The LANDSLIDE answer to the most intense Swiftboat campaign the RW machine has ever attempted:

[Faryn Balyncd]

(. . . and which, by the way, will turn Virginia, North Carolina, and several other states permanently blue.)

[Amy6627]

1. I totally agree! But what about Wes endorsing HRC? n/t

[rucky]

2. No biggie.

Edwards didn't endorse Kerry, either.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

3. That would be a good thing.

It'd unite Clinton supporters with the Obama campaign. It's highly likely Obama will pick an Obama supporter.

That said, Clark may have shat in his own nest when he disparaged Obama as a potential commander-in-chief.

[Tom Rinaldo]

6. That could easily be truned to Obama's advantage

Clark could say "Look, I devoted my life to defending this nation. I take National Security very very seriously. I know Hillary Clinton personally and I knew she had what it takes to keep America safe, and I was comfortable endorsing her for that reason. But since then I've had a chance to spend more time with Senator Obama, and we've had some deep and far ranging discussions about national security. I would never have agreed to be his running mate if I did not fully believe that Barack Obama was now the right choice for America. America's security means far more to me than mere politics. I am proud to support Senator Obama for President. He has the wisdom and the judgment needed to steer our nation through difficult waters ahead. And he has the good sense needed to surround him self with the best advisers possible (smile)"

[patrice]

4. I know some who think Wes Clark is kind of a "beauty queen" = going to have to work on that. nt

[DevonRex]

5. ITA. nt

[roguevalley]

7. my dream ticket. SIGH!

[blm]

8. Nope - Clark already CREATED a huge problem by attacking Obama himself in many appearances

where he led Hillary's fight against Obama and his credentials to be commander-in-chief.

AIN'T gonna happen.

And swiftboating is about LYING en masse to smear a candidate.

Clark joined the Clinton swiftboaters against Obama long ago.

[Tom Rinaldo]

12. We do differ on this obviously

And I offered some thoughts about your concern above. When Clark dropped out from directly running against John Kerry and John Edwards for President in 2004, there was NO ONE who worked harder for the Kerry-Edwards ticket that Summer/Fall than Wes Clark. At root Clark said nothing toward Obama worse than saying he had reasons to be more confident in Hillary Clinton's ability to be Commander in Chief. There are dust ups between competing candidates over policies and relevant experience all of the time, but the Party unites and people who said less than flattering things about each other work splendidly together toward the common Democratic good. When all else fails there is always that golden fall back "I was commenting about the difference between two good Democratic candidates then, but now America is choosing between a Democrat who is right on the issues and priorities facing our nation, and a Republican who is wrong".

George Bush Sr called out Ronald Reagan for "Voo Doo Economics" but went on to serve as a very effective running mate for Bush against Dukakis.

[blm]

15. You cannot seriously expect today's corporate media and RNC would show the restraint used in 1980?

Seriously, Tom?

[Nickster]

9. Heck, I thought Kerry should have picked Gen'l Clark for his VP. So I can get behind this ticket.

[stahbrett]

10. Don't see it happening - Clark attacked Obama too harshly, in my opinion (nt)

[ps1074]

11. Not Clark

He's said Obama lacks the experience to be president.

[dogday]

13. I would hold off on that most intense swift-boating until after

the election.... Remember October surprise? that is what scares me....

[delt664]

14. To everyone saying it could never happen....

It would be a good step towards healing the Democratic party after a rather bumpy nomination process. I think Obama is the kind of man who is interested in turning former opponents into allies. And it would be good to get some even-handed military experience in the white house.

[patrice]

17. And it would be a CHANGE from the politics of the past. nt

[BklynChick]

16. perfect

[weeve]

18. Has anyone else noticed ...

... that many of the hawks here who now realize that their #1 gal doesn't stand a chance, are now pushing the idea of a conservative (military) VP choice for Obama. Yesterday there was some thread listing 15 or so VP choices, and they all were far to the right of Obama. Obama has proven that a liberal voting record CAN inspire the majority ( or at least not turn them away ). There's no reason to tack towards the middle (or right).

In my opinion, Obama needs to put someone at least as liberal on the ticket ( if for no other reason than as Life Insurance ... they're not going to take you down if your #2 is ideologically just the same ). Feingold, Boxer, Edwards, hell... even Gore (if he can convince him)would all make great choices!

Keep an eye out and be vigilant for the corportae media ( and righties in disguise here ) to be pushing these middle-to-right VP choices. Have we learned NOTHING from Al Gore's greatest mistake ... putting Lieberman on his ticket ?!?

After five years of a tragic unnecessary WAR, and the military industrial complex ( and the networks they run ) becoming more powerful by the day, we CERTAINLY don't need a military man on the ticket. For whatever their good points, Clark, Webb and others are just too beholden to the military powers that be. ( As is Hillary, so scratch her from the list too. ) Stay Left Barack !!

[Faryn Balyncd]

20. Are you seriously attempting to classify Clark & Webb supporters as hawks?

My largest question about Obama have been whether he is sufficiently antiwar. I support him now primarily because he is the most antiwar of the surviving candidates.

Hillary is not only NOT my "#1 gal", she has always been my LAST choice among all the Democratic candidates.

As for Webb, while Sen. Webb won every single county in Virginia that had a military installation, he did so by being one of the most articulate, convincing and consistent opponents of the war in our party. And upon being elected, took his populist message addressing class struggle in America directly into the mouth of the beast, on the pages of the Wall Street Journal.

Obama, Clark, and Webb are all part of the solution.

Considering them moles for the military industrial complex undermines our struggle with the true militarists.

Mentioning Clark and Webb is the same breath as Benedict Lieberman calls for an apology.


:kick:

[Tom Rinaldo]

21. Clark has genuine netroots support for progressive reasons

I doubt you will find a more ardent Obama supporter on DU than FrenchieCat, so you might be interested in reading this entry she has posted on a personal blog she started last year about Clark. It deals with his relationship with the Military Industrial Complex which is why I suggest it:

What Wes Clark said about the MIC - Military Industrial Complex
Radio Interview with Laura Knoy:
http://www.nhpr.org/node/5339

"I think General Eisenhower was exactly right. I think we should be concerned about the military industrial complex. I think if you look at where the country is today, you've consolidated all these defense firms into a few large firms, like Halliburton, with contacts and contracts at the highest level of government. You've got most of the retired Generals, are one way or another, associated with the defense firms. That's the reason that you'll find very few of them speaking out in any public way. I'm not. When I got out I determined I wasn't going to sell arms, I was going to do as little as possible with the Defense Department, because I just figured it was time to make a new start.

But I think that the military industrial complex does wield a lot of influence. I'd like to see us create a different complex, and I'm going to be talking about foreign policy in a major speech tomorrow, but we need to create an agency that is not about waging war, but about creating the conditions for Peace around the world. We need some people who will be advocates for Peace, advocates for economic development not just advocates for better weapons systems. So we need to create countervailing power to the military industrial complex."


Clark: Don't spare Pentagon
http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/09/25/elec04.prez.debate/
"We're faced with a very serious deficit problem. We need to keep the--we need to go back to the top 2 percent and repeal those tax cuts. We need to put all the government spending programs on the table, including the military programs. We need to then have no new programs unless you can pay as you go. And then we need a simpler, fairer, more progressive tax code. "

http://www.rapidfire-silverbullets.com/clarks_views_on_the_mic_pnac_t/

edited to fix link

[weeve]

22. So if Hillary can't be VP ...

... then Obama should nominate one of her biggest supporters ?

One who ( based on his own words ) does not foresee us leaving Iraq anytime soon ...



Ed Schultz radio show 6/18/07

Ed Schultz: General Wesley Clark here on the Ed Schultz Show. The website is securingamerica.com. General Clark, if things won’t improve by September, this means that the Congress is going to have to go back and fund, continually fund these operations. Is that correct?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, I think even if it does improve in September, the Congress is going to continue to have to fund the operations.

Ed Schultz: We’re going to have this vote all over again then. Aren’t we?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: We’re going to have this vote for the next few years unless something catastrophic happens that causes us to reconsider and pull the plug on the whole operation.

Ed Schultz: If we were to do that, pull the plug on the whole operation, what’s your prediction as to what would happen, General Clark?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: We’d, um, we, we’d have a hard time disengaging from the region, Ed. We’ve got security responsibilities to the Gulf States. We’ve got Security interests with Israel. We’ve got friends in Lebanon. We’ve got many different issues that are effected by the outcome in Iraq. So, If we pull the plug on the operation, you could probably physically remove the troops in six to eight months in good order.

If you saw a larger war go, would you want to be back in? How ’bout if you saw Al Qaeda taking over provinces? How ’bout if you saw the collapse in the West Bank and aid flowing in through Syria from Iran and a corridor being cut across Iran, across Iraq by the Iranians to facilitate that, and you saw widespread deployment of, let’s say, Iranian Revolutionary Guards inside Iraq, would you want to be back in at that point? And so, I, there’s so many unpredictables in this that I’m one of those who’s counseled against just getting frustrated and pulling the plug.

I wouldnt’ve gone in in the first place. It was a huge strategic mistake. We have to find the right way to back out of this.

Ed Schultz: And doing that is almost impossible in your opinion. So, we’re, we’re in it, and we got to make the best of it somehow. And the best thing we can have happen is for the Iraqis to a-accept what’s going on governmentally and get involved in the process and, and Americans are feeling like that’s a pipe dream at this point. How could we have gotten all of this so wrong? And I’m just hearing you, General, say that, you know, we’re so, we’re into this so thick it- there are just few options that we have at this point.

[Tom Rinaldo]

23. Clark opposed Bush's Surge

That quote is from almost a year ago. Clark also called for starting to draw down our troops and backs the type of plan for Iraq now that both Obama and Clinton support.

It is way premature to have substantiative debates about possible VP candidates. I can respect that not everyone would put Clark on their list of people they hope may get that nod. I just think it is misleading to characterize him as a hawkish war monger. He was one of the first and loudest National Democrats to push for direct diplomacy with Iran for example.

[underpants]

19. Richardson

Clark is too much of a Hillary person for him to be asked...probably. There was some talk last night of not asking Hillary to be VP but one of her people so that could mean Clark.

Bill Richardson is a better pick.