Posted on 01/04/2004 4:32:01 PM PST by Leroy S. Mort
WASHINGTON (AP) - A comment by retired Gen. Wesley Clark that seemed to chide fellow Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean for skiing as Clark recovered from Vietnam War wounds amounted to nothing more than an attempt at humor that fell flat, Clark said Sunday.
``Politics is easy, but humor is tough,'' Clark said.
Clark ended a 34-year Army career in June 2000, shortly after completing a tour as NATO's supreme allied commander in Europe. As a 25-year-old commander of a mechanized infantry company in Vietnam, he was awarded the Silver Star for gallantry and the Purple Heart after being shot four times during a patrol searching for Viet Cong.
Dean, Vermont's governor from 1991 until a year ago, received a medical deferment from the military draft for a back condition. He spent a year skiing in Colorado.
Clark's comment came in November on WNTK radio in Manchester, N.H. ``I didn't have as much practice skiing as the governor did. He was out there skiing when I was recovering from my wounds in Vietnam,'' Clark said.
He was asked about the comment by Tim Russert, host of NBC's ``Meet the Press.''
``Let's put it in context, Tim. I was asked in a radio call-in about having a skiing contest with Governor Dean, and sometimes, as you understand - I mean, politics is easy, but humor is tough,'' Clark said from New Hampshire, where he was campaigning. ``That was an attempt at a little bit of humor that some people didn't laugh at.''
Asked whether he has any lingering resentment about serving in Vietnam, Clark said: ``Oh, I don't feel any resentment of that, no. He made his decision. He'll take responsibility for it.''
The only other of the nine candidates to have served in Vietnam is Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, who received a Silver Star, a Bronze Star with combat ``V'' and three Purple Hearts as a swift boat captain on the Mekong River. Rep. Dick Gephardt was an officer in the Missouri Air National Guard 1965-71.
The liberal activist group MoveOn.org came under fire Sunday from Republicans over a television ad on its Web site that morphed an image of President Bush into Adolf Hitler.
The 30-second spot was one of more than 1,500 entries for a contest MoveOn.org sponsored to find one that ``tells the truth about George Bush's policies.''
``This is the worst and most vile form of political hate speech,'' Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie said in a statement. He also called on the Democratic presidential candidates to renounce the ad.
Eli Pariser, campaign director for MoveOn.org, said the ad appeared on the Web site with hundreds of others submitted by the public and voted on during a two-week period. They were removed Dec. 31, when the voting period had ended.
The ad shows images of Hitler with text saying, ``God told me to strike at al-Qaida,'' before turning to images of Bush with the words, ``And then He instructed me to strike at Saddam.'' The ad ends with the words, ``Sound familiar?'' on a black and white screen.
Pariser said his group tried to screen out ``ads in poor taste like this one,'' and that MoveOn.org would never consider running such an ad.
Even so, Jewish groups expressed their outrage.
``To use Hitler in a way like this is grotesque and outrageous. He was such a heinous individual that it's unseemly to bring him into the American political debate,'' said James Tisch, chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.
Meanwhile, MoveOn.org will announce its 15 finalists on Monday. Pariser said the Hitler ads is not among them.
A panel of judges, including such Democratic stalwarts as actor-director Michael Moore, campaign strategists Donna Brazile and James Carville and actor Jack Black will select the winner, to be announced Jan. 12.
The head of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and several other prominent women endorsed Clark on Sunday as he restated his support for affirmative action and women's rights during a day of campaigning in New Hampshire.
``I've dealt with presidents all the way back to Tricky Dick,'' said panel chairwoman Mary Frances Berry, referring to former President Nixon. ``When I talk to (Clark) and when I listen to him, I can see him as a president for all Americans.''
Wisconsin's Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton also endorsed Clark.
If elected, Clark promised a Cabinet that includes ``well-qualified women of every race, creed and color.''
Clark also said President Bush has tried for three years to take away women's reproductive rights.
``As president of the United States, I'm going to stand up for choice, and I'm going to make sure we protect women's reproductive rights,'' he said to applause.
Associated Press writers Jennifer C. Kerr in Washington and Anne Sanders in Manchester, N.H., contributed to this report.
``I've dealt with presidents all the way back to Tricky Dick,'' said panel chairwoman Mary Frances Berry, referring to former President Nixon.The racist snake slithers out from underneath her rock and hisses at everyone.
Hey Mary, I guess you're proud you managed to insult a former POTUS in the national media?
And isn't it just sick that the "media" thinks we need to be told who she's referring to.
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