Posted on 02/16/2003 11:00:12 PM PST by VaBthang4
LOL Bump.
I know we joke about it, but the phrase "government in waiting" makes a lot of sense to me -- just based on what we read and discuss on this forum.
I'm trying to remember the last time we were wrong about something.....LOL.
Back on topic, re the interview with Russert: I thought Clark came across as sleazy in a Clintonian sort of way, which means a more than fair share of the populace will likely just eat him up.
"General Wesley Clark was involved in the siege and final assault near Waco, Texas that killed, by a combination of toxic gas and fire, at least 82 people including some three dozen women, children and infants.
As outlandish as this claim may seem, it's a reasonable conclusion that can be drawn by any fair minded person who takes the time to examine the evidence. Further, there is substantial circumstantial evidence that, Clark, in addition to acting as a tactical consultant, may, in fact, have been the prime architect and commander of the entire operation."
MR. RUSSERT: ...will you run for president of the United States?
GEN. CLARK: Well, I havent made any decision on that. A lot of people are talking to me on it. Ive said Im not a candidate. I havent taken any political money. I dont have any paid political consultants. Im not even a member of a party, at this stage. But I am a concerned citizen because Ive seen the policy go progressively away from the focus on what I consider the principal threat to this country...
MR. RUSSERT: Are you thinking about it?
GEN. CLARK: ...and into this...
MR. RUSSERT: Youre thinking about it?
GEN. CLARK: Well, yeah, sure, Ive thought about it. A lot of people have come to me and asked me to think very seriously about it.
MR. RUSSERT: Would you run as a Democrat?
GEN. CLARK: Well, I havent declared a party, but, you know, it would be hard to conceive of running as a Republican, only because the administrations policy is whats causing me to have these concerns.
MR. RUSSERT: Would you accept vice presidential nominations?
GEN. CLARK: No, Im not going to get inI havent even thought about things like this.
MR. RUSSERT: Jerry McAtee, the AFL-CIO, said you may announce within a few weeks?
GEN. CLARK: Well, I dont know where he cameI dont have a time line.
MR. RUSSERT: But its fair to say youre thinking about it?
GEN. CLARK: Well, I have thought about it. And a lot of people have asked me to think about it. But, you know, for me, its about ideas. Its not about candidacies. I mean, were at a turning point in American history here. Were about to embark on an operation thats going to put us in a colonial position in the Middle East following Britain, following the ottomans. Its a huge change for the American people and for what this country stands for. And this is the 21st century were in. We need to have this dialogue, and weve been really late getting to it. And thats really whathaving that dialogue is what Ive been about for the last year, going around the country, talking to people, finding out what they believe about our countrys future, sharing some of my experiences with them.
MR. RUSSERT: Well, we will stay tuned. We hope if you are going to announce, youll come back and talk to us about it.
Make no mistake - - it isn't "the Liberals" who are throwing this crap against the wall.... it is the Clintons themselves. I firmly believe that the plan is to so muddy the Democrat primary that no single rat will go into the convention with anything resembling a mandate or a consensus. The Clintons want turmoil, confusion, and division.
And who do you suppose will be drafted to ride to the rescue?
Is he under the impression that we're out of Kosovo?
Saturday, Jan. 4, 2003
Gen. Wesley Clark for President?
The Progressive Review, an admittedly liberal but excellent e-mail report (we read it every day at NewsMax) warns of Wesley Clark, who is reported to be thinking about running for president.
In examining the background of this man who would be president, the Review learned that Clark is a longtime friend of Clinton - a fact that helped his rise to the top. He has also been employed by the Stephens Group, part of the Stephens family empire that helped to launch Clinton's career and keep him in the 1992 primaries despite cash problems.
According to the Review, Clark commanded Fort Hood during the time it provided illegal troops and weapons used in the Waco massacre.
On Aug. 3, 1999, the Guardian wrote:
"No sooner are we told by Britain's top generals that the Russians played a crucial role in ending the west's war against Yugoslavia than we learn that if NATO's supreme commander, the American General Wesley Clark, had had his way, British paratroopers would have stormed Pristina airport threatening to unleash the most frightening crisis with Moscow since the end of the cold war. 'I'm not going to start the third world war for you,' General Sir Mike Jackson, commander of the internationalK-For peacekeeping force, is reported to have told Gen. Clark when he refused to accept an order to send assault troops to prevent Russian troops from taking over the airfield of Kosovo's provincial capital. ... Mary Robinson, the UN human rights commissioner, said NATO's bombing campaign had lost its 'moral purpose.'"
And on Nov. 12, 1999, at the beginning of the Kosovo conflict, Counterpunch delved into the military career of Gen. Clark and discovered that his meteoric rise through the ranks was the result of "the successful manipulation of appearances: faking the results of combat exercises, greasing to superiors and other practices common to the general officer corps. We correctly predicted that the unspinnable realities of a real war would cause him to become unhinged. Given that Clark attempted to bomb the CNN bureau in Belgrade and ordered the British General Michael Jackson to engage Russian troops in combat at the end of the war, we feel events amply vindicated our forecast.
"With the end of hostilities it has become clear even to Clark that most people, apart from some fanatical members of the war party in the White House and State Department, consider the general, as one Pentagon official puts it, 'a horse's ass.' Defense Secretary William Cohen is known to loathe him, and has seen to it that the Hammer of the Serbs will be relieved of the NATO command two months early."
Wrote columnist Robert Novak: "Members of Congress who, during their spring recess, met in Brussels with Gen. Wesley Clark, the NATO supreme commander, were startled by his bellicosity. According to the lawmakers, Clark suggested the best way to handle Russia's supply of oil to Yugoslavia would be aerial bombardment of the pipeline that runs through Hungary. He also proposed bombing Russian warships that enter the battle zone."
On April 20, 1999, columnist and much-decorated Col. David Hackworth wrote that Clark, "[k]nown by those who've served with him as the 'Ultimate Perfumed Prince,' [is] far more comfortable in a drawing room discussing political theories than hunkering down in the trenches where bullets fly and soldiers die."
Counterpunch described Clark as "'The poster child for everything that is wrong with the GO (general officer) corps,' exclaims one colonel, who has had occasion to observe Clark in action, citing, among other examples, his command of the 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood from 1992 to 1994."
Clark, of course, would run as a Democrat.
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Waco
Wesley Clark didnt admit that he is a Democrat.
He is clearly a Democrat who has directly served a Democratic President, has given to a Democratic candidate and now works as a consultant for a Clinton fundraiser.
If you could please, stop being redundant.
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