I can't believe Clark said this...

[RoeBear]

"If I'm president of the United States, I'm going to take care of the American people," Clark said in a meeting with the Monitor editorial board. "We are not going to have one of these incidents."

http://concordmonitor.com/stories/front2004/clark010904_2004.shtml

This can't be good for his campaign.

[Jack_Dawson]

1. Dupe - and Lame attempt at smear

[wyldwolf]

2. I think it's great for his campaign

[w13rd0]

3. Why aren't we going to have one of those incidents?

Is he going to just go ahead and blow everyone else up? Or just the people that disagree with him?

[Turkw]

51. We aren't going to have one of these incidents because Clark will not take

a Month long vacation after spending a year ignoring what is recognized as the biggest threat to America, like Bush did!

[arewethereyet]

53. you do realize that the government doesn't shut down 4 vacations

right ?

And just to make sure, you do also realize that other people actually perform all those things that government does.

Oh and the president is available should anything that requires his direct attention comes up and that he actually is in daily contact even while on vacation ?

That being covered, how is it that General Clark, who would only have so much input to anything the Pentagon does as a CIC, what specifically would he do differently ?

I've tried to listen carefully for this but I have yet to hear any details that would give me something with which to judge. I realize that I can't catch everything so if he has spelled anything out, please provide a synopsis.

[jpgpenn]

4. I can't believe you posted it!

seeing as a all in out smear isn't allowed at DU.

[RoeBear]

12. What smear?

I posted from a legitimate news source quoting Clark.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

5. He SHOULD say that. Why do you have a problem with it.....

n/t

[slor]

6. Sounds good to me...

and it is a hell of a lot better than some idiot claiming to be protecting us after dropping (and maybe even throwing) the ball on 9/11! The only thing he is protecting are corporate interests!

[xcentrik]

7. Yeah, he should have said...

"If I'm president, we're all gonna die! Die, I tells ya!"

[moz4prez]

14. LOL, just imagine it!

that post made my day :)

[jmaier]

8. I can't believe that you posted this

No, wait. I guess I can. There is no requirement here to exercise good judgment. :-)



Wes Clark. He will make an extraordinary American President.

[Hep]

9. It's easy enough to promise.

If this had been Dean, there would be a dozen threads about it talking about another gaffe.

But Clark is right. He just didn't phrase it very well. He should have said, "I'm going to dedicate my administration to preventing future attacks however we can. I believe that we can be successful at preventing ANY attacks on our soil"

I know that this is what Clark was saying, and I think he is right. But he didn't have to be so cocky about it. I won't begrudge him, but to say that had it been Dean, we'd already have seen a bunch of threads about it.

[returnable]

23. Well, it was Clark...

...and we've already seen a bunch of threads about it, too. So it works both ways :hi:

Anyway, I agree with you - he could've phrased it better, but anyone following his campaign knows a big theme has been this administration's failure to deal with pre-9/11 intelligence failures.

:toast:

[returnable]

38. For example...

...here's another one that just popped up:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=91317

[absyntheNsugar]

10. I think he means he might

do stuff like fund our emergency response teams, actually use the intelligence data collected, not pander to the Saudis.

You know, the stuff Bush would do if he were really concerned about National Security.

I don't see any cause for alarm - I don't want to see another one of those incidents either - do you?

[mot78]

11. How will this hurt him?

I don't like complacency either, but this seems like a desperate smear on your part.

[RoeBear]

19. Why is everyone jumping on me and using the word...

...smear?

To answer your question: "How will this hurt him?"

Read this quote again: Clark- "We are not going to have one of these incidents."

How can he possibly guarantee this?

[Fleshdancer]

35. I'm wondering the same thing

Perhaps the Clark campaign should give us a list of acceptable and unacceptable Clark quotes we can discuss. :eyes:

[sandnsea]

43. Because it works

Happened to me last night. I just wanted to know what Clark thinks about Reagan's actual presidency, particularly the 80's proxy wars. I was immediately an attacker. Can't discuss issues when it comes to Clark either I guess. :shrug:

[JVS]

45. Because you don't dominate GD 2004 by being nice.

You have to be rude and overbearing to drive away the non-supporters. Then you and your candidate are king! Go into another forum and you'll see all the refuges.

[Bread and Circus]

13. I'm damn glad he said it! Confidence! Boldness! Positivity!

Anyway, I think he is referring to having a major catastrophe
like 9/11 while being asleep at the wheel like Bush did.

Bush took a month off at the ranch Aug 2001 and ignored Clinton's
plans laid out for him for 9 months.

Kudos to Clark and boo to lame attempts to smear him.

This is not a gaffe, this is a good move.

[TheMiddleRoad]

36. Asleep ????

Anyway, I think he is referring to having a major catastrophe
like 9/11 while being asleep at the wheel like Bush did.

Don't you mean DRUNK behind the wheel. Drunk with power and influence.

I thought the revelation that Ashcroft switched to private charters would have sunk in to the American people. The Republican spin machine truly is formidable.

[maddezmom]

15. if anyone of the dems had the inside info that bushco* had

I wonder if it could have been avoided. They knew enough not to fly on commercial airliners. There is so much info that we don't know about.

[SahaleArm]

16. The best line of the night - Nullifies Bush's fear tactics

"I think the two greatest lies that have been told in the last three years are: You couldn't have prevented 9/11 and there's another one that's bound to happen."

[killbotfactory]

17. Clark shouldn't write checks his ass can't cash...

He's promising the impossible.

[SahaleArm]

18. Terror, Terror, Terrorism, We're all gonna die - Happy holidays n/t

[killbotfactory]

22. When is he going to promise and end to poverty and disease?

How about earthquakes?

What a dumb thing to say.

[SahaleArm]

27. Yes it's better to say 'When I'm president you'll all be less safe'...

It's certainly an idea the Dean campaign should use.

[killbotfactory]

34. You're right. It's much better to promise the impossible...

And let people think you're full of shit.

What's next? "Clark declared end to death and taxes"

[SahaleArm]

37. Fear is the greatest enemy n/t

[killbotfactory]

39. Who's in fear?

Not me. I'm just not retarded and realize we can't prevent all bad things from happening.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

54. And here I thought you were retarded!

My apologies!

Must be someone(s) else.

[slinkerwink]

21. like "You don't have to read my lips, I'm telling you no new taxes!"

and that's going to be spun by the Bush team as a "tax raise" on the middle class if Clark can't deliver on his promise.

[SahaleArm]

25. When Bush runs in '08 against President Clark? n/t

[SahaleArm]

26. *nt*

[in_cog_ni_to]

20. There's another thread

on this where it's all been explained. Maybe you can search that thread for your answers?

[Cheswick2.0]

24. poor judgement

How can he make a promise like that? He needs to be more careful about this type of statement. He can't defend it unless he says that he beleives in LIHOP. To claim it is incompitance, he has to be able to show how he would do things differently and the truth is that he won't.
If he gets the nomination this could kill us. The people that he is trying to impress are voting for bush. He's not going to change that.

[SahaleArm]

28. Sad to see so many Dean supporters scraping for dirt n/t

[weave]

29. leadership

this is one of clarks biggest attributes. this is what he will bring to the white house. the way he will conduct foreign policy and have our nat. defense ready is what this statement is about.

[Name removed]

30. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[SahaleArm]

32. A new low - pulling out the Nazi quotes? n/t

[JVS]

42. Just pulling out the stupid "I can prevent any attack" quotes

[WillyBrandt]

44. You're using NAZI QUOTES to attack Clark

What a low, low thing to do

[JVS]

46. See 42

Sorry, best quote expressing the same hubris that clark expressed that I can find. Maybe you would like to find a more relevant quotation to what Clark had to say?

[JVS]

47. Here is another one that is not from a Nazi.

"The bomber will always get through. The only defence is in offence, which means that you have to kill more women and children more quickly than the enemy if you want to save yourselves." — Stanley Baldwin, British Prime Minister, House of Commons speech 10 November 1932

I certainly hope that Clark won't adopt such a stance to prevent terrorist attacks on Americans, but given his actions in the Nato air campaign in Kosovo I fear that is not the case.

Is that better?

[depakid]

31. An unrealistic thing to say, but no big deal

After all, he's a 4 star general and that's the sort of confidence that they're been trained to exude. Much ado about nothing, if you ask me....

[hedda_foil]

33. In its own way, this could be as tempting to terrorists et al

as Bush's "Bring it On." Saying there positively WON'T be a terrorist attack on his watch is like saying "nyah, nyah, nyah, I double-damn dare ya!" Certainly, any of our candidates will be able to keep the country safer than * but there aren't and can't be any guarantees. It's a real mis-step in my opinion.

[JVS]

48. Good point

[meti57b]

40. If Clark is president, we will have a lot better chance of ...

not having one of those incidents, than we had with bush, that's for certain!!

We will even get some strategic thinking on real "homeland security", like protecting nuclear power plants, securing our ports and providing adequate funding and resources for emergency response in our cities.

[damnraddem]

41. About time!

All of the Dems need to speak out on Dubya's asleep-at-the-switch efforts before 9/11.

[burning bush]

49. WAKE UP CLARK SUPPORTERS!

for crying out loud! This was a STUPID thing to say!

How can Clark EVER deliver? And, if he IS elected, and something DOES happen on his watch, he'll be FRIED for his rhetoric!

Let's put aside Clark vs ANY OTHER DEM for a moment, and think about the future.

Never make a promiss that you can't keep. My 10 year old son knows that, and apparently knows it better than Wesley K. Clark.

Somebody on Clark's team send the man a memo, get him up to speed on domestic politics, ok?

[SahaleArm]

50. If the nominee runs on the fear of what may happen after the election...

then they are already toast.

[candy331]

52. Clark may have to come back and eat that

comment. I don't believe anyone can gurantee nor should should make a promise like that surely it is fodder for your opposers.