Wesley Clark, Waiting for the Voters to Thaw

[Demobrat]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33034-2003Dec26.html

BERLIN, N.H.

As a presidential candidate Clark now finds himself in the chilly vestibule of the Fraser Papers mill in far northern New Hampshire, on a concrete floor sloppy with slush, virtually begging the shift workers to talk to him.

(snip)

The men are clocking in for the 7:30 a.m. shift. They walk in and out, alone or in pairs. Almost all are armored in thick coats and gloves, some wearing safety glasses and hard hats. "I'm real late," says one. "My boss . . . " he starts, and then drifts off. "I'm a Gephardt guy," yells another as he swings open the door, sending a gust of frigid wind straight up into the nostrils.

When someone does stop, Clark bores in: "You married? Children? Any health issues?" "I gotta go," David Carey finally says, and Clark follows him out the door into the muddy snow, holding out a fistful of campaign brochures.

[dfong63]

1. brutal... but presumably

... Clark must be doing better in other places not mentioned in the story.

[mouse7]

2. Tough room.

I would imagine a large industrial plant with a union labor force in NH must have Presidential Candidates camping at the gates for 6 months prior to the primary.

[stickdog]

3. No in at the room for Clark.

Oh well, there's always peddling influence for millions.

[ozone_man]

4. Clark is out of his element.

Having experience as a politician is pretty helpful in knowing how to deal with campaign situations and speaking to mass audiences. Clark may be comfortable in miltary situations, but sounds like he's a fish out of water in the campaign environment.

(snip)
"I'm not a professional politician," Clark tells his audiences, and the lack of tradecraft shows. At his town hall meetings, his answer to a single policy question can run 15 minutes, complete with detailed percentages. He can drift off into Al Gore-ish techno-idolatrous/green Earth dreams, about electric highways or buffalo roaming free in Montana. He can talk himself into strange alleys, like his recent verbal bio that began with his experience as a teenage camp counselor and somehow ricocheted back to "I want to be camp counselor of America . . . at whatever age I'll be."
(snip)

[Demobrat]

5. Love his plan to put America back to work.

"A $10,000 tax credit for each full-time hire."

Tax breaks for corporations. Yeah, that's the ticket!

[ozone_man]

6. I think Dean's small business

incentives will offer a lot more bang for the buck.

Clark says it's OK for IBM to send thousands of software jobs to India, we'll do something different. Time to level the playing field I say.

[SahaleArm]

21. And will those tax breaks be anything like the ones he gave in Vermont?

How about some specifics because theres a bunch of handwaving in his plan. Dean has a history of giving tax breaks minus accountability.

And Dean has no plan to specifically stop the outflow of jobs, more hand-waving. Not to mention Dean's idea to publicly fund a private Small Business Funding Corporation in which Wall Street will be the biggest beneficiarry.

[Pavlovs DiOgie]

7. This part is rich

"So eager is he that in Littleton he sweeps up 11-year-old Tammariah Guevin -- who is walking home from school -- into his campaign entourage, takes her to a candy store to buy a chocolate turtle, and only after it's dark realizes that she doesn't know how to get home and hasn't called her mother. So eager is he that on a recent trip he actually wore a hole in his shoe and had to detour to a store to buy a new pair."

He's pretty green at this 'politics thing'.

[Demobrat]

8. That girl's mother needs to have a serious talk with her.

The next old man who sweeps her up may not be looking for a photo op.

[dsc]

10. Yeah that is so true

in this day and age that is a very scary story. Frankly the article is mostly crap but that story is on the scary side

[bicentennial_baby]

13. Give me a break

I saw this on video the other day. Clark was surrounded by dozens of people and cameras, it's not like he picked her up at the playground all by himself.

[dsc]

14. It is the taking with him part

which I would have a problem with. Clark isn't being criticised here by me but those parents need to let that girl know not to do that kind of thing.

[JVS]

15. Great so now Clark is kidnapping children!!!

Just joking :-)

[Demobrat]

16. Not Clark.

But no telling about the next guy.

[shivaji]

9. Sorry Clark Supporters.....

I have posted many times detailing Clark's deficiencies as a dem presidential candidate. I do not know him personally, but I am sure he is a decent man and a fine American.

But, in the rough and tumble world of politics today, I am convinced Clark will be out of his element. The last general to win was IKE, but times were completely different then. There was no "gotcha" media mentality then. Rumors of IKE's affairs with Kay Summersby were not a big story.

My sincere advice to Clark---Run for a congressional office, hone your skills of campaigning, prove to us you have truly morphed into a democrat, and we will be more than happy to carry your water in 2008.
If you had a chance in 2004, your numbers should have been picking up by now. Get realistic. You are stuck in a rut.

2004 is the year of Howard Dean. He is gaining the big MO in dem primaries. No one could have predicted he had a chance to beat Kerry in NH and Gephardt in Iowa. Let us get united behind Dean before it is too late and fracture the party any more.

[PatrioticOhioLiberal]

23. Because you say it

it must be true.

Disagreement is not to be tolerated?

Look, you think your guy is best, I think my guy is best, the old man down the street thinks his guy is best. And we're all going to fight to the bitter end to prove it.

I know it's hard, but try to remember...there has yet to be a single vote cast. :-)

[eileen_d]

11. Well, y'all enjoy yourselves

salivating over this article... I'll keep supporting Clark.

[Upfront]

12. Clark Is A Good Man

I feel sorry for him. It is a tough job running for president. Any one who gives it a shot deserves respect.

[shortshorts]

25. he is

The thing that angers me about this article/piece is the condescending attitude the journalist has toward him, like, "wow, you just don't know what you're doing, do you??" Big surprise, Sherlock. I think it would be more creepy if he entered the race and knew EXACTLY what to do all the time.

I'm partial to Kucinich myself, but I think it's snotty to rag on a presidential candidate who is walking the cold streets of NH introducing himself to the people, while that Chimp rakes in millions by singing his Greatest Hits platitudes for mindless fans. Oh yeah, it's tough for the Chimpy Manilow to dodge Ann Coulter, Laura Ingraham and Bill O'Reilly's panties being flung at him as he belts out "Bring It On" and "Tax Cuts!!!!"


(no offense intended toward any Barry Manilow fans out there!)

[TLM]

17. It is a little different... talking to real people

instead of folks at a republican fundraiser or soldiers who are ordered to stand there and listen to you.

The average Americans out there can see Clark is a phony as a 3 dollar bill and won;t give him the time of day.

[bilmax]

20. Clark a "phony"?

Your comments are idiotic. You call Clark a "phony" while your candidate schemes to hide documents and papers reflecting on his decisionmaking as governor, all to protect his political viability. Amazing. Clark's been a candidate for all of three months. Many "average Americans out there" are giving him not only the time of day, but their hard-earned dollars.

[PatrioticOhioLiberal]

22. I guess this means

there are no "real" people in the military LOL.

And thanks for the compliment by the way...by your reckoning I guess Clark attracts above average Americans...and he's attracted a whole lot of them. :-)

Wes attracts the best!

Peace

[Leilani]

28. Phony?

And what have you done for your country?

And what sacrifices has the Great Dr.Dean made for his country?

The "average Americans" out there that you speak of will vote for Wes Clark, but they will laugh at Dean. They already are in many places, saying those crazy Dems are going down in flames again.

[bain_sidhe]

18. My question is

Why is a major daily doing such an obvious hatchet job on a candidate in the *news* section?

EYES ON THE PRIZE, GUYS!

The media is and remains one of the enemies, whether it's your candidate, my candidate, or somebody else's candidate. Right now, they're going after Clark. But rest assured, they'll be *just* as underhanded in their coverage of *whoever* the Democratic candidate is.

Dean (and other candidate) supporters, don't let your glee at this hatchet job make you lose sight of the *real* threat here, 'k?

EYES ON THE PRIZE, GUYS!

[horsesense]

19. show the courtesy of listening

Listen to Clark speak himself. Instead of blindly following some commentator, get it from the horses mouth. If you don't like what you hear, support someone else.

Clark would be a president I could be proud of.

[PatrioticOhioLiberal]

24. Clark will be

a President you can be proud of.

:toast:

[Scott Lee]

26. kick

[stickdog]

27. Clark, Clark, he's our man. If he can't do it,

Bush will.

[cally]

29. I've seen Clark work a room

and he does well. He focuses on each person, connects with him or her, and moves on. This article is a hatchet job. I've seen all candidates stumble in similar settings. The NH primary process is a horrible institution. I'm so angry that these folks have so much influence over our candidate.

[John_H]

30. I remember being very pissed at nearly identical story about Clinton

in '92. Funny how the hos just rehash the same shit.