I wonder if it was to help split the conservative vote in the Primaries?
And why didn't Sid mention who Clarke voted for in the general election??
I think your assumption is correct on the McCain vote. Clarke is claiming that he voted for Bush in the general election, but I'm not buying it. As I posted in another thread on this, he sounds like a freeper troll, emphasizing that he's a Republican, yet claiming with a straight face that Clinton's No. 1 priority was terrorism. Heck, I don't think even Clintonistas would claim that! Clinton's No. 1 priority (besides the obvious) was the economy. And if Clarke really believed that Clinton was so focused on terrorism, then why didn't he vote for Gore, Clinton's successor?
Not to mention Clarke saying that we need to understand why the terrorists hate us -- that's something a peacenik lib would say, not a Republican. It just doesn't pass the smell test. We freepers are very experienced with figuring out when somebody is pretending to be a Republican; unfortunately, the media isn't!