Madonna likes Clark......
Posted on 12/17/2003 3:14:23 PM PST by Maria S
I read with amazement Paul Greenberg's Dec. 7 column declaring the demise of the Wesley Clark presidential bid.
Greenberg is a writer with impressive credentials. How is it that someone with such a resume can get the facts so wrong and so distort the truth?
Many pundits in the media are giving Clark the same treatment; Greenberg has penned four such essays. I believe this is because Bush supporters are scared to face Clark in the general election. It would be much better if the media can destroy his candidacy before the first primary vote is cast.
I deeply resent those with the power of the press trying to decide political outcomes before I get a chance to vote. Usually this is only done on election night in order to discount the votes of everyone not living in the Eastern Time Zone, but now it is being done before the first primary!
Greenberg asserts that "The more he (Clark) campaigned, the lower he sank." Nothing could be further from the truth. According to a CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll, taken December 5-7, 25 percent of Democrats prefer Dean and 17 percent Clark. There is a 5 percent margin of error, so this is a statistical tie. A Pew Research Center survey from Nov. 18 through Dec. 1 shows both Clark and Dean preferred by 15 percent nationally and a poll conducted for the Miami Herald Dec.1-3 shows Dean at 16 percent and Clark at 15 percent in Florida. This is hardly a failing campaign.
Greenberg states that "We wanted an Eisenhower, and got a McGovern." Gen. Clark never claimed to be an Eisenhower, and I am glad he did not. The Eisenhower administration had its share of problems with Castro overthrowing Cuba; a spy plane shot down over the Soviet Union; and Executive Order 10450, which was his own little McCarthy-style witch hunt among federal employees. John Ashcroft would have been proud.
Greenberg states that Clark is sounding angrier. Well, I hope so. A lot of Americans are angry with the way we have been lied to by Bush. We are angry that freedoms are being restricted, that Osama bin Laden has not been brought to justice and that spending by the Republican-controlled government is out of control. Greenberg thinks Americans are not looking for the type of leader who is angry about such incompetence. I think Greenberg is greatly mistaken.
Greenberg says "Wes Clark is proving one of those sad figures everyone thought would make a great president - till he ran for it." The sad - and scary - figure is George Bush. No one ever thought that Bush would be a great president, but we hoped that at least he would not be horrible. We never expected him to be an egomaniac, bent on ruling the world and denying the right of citizens to disagree with him, but that is what we have.
Greenberg says Clark is less cogent than Ross Perot's running mate Adm. James Stockdale, whom he describes as bumbling. Perhaps Clark is speaking over Greenberg's head, or perhaps he views Bush as the master of putting together a coherent and logical argument.
This is the same Bush who said, "That's a chapter, the last chapter of the 20th, 20th, the 21st century that most of us would rather forget. The last chapter of the 20th century. This is the first chapter of the 21st century" (Oct. 24, 2000).
Perhaps it is not how Bush turns a phrase that Greenberg likes but the ideas Bush has. Ideas such as, "If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier. . . . Just as long as I'm the dictator. . . ." (Dec. 18, 2000) or "There ought to be limits to freedom" (May 21, 1999).
I resent essays like Greenberg's, especially in an election year. Most of the country has yet to tune in to the debate, and this type of distortion is attempting to ensure that one voice will not even be heard by most of the country.
Those of you who are just tuning in to the election may have no knowledge of the man that Greenberg is trying to destroy. Clark attended West Point and graduated at the top of his class. He has a master's degree in economics, philosophy and politics from Oxford where he was a Rhodes scholar. He served in the Army for 34 years, rising to the rank of four-star general and NATO supreme allied commander. It was in this position that he saved 1.5 million Albanians from slaughter. Clark was wounded in Vietnam and has received the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Purple Heart and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He is a hero, a scholar, a statesman, a true leader.
Voters can evaluate candidates based on their records and positions. We do not need Greenberg twisting the facts and trying to decide the election before anyone votes. Examine the candidates, weigh their arguments, and decide whom you will support. Do not let pundits with agendas make the decision before the election has begun.
David Hurtt is a resident of Amarillo.
Just another fine example of the liberals here in Amarillo, Texas.
Isn't Paul Greenberg a Democrap?
Madonna likes Clark......
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