Clark talks women's rights, affirmative action

Union Leader ^ | 1/05/04 | ANNE SAUNDERS , AP

[kattracks]

MANCHESTER (AP) - The head of the federal Commission on Civil Rights and several other prominent women endorsed retired general and presidential hopeful Wesley Clark on Sunday as he restated his support for affirmative action and women's rights.

"Our current incumbent, George W. Bush, doesn't share my values," Clark told a standing-room-only crowd of more than 200 people, many of them women. "He has worked unrelentingly for three years to try 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 enthusiastic applause.

Clark also touched on affirmative action as he spoke to the campaign appearance organized by "Women for Clark."

"Not everybody's born on a level playing field. You've got to help lift people up and give them a chance, and that's what affirmative action does. And it's not just about race; it's also about sex," he said.

"I fought very hard so that women had an equal opportunity, or as equal as we could make it, in the United States armed forces... . We needed these women leaders in the army because we needed their talent, and America needs the talent of all Americans today - not just white males... .That's why I feel so strongly about inclusiveness and affirmative action."

Clark said he planned to make a statement next week on Martin Luther King Jr. Day about states that have failed to fully implement new voting standards.

"We still haven't solved the voting problem in America because there are no telling how many tens of thousands of Americans who have been systematically disenfranchised through various techniques at the polling places," Clark said.

Mary Frances Berry, head of the federal Commission on Civil Rights, got a standing ovation from the crowd after she made a brief speech in support of Clark.

"I've dealt with presidents all the way back to Tricky Dick," she said, referring to former president Richard 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 gave her endorsement to Clark, saying she didn't want to be part of electing "one more arrogant, defensive male." Clark, she said, "values women and the contributions they make."

Clark pledged if elected to have a cabinet that includes "well qualified women of every race, creed and color" to advise him.

Asked by one person if his position on abortion rights would make it difficult to win in the South, Clark said his themes of patriotism, family, faith and inclusiveness would play well everywhere.

"It will carry the south, it will carry America because these aren't southern values; they're American values," he said.

[samtheman]

Not everybody's born on a level playing field.

(He can't even get the left-wing mantra right.)

Dear General,

If the playing field is not level (some have more birth-privilege than others), then nobody is born on a level playing field. Because there isn't one. The supposed purpose of affirmative action is to create a level playing field.

Signed,
A conservative who is against affirmative action but who at least understands what you're supposed to say when you're pretending to be for it.

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[RWG]

Our current incumbent...if you are not current you are not an incumbent.