[colorado tanker]

Politics 101 is that a candidate has to secure his base during the primary season and then broaden his appeal in the general. Clark has been handpicked to broaden the Dim's appeal to voters in the middle who don't trust them on national security issues. But how does he secure the Dim base to get to the general? The Dim base hates the military. When Clinton ran as a DLC type "moderate" he got credibility with the base becaue of his dodging the draft and opposing the Vietnam War. The modern Dim party was born 1968-1972 over opposition to Vietnam and they're having a second childhood over opposing Iraq. How does Clark gain their trust?

[tsomer]

The Dim base hates the military.

True in principle, but we're in the concrete. Dims want to forget 9/11, but they can't. They want some messianic figure to assure them they are safe because, beneath all their pacifist "root-cause" and "live&let-live" pronouncements is fear. Also, Clarke is a UN'er, which still appeals to the dreams and aspirations of the college edicated sheeple; they'll overlook any bloodletting in the face of this. That's the pschizophrenic character of the dim base, they talk peace, but like the kind of people who don't mind "breaking eggs to make an omelet" ie, Castro, Lenin, Mao and the like.

The dim aspirants are jokes, and even the dim hard core realizes this. Clarke cuts an impressive figure next to this crowd; most will go away in exchange for a few bucks and a fancy title. This smells like Clinton's work, but the question is will Clinton retain his position if Clarke gets the upper hand?

We live in interesting times, to say the least.