Late-night campaign stop turns to potential embarrassment

After Wesley Clark and his staff spent Wednesday tempering comments Clark made about John Kerry, a nighttime campaign stop at a VFW hall turned into a potential embarrassment for the Clark campaign.

An introduction by a Vietnam veteran ripped Kerry, a fellow Vietnam veteran, for his war record and perceived lack of political experience. It was broadcast live on C-SPAN.

"John Kerry has had an extreme makeover in Iowa, he's gone from being a Boston-born man of privilege, a man of wealth -- to a man of the people," said Brian Hardy, a commander of a VFW post in Littleton.

After Kerry won a surprise victory in the Iowa caucuses, which Clark bypassed to focus on New Hampshire, Clark suggested that Kerry's experience as a Navy lieutenant could not match his own as a four-star general. He toned down his remarks Wednesday, saying he wasn't trying to distinguish between his rank and Kerry's.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2004/01/21/politics2150EST0800.DTL

...but I don't find these comments about Kerry too far off the mark, either.

but it wasnt Clark who came home and led a movement against an unjust war. Not dissing Clark but Kerry served honorably in Vietnam and got honors then came home and started a movement against that war.

So, I don't see any difference between Clark and Kerry on THIS issue. Both served in the military and both opposed US led wars. (Kerry=Vietnam, Clark=Iraq)

I guess if you want to split hairs, Clark didn't serve in the Iraq war. He wasn't in the military. But every time I saw him as a commentator on CNN he always stressed such action be a last resort.

...to include the following citation from his website:

"As a 25-year old Army captain in Vietnam, commanding a mechanized infantry company, Clark was on patrol in the jungle, looking for Viet Cong, when he was shot four times. Commanding his troops despite his wounds, he gave a series of orders, and his soldiers quickly overran the enemy positions. His bravery in battle earned him a Silver Star."

I've read citations that contained less in the way of heroic action and still earned those soldiers the Medal of Honor.

As far as what each individual decided to do after leaving Vietnam, that was 30-40 years ago depending on when you served. One came home to lead an anti-war movement, and the other stayed in the military in hopes of ensuring that we never having another Vietnam. I have no problem with the decisions made by either individual.

his way through another SOTU and nobody really cares.

I get so infuriated by the media blowing up these stupid, petty little comments that don't mean squat in the real world, while chimpy lies, people die, and nobody cares.

will be done to ALL our candidates. :grr:

eom

With an interestingly different angle:)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=160191

This is a non-story.

Wow, somebody who introduced him said something negative that he promptly squelched. Oooohhhhh...

further down in the article it says

After Clark delivered a well-received stump speech to more than 100 veterans and voters, he thanked Hardy for the introduction and quickly clarified his feelings on his rival.

"I consider (Kerry) a patriot, I consider him a distinguished senator, and I consider him a fine presidential candidate," Clark said. "It's up to the people of New Hampshire to draw a distinction between us."

I watched that on C-SPAN, and Clark looked a bit embarrassed when Hardy started ripping into Kerry. A number of people came up to him after the event and congratulated him on his graciousness about Kerry.

Kerry has ever been to him.

I think the media is really stretching here. How about they start lokking at BUSH LIES to focus on. God knows there are enough to keep them busy for years....

He refuses to feed the beast. He knows it's about winning the war--November, Bush--not the immediate battle. If you win the nomination in a way that leaves the party and the candidate wounded, you've blown it.

And in any case, I thought his earlier comment about "Lt' Kerry was perfectly within the bounds--he spoke respectfully but drew a distinction between his experience and Kerry's. If that's not okay, how the hell you gonna campaign at all?

Its the issues and leadership not irrelevent statements that can be and has been explained away.

eom.

He won in Iowa and now he has a huge target on his back. He is in one poll leading in NH, Kerry will be taking a lot of this heat now and it will turn up on Edwards also. I think some of it will decrease for Dean unless he wins NH. Clark is about to get his share because I think NH will put him into the thick of it. Liberman and Sharpton will soon drop out because they don't have any money and they are not picking up any steam. I think Kucinich will hold on till at least March 2. If there is no clear cut front runner, it will be a very ugly primary. The sooner it becomes obvious who will take the Dem nod the cleaner it will get for the primaries. It will be just putting up with the press, with no feeding them from the other Dems.

Posted on their site - I saw it when I went looking for the latest polls numbers. Amazing how quickly these things get picked up - meanwhile the families of 500 dead armed services members can't even get mentioned at the SOTU in any meaningful way.

Chimpy cringes every time it comes up.

Don

I watched the video, UNCOVERED: the Whole truth about the Iraq War again, just to watch junior strut around the aircraft carrier. It would be great if the media would play this documentary to the American people.