Calling All Clark Democrats and Du Members who want Clark as VP...

[FrenchieCat]

For those who have not yet heard, I need DU Clark Democrats and those who would like Clark on the ticket as Veep's assistance!

Nedra Ho Pickler is up to her old tricks with her 5/14/04 AP article where she recirculates the old debunked rumor about Wes spreading the rumor about Kerry.

This is the offending article: http://tinyurl.com/32o9n

Please go to my blog at CCN (now on Best of the Blogs) and post the letter that you are sure to write in defense of Wes Clark. The AP story was up at Yahoo and USA Today...and who know where else. We must make AP management understand that Ms. Pickler can't just print any old thing she would like.

My blog has all that you need to write your letter....all of the past and current factual links (the ones below are just the ones we were able to generate today), email addresses, at least 15 letters written by some of the best Clark defenders. Be among them.....write a letter today (Ok, it's late...so today or tomorrow). To those who did already...thank you so much for your efforts!

When it comes to this particular Rumor, I am like a puppy with a shoe that won't let go...cause they keep rerunning this debunked rumor like an old "I Love Lucy" episode. What's up with that? Must be that Republican Mean Machine operatives that Kerry and Clark so often refer to. Finally Clark's name comes up with Veep consideration...and they start acting up again. BushFan Hos don't want Clark on the ticket....is all.

My Blog:
http://frenchiecat.forclark.com/story/2004/5/14/16529/1222

I need 20 letters and I am 4 short. Wes said 20...and I aim on delivering 20 letters to Ms. BushFan Pickler.....in response to her spreading rumors about Wes...and by extension about John Kerry.

I need your help....you beautiful Clark Democrats and those KerryFans who want Clark on the ticket!

Thus far today, we have gotten Ryan Lizza on record AGAIN today saying the following. (the rest of what he has to say about Clark is pretty disagreeable with my opinion but he's no hack).
http://www.tnr.com/blog/campaignjournal?pid=1655

"Maybe Kerry's aides have additional evidence of Clark spreading the rumors about an affair, but as far as I know it's a false accusation. I believe the birth of this story is a bizarre press conference Clark had at a deli in Nashville on the day of the February 10 Tennessee primary. I was there that day, as were at least a dozen other reporters, and the whole thing was captured on video by more than one person. What happened was that reporters were dogging Clark with questions about when he was going to drop out of the race. He didn't quite snap, but Clark got a little frustrated and made some terse comments about why he was staying in. Then he told us that what he had just said was off the record. It's a close call as to whether any of us there have a responsibility to treat his comments as such, but I'm not breaking any rules by reporting that Clark did not spread any rumor about Kerry and a young woman. I've previously checked with other reporters who were there, and they have confirmed this. If I'm wrong, the videotape is out there somewhere."

Also got Campaign Desk to write something up about this rumor stuff AGAIN today...
http://www.campaigndesk.org/archives/000543.asp
May 14, 2004
In the Dark on Wesley Clark
In a piece today that looks at several of John Kerry's choices for a running-mate, Nedra Pickler of the Associated Press writes, " Clark's standing also is not helped by Kerry advisers' belief that the former general helped spread rumors that Kerry had had an affair with a young woman."

But as the New Republic's Ryan Lizza -- who was in the room when Clark made the comments in question - pointed out three months ago, there just isn't anything to the Drudge Report-fueled notion that Clark floated the rumor about Kerry having an affair. Inspired by Pickler's piece, Lizza, writing today on his New Republic blog, again affirms Clark's innocence.

Pickler's phrasing may technically be accurate: Some Kerry advisers (those who don't read the New Republic, perhaps) may continue to believe that Clark helped spread the rumor. But given that it appears he didn't, is it too much to ask of the AP to point that out?

--Z.R.

And Cece Connolly on Fox disavowed the rumor as well:

Is this little bit of a transcript from Ceci Connolly on Fox News Sunday in any of your links?

JUAN WILLIAMS: Now, let me just say that Democrats, including the man who endorsed this week, General Wesley Clark, was overheard saying, "Oh, you know, Kerry's campaign is going to implode over an intern," that kind of thing. That adds to it. And I think--

CONNOLLY: You know, what, though? That's not accurate. That's not accurate. That's the way that Drudge reported that supposed off-the-record conversation. But I've spoken to reporters who were there, and that's not even what General Clark accused. It was something far more peripheral, and it was pinned to a tabloid.

[FrenchieCat]

1. Kicked for tomorrow A.M.

Got some doozies, in terms of letters on my blog. Supporters of Clark sure are articulate....Damn!

[annabanana]

2. smear squashing

I hope the CAD squad (articulate if nothing else) has responded.

[newyawker99]

5. Hi annabanana!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Lefta Dissenter]

3. Debunked? Not accurate?

Who cares about that??!! Don't you remember that Gore invented the internet?

(trying to get the articulate portion of my brain fired up this morning... maybe another cup of coffee will help)

[haypops]

4. Repub lie from the 2000 election

Actually that whole invented the INTERNET thing is a Bush/republican lie from the 2000 campaign. Gore said he was instrumental in the development of the INTERNET, or something to that effect. Although he didn't say he invented the INTERNET, the gentlemen who actually wrote the code said Gore deserved all that credit and more.

[newyawker99]

6. Hi haypops!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Jai4WKC08]

8. Ummm... haypops...

I think that was sarcasm from Vote. You know, as in, we should expect better from the same media whores that so often repeated the "invented the internet" lie?

Glad to see you at DU again!

[Sparkly]

Still?! Again??!!

I can't believe this rumor is still being repeated. Some of the AP writers are the *worst* when it comes to smearing Clark! I mean, if somebody like Ceci Connolly is refuting it, you know it's too big a lie to run with (she was horrible to Gore).

I will write a letter... again... (I wrote three or four early in April when this reared its head last time.)

[Jane Austin]

9. kick!

n/t

[Bill of Rights]

7. I am at work right now

but I will write a letter for Wes Clark...and for you. You've been great.

I go by Lesbian from Minnesota on the Clark blog.

[robbedvoter]

10. Time to wipe the dust off all our knives - this is part two!

Joe Conason said the VRWC will not accept Clark as VP - they may lose the aura of "strength on security" and then what will they have left?

[FrenchieCat]

11. That's why Clark needs to be on the ticket.....

Because that not what the Repugs want.

Hope you all read those great letters. I am getting more and more!

[Tom Rinaldo]

12. Sorry this was late getting out, Better late than...

"I rarely write to complain about bias in the media, Lord knows one man's bias is another man's facts, but sloppy reporting ON TOP of bias is enough to put my fingers to the keyboard. Such is the case with an AP story that recently went out under Nedra Pickler's byline. Here is how it was headlined and reported, on Yahoo's news service: "Primaries Seen As VP Testing Ground". Fri May 14,10:56 AM ET.

It so happens that I care a great deal about Kerry's VP choice, and so I stay informed. Thus when I returned from a trip late today I was surprised to find a warmed over and debunked slur being passed off yet again as news in an AP report. It is as follows: "Clark's standing also is not helped by Kerry advisers' belief that the former general helped spread rumors that Kerry had had an affair with a young woman."

This time it is your own reporter who is guilty of spreading rumors, the false rumors about Wesley Clark that first surfaced in that paradigm of objective journalism, the Drudge Report. Those "rumors" about Clark's comments were long ago refuted by the very people in a position to know the truth; first hand sources. The latest debunking of that poison pen pill, was written by Ryan Lizza, who was physically present when Clark DIDN'T speak those fateful words. Quoting Lizza: "Clark did not spread any rumor about Kerry and a young woman. I've previously checked with other reporters who were there, and they have confirmed this." (Source; The New Republic On line, Campaign Journal May 15th 2004).

It is not a new revelation that the allegation is false. Campaign Desk, a Project of the Columbia Journalism Review at Columbia Graduate School School of Journalism, previously investigated the matter as well: http://www.cjr.org/blog/archives/cat_fact_check.asp#000194

So, knowing the true facts, I am forced to wonder why now, with Kerry's VP choice edging ever closer, has this falsehood been dredged up one more time? I hope it doesn't represent overt political bias against Wesley Clark, but it sure looks that way. Ms Pickler's comment (referring to Bob Graham and Wes Clark) "some candidates probably would be better off if they had never started their quixotic bids" strikes a decidedly off note. Quixotic? Perhaps in the case of Graham, but Clark's campaign had a profound effect on the course of this years Presidential election. Wes Clark almost single handedly stood between Howard Dean and the Democratic nomination at a time when Al Gore and much of the political mainstream were rushing to Dean's side. Or has the media forgotten last December, and January prior to Iowa? Clark's emphasis on the fallacy of Bush's Iraq policies was groundbreaking. He blazed the path that Kerry now follows.

It took John Kerry 7 months to get his sputtering Presidential campaign on track. It took Wes Clark 7 weeks, but those are the only weeks pundits choose to dwell on. There is a good reason why Wes Clark "was an impressive fund raiser". His message to America resonated. Clark's average donor contribution was far smaller than any major candidate other than Howard Dean. Indeed Clark drew on a broad base of supporters. After Clark defeated John Edwards in New Hampshire, despite massive amounts of free positive media given Edwards after Iowa and non stop talk about Clark "fading", it was Edwards who was crowned by the media as Kerry's main opponent, with Howard Dean on occasion propped up as the secondary threat. Clark was all but ignored.

Yet Wes Clark, when all is said and done, with no prior political experience and little time to organize, far outperformed Senators Bob Graham and Joe Lieberman, and ex House Minority leader Dick Gephardt. Clark ran stronger than Howard Dean in virtually all contests following New Hampshire, and stronger than John Edwards in most of the country outside of the South, where Clark still remained competitive. Clark read the writing on the wall that Edwards refused to see, and he closed ranks quickly with Kerry, while Edwards went on to lose another dozen or so races. In the course of which Edwards reaped, not ample numbers of delegates, but enhanced name recognition, which thrust him to the front of the public VP beauty pageant.

It is true that Wes Clark, with a skeleton staff and few funds in hand, did not immediately live up to the media's wildly overheated expectations for him during that first week following his entry into the Presidential race. For that "sin", it seems, Clark was never forgiven by the Press. Now might be a good time to acknowledge the importance, and potency, of Wes Clark's contribution to his Party and his nation during this Presidential Election year.

Sincerely

Tom Rinaldo"

[katusha]

13. just want to add another DU thread

to this about a hit piece on Clark's demo radio address from the Arkansas democrat gazette

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=1608586

Of politics and war
Different war, different Wes Clark

DOING HIS bit to demoralize the troops, retired General Wesley Clark has gone after the commander-in-chief again. He may be a retired general but he's still an active pol, so he got to give the Democrats' response to the president's weekly radio address last Saturday. And he used the time to say that George W. Bush has "made mistake after mistake as commander-in chief, taking us into a war we didn't have to wage, alone and under false pretenses, and is now managing it poorly."
Similar charges could have been made, and were, against another war waged without the support of the United Nations--the one against Serbia not long ago.

[Spazito]

14. This is the typical stuff the Sobodan Milosevic apologists put out...

it is the same stuff that was put out during Clark's run for the nomination, nothing new here.

[Leilani]

15. Hey, Frenchie!

Thanks for the great job you are doing for Wes.

I saw the Chris Matthews Show today...the one on CNBC, & the panelists were talking about Wes for Veep. Matthews asked if anyone knew if Clark had spread those rumors about Kerry. Not one of the panelists answered that question, so it was left hanging.

I have emailed Matthews several times about this matter, but thought you would like to know. Maybe you could send copies of all your letters to Matthews.

[FrenchieCat]

16. Done.....

check out my call to action and my letter to Chris Matthews on my new blog entry....
http://frenchiecat.forclark.com/story/2004/5/17/132814/385

Dear Chris Matthews,
Why the needless question concerning the long ago debunked rumor regarding Gen. Clark passing a Rumor about Senator Kerry, on your Sunday show? You, of all political commentators, should know that the mere mention of this rumor makes you guilty of passing this unsubstantiated rumor.

Why don't you read up on the facts of this ridiculous tidbit that journalists keep passing to each other (and in the process to the public) and announce that it was just that, a rumor, and more importantly that it has been proven false.

Here are the facts that you need to do the job that you should have done on Sunday, but elected, for whatever reason not to:
Sincerely,

http://www.campaigndesk.org/archives/000543.asp
Fact Check
May 14, 2004
In the Dark on Wesley Clark

In a piece today that looks at several of John Kerry's choices for a running-mate, Nedra Pickler of the Associated Press writes, " Clark's standing also is not helped by Kerry advisers' belief that the former general helped spread rumors that Kerry had had an affair with a young woman."

But as the New Republic's Ryan Lizza -- who was in the room when Clark made the comments in question - pointed out three months ago, there just isn't anything to the Drudge Report-fueled notion that Clark floated the rumor about Kerry having an affair. Inspired by Pickler's piece, Lizza, writing today on his New Republic blog, again affirms Clark's innocence.

Pickler's phrasing may technically be accurate: Some Kerry advisers (those who don't read the New Republic, perhaps) may continue to believe that Clark helped spread the rumor. But given that it appears he didn't, is it too much to ask of the AP to point that out?

--Z.R.
http://www.tnr.com/blog/campaignjournal?pid=1655

"Maybe Kerry's aides have additional evidence of Clark spreading the rumors about an affair, but as far as I know it's a false accusation. I believe the birth of this story is a bizarre press conference Clark had at a deli in Nashville on the day of the February 10 Tennessee primary. I was there that day, as were at least a dozen other reporters, and the whole thing was captured on video by more than one person. What happened was that reporters were dogging Clark with questions about when he was going to drop out of the race. He didn't quite snap, but Clark got a little frustrated and made some terse comments about why he was staying in. Then he told us that what he had just said was off the record. It's a close call as to whether any of us there have a responsibility to treat his comments as such, but I'm not breaking any rules by reporting that Clark did not spread any rumor about Kerry and a young woman. I've previously checked with other reporters who were there, and they have confirmed this. If I'm wrong, the videotape is out there somewhere."

And Cece Connolly on Fox disavowed the rumor as well:

This little bit of a transcript from Ceci Connolly on Fox News on 5/15/04 :

JUAN WILLIAMS: Now, let me just say that Democrats, including the man who endorsed this week, General Wesley Clark, was overheard saying, "Oh, you know, Kerry's campaign is going to implode over an intern," that kind of thing. That adds to it. And I think--

CONNOLLY: You know, what, though? That's not accurate. That's not accurate. That's the way that Drudge reported that supposed off-the-record conversation. But I've spoken to reporters who were there, and that's not even what General Clark accused. It was something far more peripheral, and it was pinned to a tabloid.

THE INFORMATION ABOVE WAS GENERATED ON 5/14 AND 5/15....THE BELOW INFORMATION WAS GENERATED SHORTLY AFTER THE RUMOR OF THE RUMOR WAS STARTED. A RUMOR THAT EVEN DRUDGE REMOVED FROM HIS WEBSITE THE SAME DAY THE PUBLISHED IT.


The Campaign Desk, a Project of the Columbia Journalism Review at Columbia Graduate School School of Journalism, had investigated the matter and had written about it back in February....when the rumor of the rumor made it to the pages of Newsweek CW.
http://www.cjr.org/blog/archives/cat_fact_check.asp#000194

Ryan Lissa, of the New Republic, who was present, published the following report a short time after the alleged incident that gave life to the rumor of the rumor:
http://www.tnr.com/blog/campaignjournal?pid=1337

Nick Confessore comments:
http://www.prospect.org/weblog/

Amy Sullivan (Political Aims) comments,
http://www.politicalaims.com/

and
Joe Conason (Salon) also wrote a de-bunking of the Drudge rumor, including background information as to his motivation and goal:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2004/02/13/drudge/index_np.html

[FrenchieCat]

17. Also see letters to Boston Globe........

for repeating the garbage......This is an all out assault! The Republican Mean Machine just doesn't want the one that could do them harm to be on the ticket. It's so evident.

Here's the letter here, and link to again another blog entry....

http://frenchiecat.forclark.com/story/2004/5/18/134226/345

I was not "nice and kind", but I was civil as I called a spade a spade...
I wrote this letter to Mr. Canellos over at the Boston Globe. I copied the Globe Ombusdman , Globe Letters to the Editor, and Campaign Desk:
Email addresses:
[e-mail] Letters to the Editor
[e-mail] The Globe Ombudsman
[e-mail] Mr. Canellos
[e-mail] Mr. Steven Lovelady at Campaign Desk
[e-mail] Campaign Desk "Tips"
Dear Peter S. Canellos,

I read your article titled, "in Kerry veepstakes, Clark is the wild card" http://tinyurl.com/2lmfy, and found it interesting and somewhat insightful until I read your following opinion lines, "Then the last days of his campaign, Clark reportedly told a few reporters he was hanging on because he heard Kerry might be exposed as having had an affair with an intern. The affair never materialized, but Clark may have revealed a problem of his own, not being able to keep his mouth shut", and "he showed his worst colors in dealing with Kerry, beginning when he tried to pull rank in New Hampshire by pointing out that he was a general and Kerry merely a lieutenant."

First, I am utterly dismayed that you could repeat the Drudge originated rumor without any substantiation and write it as fact. It is truly appalling that, as a journalist, you allow yourself to make unproven and inaccurate negative character assessment (Clark revealed that he is unable to keep his mouth shut) of one of the greatest patriots of our nation based on unfounded second hand discredited heresy.

Second, the General vs. the Lieutenant line originated via Senator Dole who chided General Clark on CNN the night of the Iowa returns, calling Clark a loser who was really the Lieutenant of politics while John Kerry was the General. Surprised by the sarcastic and somewhat offensive "I was just kidding (wink-wink, nod-nod)" Dole comment, General Clark, who had not even contested Iowa, laughingly replied with the statement that he was the General and Kerry was the Lieutenant, a correct assertion based on fact (Hel-lo?) The Press corp., always scraping for whatever train wreck they can eek out, took this factual statement, left out the context and Senator Dole's participation and ruthlessly ran with it, distorting it on the way.

I am becoming very much discouraged at the level of rumor mongering that goes on within this nation's press corp. I had heard rumblings that the profession of mainstream journalism had sunk to Enquirer swamp creature journalistic status, but did not want to believe it. However, it pains me to say, you have provided me with ample confirmation that it is so.

Below, please find well attributed rebukes for the "Clark said this about Kerry" rumor currently being spread like wildfire by unethical or "why should I research?" writers. Your article was almost a good read, but the insertion of falsehoods and misleading reporting leads me to believe that General Clark is still going through "harsh media vetting" of the lowest sort.

My bottomline questions to you are, why are you ignoring the documented first hand denials of the rumor and spreading it yourself? Why are you leaving out the context of General Clark's General vs. Lieutenant comment? What is your motivation, and what is the goal? Unless I get a reasonable response from you, I will find it impossible to believe anything that you write in the future. As of today, you have definitely lost this reader's faith.

Respectfully for now,

also attached here the back up links to the facts.....