Gen. Weasley Wesley Clark, acting as a disreputable surrogate for Barack Obamas campaign, invoked John McCains military service against him in one of the more personal attacks on the Republican presidential nominee this election cycle.
For some strange reason Obama and Axelrod think they can do a reverse-Swift-Boat on John McCain. It's not going to work, and it's just going to drive the center away from them.
Clark said that McCain lacked the executive experience necessary to be president, calling him untested and untried on CBS Face the Nation. And in saying so, he took a few swipes at McCains military service. After saying, "I certainly honor his service as a prisoner of war. He was a hero to me and to hundreds of thousands and millions of others in the armed forces, as a prisoner of war," he added that these experiences in no way qualify McCain to be president in his view:
Being a goof-ball general doesn't qualify you to be president, either ...
He has been a voice on the Senate Armed Services Committee. And he has traveled all over the world. But he hasn't held executive responsibility. That large squadron in the Navy that he commanded that wasn't a wartime squadron, Clark said.
It's hard to hold executive responsibility in preparation to be president. Being a governor is being an executive, but Bill Clinton proved it wasn't sufficient. Being a big-city mayor likewise isn't the same. There's really no one job that prepares you to be president other than the job of life. Say what you want about McCain, he's done a number of things in his life, and added together pro'ly make him ready to do the job. At least compared to someone who was a 'community organizer', lawyer, state senator, and partial-one-term US senator.
I dont think getting in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to become president.
I wonder if he says that around other military people. It was McCain's bad luck to be shot down, just as for every other fellow who was wounded or killed. You'd think a general would understand that and not impugn the sacrifice of another military person. You'd think.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/30/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Uh - so I guess being a mumbling, misinformed, cowardly, inexperienced part-term senator with no executive experience and an SUV full of bizarre and distasteful mentors/friends/allies prepares you to be prez? Does the Lion of Pristina Airport realize what the obvious logical implication is here for his own pathetic candidate? So long as McCain stomps the twink from Chicago and then avoids causing too much damage in his own right, this election could be even funnier than the last one.
#2
I've never landed a jet - at night - during a rainstorm - onto the deck of an air craft carrier underway. I probably can't imagine the actual complexity and pucker-factor involved in doing that. But - if I need someone to handle serious responsibilities in a crisis (or handle an in-flight malfunction that threatens my commercial airliner) - I think I'll take the decorated naval carrier pilot over the "community organizer."
There are certainly experience profiles that could beat John McCain's in terms of executive experience. George H.W. Bush probably had about the best conceivable resume. But - Obamaa's resume is utterly embarrassing in its astonishingly thin content with respect to anything even remotely approaching relevant experience for running the world's lone Superpower.
I loathe General Clark (despite sharing the same undergraduate Alma Mater), but I would put his experience profile light years ahead of Obama.
Frankly, I wouldn't even consider Obama for mayor of a large city - he has shown me nothing that suggests executive competence.
I relish the thought of the election coming down to comparing the relevant leadership and executive experience of the two candidates. Hussein isn't even in the same ballpark.
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/30/2008 5:53 Comments ||
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#5
He is responsible for our mess in the Balskans, the crappy ops there, etc.
I know people who served under this jerk.
They didn't call him "Weasel-y" for nothing.
And any vet that would attack a brother in this fashion is showing just the kind of Buddy F'er he was in the service.
Dishonest, untrustworthy, arrogant and ignorant are all terms that come to mind when you mention this asshat to me.
What a scumbag.
On top of that Clark is such a f-up that he got fired by CLINTON! This guy was relieved for INCOMPETENCE, and yet Obama the idiot uses him for a military advisor.
If what McCain went through as a unit commander, and as a combat pilot and a POW isnt good enough, then where the hell does it leave Obama, who has never held a REAL job?
I hope the weasel is ready to join the body count under the Obama bus, because that's where he is going to be thrown. Getting crowded down there.
#10
Frankly, I wouldn't even consider Obama for mayor of a large city - he has shown me nothing that suggests executive competence.
Which at least qualifies him for New Orleans doesn't it? How would the locals be able to tell the difference?
Mr. Clark demonstrates the problem of our systems, their ability to be played and gamed in the climb up the executive ladder. It's damn hard to discern managers from leaders in peacetime. When something other than peacetime is involved, the reluctance of adjusting the system to identify leaders and to ruthlessly sack all others from positions of leadership responsibility is a chronic organizational shortcoming.
But farther to the leftand among some of McCain's conservative enemies as wellharsher attacks are circulating. Critics have accused McCain of war crimes for bombing targets in Hanoi in the 1960s.
Then there is this classic invocation of the Myth:
The newsletter CounterPunch published this April an article by Doug Valentine headed "Meet the Real John McCain: North Vietnam's Go-To Collaborator."
Valentine suggested McCain contemplated suicidesomething the candidate has written about, and attributed in part to his guilt at not withstanding torturebecause he was a "war criminal" whose bombs fell on civilians.
Finally, some undiluted Radio Hanoi propaganda from that period:
"I wouldn't characterize anybody who fought in Vietnam as a war hero," said Medea Benjamin, a co-founder of the theatrical anti-war group Code Pink. "In 23 bombing sorties, there must have been civilians that were killed and there's no heroism to that."
"Anyone who can't look back and admit how wrong it was to be in Vietnam and be killing civilians deserves to be challenged," she said, though she stressed that her group is more focused on McCain's present support for the war in Iraq than on his past.
Noam Chomsky, the linguist and activist, said in an email that he thought Americans should question the relevance of McCain's torture in an unjust war to his campaign.
"The questions could scarcely even be understood within the reigning intellectual and moral culturethough I don't doubt that much of the population would understand," Chomsky said.
You're right, Choms - very few people do understand you.
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/30/2008 10:56 Comments ||
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#14
BTW,
"'I wouldn't characterize anybody who fought in Vietnam as a war hero,' said Medea Benjamin"
I wouldn't spit on this pig if her ass were on fire.
There is still time to settle accounts with many of the Vietnam era traitors, though probably not Kennedy (we know about), Chomsky (age 78), or Cronkite(90).
In ten years, maybe less, the power of the media-industrial complex and its stereotyped 60s cultural paradigm will have declined to the point at which real action is possible.
#15
Frankly, I wouldn't even consider Obama for mayor of a large city - he has shown me nothing that suggests executive competence.
Don't know about that, if you were one of his cronies, you would be on a nice little earner, especially if your credentials were that of former civil rights activist - a bit like being a community organiser.
Contrast John McCain's conduct to that of Wesley Clark. During the 1990s, Clark and other Clinton Administration envoys envoys met with notorious Serbian leaders, including General Ratko Mladic, leader of the Bosnia Serb Army, and a wanted war criminal. By various accounts, Mladic was responsible for the deaths of thousands of Muslims and Croat civilians.
During one highly-publicized meeting Mladic and Clark, all smiles, gladly exchanged hats, and posed for photographers. It was a particularly shameful moment, one that General Clark never mentions. Making matters worse (if that's possible), the infamous "hat-swap" meeting, which occurred in 1994, was not officially authorized. "It's like cavorting with Hermann Goering" one U.S. official complained at the time.
To our knowledge, General Clark has never apologized for that meeting--or his feckless conduct. And, quite predictably, Clark's friends in the MSM have never called him on it.
#21
The absolutely hilarious point of this incident is that ANY 'bambi supporter has the chutzpah to criticize ANYONE as being too lacking in executive experience.
Jeez Louise on a shingle 'bambi is the DEFINITION of inexperienced!!!!!!! (I looked up "inexperienced" in the OED and there was 'bambi's picture, honestly)
#25
Obama said that patriotism "must, if it is to mean anything, involve the willingness to sacrifice" and sought to distance himself from Clark's remarks without mentioning them."For those like John McCain who have endured physical torment in service to our country no further proof of such sacrifice is necessary," Obama said. "And let me also add that no one should ever devalue that service, especially for the sake of a political campaign, and that goes for supporters on both sides."
#31
I find it interesting that BO has Clark make this comment allowing it to soak in with folks before he comes out and speaks against it making himself appear a real stand up guy, yes throwing Clark under the bus. What an A**hole.
Obama will have to have a fleet of buses with his antics.
We are so very screwed with either choice this coming election, God save us all. It'll be interesting who the VP candidates will be.
I'm usually a very positive person, but have been feeling so sulky and feeling OMG scared actually.
This has gone way beyond blood pressure medicine, with so much hanging in the balance and our future looking at these choices is so unbelievable. Bourbon helps, f*** the blood pressure medicine.
Posted by: Jan ||
06/30/2008 23:41 Comments ||
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Congress voted Thursday night to remove Nelson Mandela, the former South African president who helped end apartheid, from a watch list of potential terrorists that had precluded his unencumbered travel into the US.
Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), who co-sponsored the legislation in the Senate, praised Congress's actions Friday. 'In recognition of his ninetieth birthday this summer, Nelson Mandela is again honored as one of the worlds strongest voices for human dignity and courage in the face of oppression. Today the United States moved closer at last to removing the great shame of dishonoring this great leader by including him on our governments terror watch list,' Kerry said.
Mandela turned 90 on Friday.
The activist was on the watch list because of activities he undertook with the African National Congress against South Africa's apartheid regime many decades ago. Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years before being released in 1990. He became South Africa's president in 1994, the first year in which black South Africans could vote.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice recently said it was 'embarrassing' to still have Mandela's name on the watch list. The bill to de-list him is now headed to President Bush's desk.
Nelson Mandela served as a beacon for freedom and democracy during a dark time in the history of South Africa. I am pleased that we have finally passed legislation that will honor his commitment and sacrifices by lifting dishonorable travel restrictions imposed upon him and other members of the African National Congress,' said Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), another co-sponsor of the Senate bill. 'What we have done today is the right and just thing to do.'
Posted by: john frum ||
06/30/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), who co-sponsored the legislation in the Senate...
So, Jawn, now that you've learned how to do it, how about you sponsor some legislation that does something that benefits your constituents?
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
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