2. What did Clark say? Do you have a quote?

[ShaneGR]

7. Well, here's an article from the San Diego Tribune

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/20040204-1827-clark.html

(snips)
JACKSON, Tenn. – Democratic presidential hopeful Wesley Clark on Wednesday accused his rivals of hypocrisy in voting for policy measures in the Senate that they now assail amid signs of financial problems within his own campaign.

"I don't know how John Kerry and John Edwards can claim to defend civil liberties and criticize the Patriot Act. They voted for it," Clark said. "John Kerry and John Edwards are criticizing the war in Iraq even though they gave him the blank check and voted for it."

Clark also accused both senators of voting for Bush tax cuts, a charge that a Kerry aide disputed.

"Not only has Wesley Clark broken his promises of running a positive campaign, but if he's going to turn negative he'd better get his facts straight," Kerry spokesman David Wade said. "John Kerry led the fight against the Bush tax cuts back when Wesley Clark was praising George Bush and his right-wing crowd at GOP fund-raisers."

[windansea]

11. Like to see the exact quote on the tax cuts

if Wes made mispoke it's payback for Kerry's flyers and JE dissing Clarks southern credentials

[ShaneGR]

13. Well, um....

Clark kind of doesn't have southern credentials. Gees, Dean and Sharpton finished ahead of him in South Carolina...

Where he spent 2.5 million BTW.

[windansea]

17. about those tax cut votes

In Congress, there was an earlier vote in which Edwards, Lieberman and Kerry voted against completely eliminating President Bush's proposed $726 billion tax cut. Graham supported that measure, but it didn't pass the Senate.

When that measure failed, all four of the Senate Democrats running for president voted for a measure to limit the tax cut to $350 billion."

http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/democrat/news/local/5739629.htm

[ShaneGR]

24. Ahhh.... twisting the reality eh???

They voted against completely eliminating the Middle-Class tax cuts.

A position I agree with. The middle-class needed a tax break, not the wealthy (Who Edwards has consistently gone after).

[windansea]

27. so they voted FOR some of the tax cuts

Wes was correct!!!

:bounce:

[ShaneGR]

28. Uh no, they voted against them originally

But then voted against eliminating all of them.

Translation, they saw the impact on the middle-class, and decided the middle-class needed to keep that money while the wealthy needed to start paying their share again.


Wes was not right.

[windansea]

31. yikes...sounds like Kerry doubletalk

in the end they were FOR some of the cuts...but really they were against all of them...IWR, PA NCLB blah blah blah yes maybe not really squeak snort equivocate

they call it SENATITUS...

[ShaneGR]

32. Double-talk?

You mean like praising George Bush, Dick Cheney, Rumsfeld, Powell, etc. at a Republican fundraiser just two years ago?????

And getting caught on VIDEO doing it?

[windansea]

33. the difference is

Clark doesn't deny it

guess we lost the tax issue and have reverted to the "gasp" video to regroup huh??

[Tweed]

36. KO for Windansea

KO in nine posts

[ShaneGR]

38. There is no resorting....

Sorry, I don't support people who raise money for Republicans.

[Tweed]

39. Well we will have to agree to disagree

I don't vote for presidential candidates who don't have any international experience when our country is in a dire situation in that field.

[bowens43]

54. The voters dissed Clark's 'southern credentials'

will he strike out at them next?

[Julien Sorel]

56. By that logic, the voters endorsed Kerry's

'southern credentials.' Brilliant thinking, just brilliant.

[krkaufman]

15. Sorry, w/ caveat

Sorry, children, but highlighting someone's voting record is not running a negative campaign. If one's record cannot be questioned, then how exactly do you plan on assailing Bush in the fall.

I understand that Edwards would prefer we not discuss the issues, votes and experience, and instead rely on personal charm and looks as the criteria for choosing the nominee, but I hope for the sake of democracy that we do not.

All that being said, I do hope that Clark's statements were not inaccurate. We can certainly agree that most of facts were on target, though, since only the "tax" vote was denied. More research to do....

Cheers!

[ShaneGR]

18. Problem is, he screwed up and said they voted for the tax cuts

Which they didn't. Which will prompt apology #9,129 from the clark campaign.

[windansea]

22. ya sure??

In Congress, there was an earlier vote in which Edwards, Lieberman and Kerry voted against completely eliminating President Bush's proposed $726 billion tax cut. Graham supported that measure, but it didn't pass the Senate.

When that measure failed, all four of the Senate Democrats running for president voted for a measure to limit the tax cut to $350 billion."

http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/democrat/news/local/5739629.htm

[ShaneGR]

25. See above

They were in favor of keeping the middle-class tax breaks, hence the vote against eliminating the total package.

[Julien Sorel]

46. Perhaps you would be so kind as to

list some of the other apologies? Thanks in advance!

And while I'm at it, is there such a thing as a positive attack in politics, or were you simply desperately trying to squeeze the word 'negative' in there for rhetorical purposes? Never mind, the answer is obvious, and I wouldn't want you to waste time from researching some of those apologies.

By the way, some of the obnoxious Edwards supporters are pushing Clark folks towards Kerry, should Clark get knocked out. Not that Edwards could use more support or anything with that cornpone charm of his.

[westcoastbias]

4. Anyone but Kerry

We should all be ganging up on Kerry, and let the chips fall as they may. Everyone but Kerry seems to truly understand the growing discrepancy among the economic classes and the problems that result. I prefer Edwards, but would settle on Clark as an alternative to Kerry.

[patricia92243]

20. I'd rather have ABK. Dean first choice-or Edwards or Clark

[arewethereyet]

21. have to clear out the brush before you chop on the tree

can't get any momentum out of the axe, they're designed to need a big swing.

[Renew Deal]

19. Edwards proudly voted for NCLB and the War.

Now he is acting like he didn't. What an empty suit.

[jenk]

23. Clark supported the war as well, praised Bush

[arewethereyet]

26. repeatedly and in serious surroundings

and don't forget Mr Blair and Powell and the whole gang ! !

[windansea]

29. sorry but Kerry and Edwards

voted yes on IWR...Wes argued against it

[ShaneGR]

30. Was that before or after....

He said that Cheney, Bush, Rumsfeld, and the rest of the PNAC clan were the right men for the job?

You know, at that Republican fundraiser.

[Tweed]

37. Actions speak louder then words

Thank you Edwards for voting for most of Bush's agenda. I'm sure North Carolina thanks you for being their senator and campaigning for president half the time you have been in that office.
Clark, like a lot of Americans realizes just how wrong he was. That will appeal to more people then it will hurt.

[Quixote1818]

43. Wrong. Check out Factcheck.org

http://www.factcheck.org/article.aspx?docID=130

Clark, was against going to war and argued that we should wait.

[maxr4clark]

48. ...and if you read the rest of his testimony, you'll find

that he was not misled into thinking Hussein was a threat--not even a gathering one.

And you'll find out that he knew precisely what would happen if we went into Iraq unilaterally, and told the Congress. You can also compare the neocon view, represented by Richard Perle's testimony. Clark was WAY far away from Perle's point of view.

This "Clark is a Republican" and "Clark was for the War" smear has gone far enough. If an Edwards supporter brings it up again, I'll start referring to Edwards as an ambulance chaser--which is what we called his kind of trial lawyer when I was growing up in the South.

[HFishbine]

53. Referring to Clark as a republican

is against the rules. Calling Edwards an ambulance chaser is not.

[bowens43]

57. Against the rules?

I see nothing in the rules that says we can't call a candidate a republican. Calling Edwards an ambulance chaser is inflammatory and IS against the rules.

[bowens43]

58. Clark was an independant with a distict lean to the right.

He has no history of supporting our party or our ideals before he decided to run as a Democrat.

[maxr4clark]

66. Completely untrue.

He voted for Clinton twice and Gore, which makes him a left-leaning Independent for the past twelve years. He has ALWAYS supported affirmative action, and funding education. He chose to attend Oxford in the sixties, when it was the most anti-War campus on Earth, even more so than UC Berkeley. Do you know they have a very active Socialist party over there in England?

He has for a long time supported international organizations like NATO and the UN, which were created by Democrats.

The only reason he has ever supported Republicans is that the Democratic party has forsaken the foreign policy arena, leaving it to the warmongers ever since Kennedy was President. That is the Democratic party's failing, not his.

[Renew Deal]

52. Nice to address the issue.

Trym defend your candidate if you can.

[NV1962]

34. Mommy help - they're calling me a talker, not a doer!

Boo-<expletive deleted>-hoo.

Does the Edward campaign now need Terry McAuliffe's phone number too, perhaps?

[windansea]

35. LOL

mommy...Clark told the truth about me

:cry:

[ochazuke]

40. Clark attacking Edwards? Bad move.

General! Redirect your fire to that juggernaut that's about to ram you!

Attacking Edwards will sink Clark more surely than it will Edwards.

I'm thinking the General had the right idea Tuesday night: withdraw. It's getting too late in the game to have so many candidates. Two is a maximum now.

[windansea]

41. Clark has a howitzer

Edwards has a nice smile and a nerf cannon

[bowens43]

60. A nice smile and a nerf cannon

will beat a uniform filled with hot air and a howitzer every time. This is an election, not a war. Clark was counting on a frightened populace for support, he didn't get it.

[NV1962]

42. Aim where?

People need to know who the guy with real leadership qualities is... I have no problem in laying out the differences.

Saying that Clark's a doer, not a talker is a good point.

I'm thinking you'd have liked the General to drop out in October already...

This isn't a coronation - it's an election with several good candidates. Small wonder it's a heated contest: if not, that'd mean the internal competition sucks.

Take it as a compliment instead, certainly compared to the mess the RNC has to deal with defending...

[Quixote1818]

44. Attack Edwards? Man you guys don't know what an attack is?

[murielm99]

45. The only advantage I can see to having so many candidates

this late in the game is that the pukes are not sure yet where to direct their fire and all their dirty tricks.

Divide and conquer!

Let's hope that we do not remain divided after the nominee is chosen.

[Leilani]

49. Shrub's numbers are falling, falling

The Dem debate has been the best thing for this country. People are invigorated, they're voting, the issues are out there.

And Shrub is going on MTP on Sunday. Why the retreat from the Rose Garden? Because he's getting pounded & knows it.

[democratreformed]

59. First of all,

it was never reported anywhere that it was Clark's idea to withdraw. Second of all, telling the truth is NOT attacking. Third, it is about time that he take the offensive instead of continuing to take the crap heaped out upon him.

[ochazuke]

62. It seems Clark needed to be talked into not dropping out

The following is a quote from http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2004/02/05/politics0855EST0527.DTL

Two officials close to Clark, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the retired Army general considered dropping out of the race Tuesday night after scoring a single victory, a nail-biter in Oklahoma. They said his wife, Gert, helped talk him into staying in the race against the advice of some backers.

[democratreformed]

65. Another one of those "anonymous" things again?

These are becoming increasingly ludicrous as is people's faith in them.

[maxr4clark]

50. No, a negative attack on Edwards would be to say

that his hair wasn't shiny. Discussing his voting record is not an attack.

The candidates cannot, and should not, try to only talk about themselves. They must talk about each other to give their own perspective.

What needs to be avoided is telling outright lies--like saying Clark is a Republican, just because he said something nice about a Republican or voted for a few.

Any independent can be expected to say nice things (or mean things, depending on their personality) about both Democrats and Republicans, and to vote for both, too. That is what Clark did. He also spoke at a Republican fund-raiser, for a fee--and a few weeks later, spoke at a Democratic fund-raiser, too.

Clark was an independent, and now he's a Democrat, too. And we should be very glad he is; the world needs more Democrats!

[annxburns]

51. Hmmmm, I'm beginning to be turned off ...

.... by Edwards a little. Frankly, either Kerry, Clark or Edwards would be fine, although I think Kerry and Clark would be better match-ups against Bush because of their service records. But Edwards seems a little slick with this "I'm running a positive campaign here".

Couple of examples of not so positve campaigning by Edwards ...

Edwards is implying that it is a two person race which is a direct slam on Clark.

There was an article in, I think, TNR or Slate that said Edwards was implying Clark wasn't a real southener because he hadn't lived there long (kinda ignoring the fact that Clark was moving around in the military, serving our country)

Edwards told Dean "good job" after he attacked Kerry in a debate,

Then there was that "gang up on Dean' thing with Kerry and Gept when Dean looked like he was going to run away with it.

Kinda seems smarmy to me.

I don't like Clark or Kerry going negative either, but they never said they wouldn't.

[democratreformed]

55. I am sick to death of double standards

It's the "I can do but you can't mentality". As a matter of fact, I am just about sick to death of this whole process. And I still haven't figured out how telling the truth is attacking. General Clark NEEDS to make people aware of these things (discrepancies) in my opinion.

[aquanut]

63. Just "playing the game"?

It sure seems that actually sticking to the issues has been getting Clark nowhere in terms of press.

Wes Jr. was right!

[democratreformed]

64. That's the sentiment I have gained these past few months

Clark needs to get better at playing the game. Sadly.

[IndianaGreen]

61. The point is that Edwards voted for it!

Edwards is trying to rationalize his votes like Kerry does his, but he is not as good as Kerry as being on all sides of an issue at the same time.

[ShaneGR]

67. You people STILL don't get it

Negative on fellow Democrats have NOT worked in ANY way. Focusing on the positives in our race vs. Bush is the best way to go. But you still keep sliming Dems every chance you get.

Focus on the enemy, his name is George Bush.