Newsweek story about General Clark...

[MORTARDUDE]

I got the magazine in the mail and thought this quote from page 26 was interesting...

( some of the article is at http://www.msnbc.com/news/969659.asp?cp1=1 )


quote

"To say Clark was unpopular among his fellow officers in the military is an understatement. As he rapidly rose through the ranks, he was widely regarded as a champion brown-noser and know-it-all, a sort of Eddie Haskell in Army green. In conversation with friends, Colin Powell would privately put down General Clark
as "Lt. Col. Clark", i.e. a perpetual eager-beaver wanna-be. Some officers questioned his judgment. Talking to a high-ranking Clinton administration official, Gen. Hugh Shelton, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who engineered Clark's firing, bluntly referred to Clark as a "nut"."

unquote

Very good article with lots of info.

Larry

[SuperScout]

Approximately 47 seconds after the next Democrat party debate, aka the Bush-Bashing Brouhaha, the vapor trails of the reporters and reporterettes leaving the Hill Billy Lite, aka Wesley Clark's campaign trail, will create more smoke than the Smoke and Mirror Brigade, aka 9 Dwarfs. Once his opponents start zeroing in on Clark's waffles and inconsistencies, he allure will evaporate, assuming he had any to begin with, other than that which was manufactured for him.

[BLUEHAWK]

Practically anything is possible, but my hunch is that the Dems candidate is and will be Gephardt... for all the usual reasons the Dems select candidates. If that is to be the case, I look for the campaign to turn on a single word or phrase... such as BCs "change", except this time I'm pretty sure the other guys will have an answer.

In all postings about Clark on PF, I have yet to see one even slightly positive commendation from vets.

[Sgt_Tropo]

I heard on the NBC Morning Show that the only reason that clark is even in the running is that he is the "hand-picked" candidate by Bill Clinton ! This little bit of information should be enough to turn anybody off from supporting him.

[SuperScout]

Gosh, did I miss that boat!! It seems that the 9 Dwarfs are so mesmerized by their own words tht they failed to seize the opportunity to drive a stake through Clark's heart over any of his previous misspeaks. They could have permanently relegated him to obscurity by asking his latest version about how the White House ordered CNN to dump him (bogus as his economic plan), how the White House wanted him to link UBL to SH (bogus as his leadership skills), or validate his depth of beliefs as a Democrat (bogus as his voting record). Clark is simply nothing more than a trite collection of sound bites, stale phrases, and banal ideas.

It is doubtful that many vets will sign up to support him; this screaming absence of what should have been a large bloc of supporters is evidence enough of the disdain, if not contempt, his peers and subordinates had for him.

[BLUEHAWK]

Larry, Scout & Tropo -

It still amazes me that with 23,000,000+ of us out here still alive, vet concerns are barely even mentioned, in ANY way... they are ALL missing the boat!

[SuperScout]

Maybe the absence of vet news and views is that's why they're referred to as the 9 or 10 Dwarfs! It is also why less than appropriate attention is currently being given, or has been given in the last 15 years, to veterans concerns. The sad paucity of veterans as legislators is part of the problem, and the personal attacks that pass as political discourse are only adding to the problem.

Here's what is currently happening in the Democrat debate debacle: nobody will mention veterans' rights or benefits, as they all want to distance themselves as far as possible from the military. That may sound strange, especially from Kerry, the French-looking candidate, and from Clark, the Ken-looking candidate; but in their haste to distance themselves from anything that even vaguely resembles a Bush-led victory in Iraq and in Afghanistan, they will sweep the veterans and the military under the rug and then dance around the bulge in the carpet, hoping that nobody will notice. But apparently, you, Sir Blue, just did!

At an even more eye-opening scene is the heretofore practiced "Silence of the Lambs," of a senior military type not bad-mouthing other senior types, in public. Self-criticism within the military is as circumspect as in the halls of the AMA or the ABA; only rarely do we get to see the internecine blood-letting that emanates from the 5-sided puzzle palace. So for Shelton to now make the pronouncements about Clark is truly illustrative of how low the esteem level is for Clark.

[BLUEHAWK]

Nah, I noticed ole Scout... just didn't see any reason to share the obvious among sires of the realm. Seems like they ALL distance themselves from the military, except when they need us to go do something bloody unpleasant for them... then out come the flags and anthem again, most of the speeches make me wretch anymore. If it weren't against the law to say that I just wanna go out there and SHAKE 'EM, then I would say so.

My mail to the noble senators was not especially gentle, shall I say.

Shelton's forthing surprised me too, for similar reasons. I made damn sure they all remembered that we are 23,000,000 strong and not in a nicey nicey mood right now.

Maybe the Dems think they'll have a shot at beating Dubya next year if they can just find a guy who had rank; a General would be nice, but a VN vet with fruit salad might work, or maybe a guy who once played war in his backyard if nothing else... I actually heard some folks talking like Clark's candidacy is on a par with Eisenhower's... cripes.

[SuperScout]

You might want to jot this down in the Political Predictions section of your reading material located in the Throne Room: Clark's earlier statements of support, appreciation and respect for many GOP leaders will come back to haunt him in the very near future.

What I find truly amazing is that no other Democrat challenger has (1) either reviewed Clark's multiple mis-speaks (2) has the cajones to mention the mis-speaks in public. (4) questioned him as to why he was relieved or retird so early, or (4) thinks that they would be benefited by either 1 or 2.

If anybody is delirious enough to even begin to compare Clark with Ike, they need severe mental therapy. From what I've read in Ambrose and other biographers, Ike was loved and respected by his subordinates and peers (few that there were) alike. He was an extraordinary leader of senior military and civilian persons, effectively dealing with the likes of DeGaulle and Montgomery, a veritable miracle in and of itself. Clark has no such claim to fame. Intellectually, he probably is quite bright, but from a leadership perspective, he couldn't pour piss out of a boot with the instructions written on the heel.

[BLUEHAWK]

Emperor -
Yup, it is difficult to reason out something obvious as to why Clark himself would have had the notion he makes presidential material, so then one is left with WHO convinced him to do this? There's jive talk going around about that someone being the Clinton die-nasty, in which anything (we know) is possible... but if that is true, then why in the hell choose Clark?... given the way in which the General departed NATO/US command, and given what you relay back to us as to his fairly recent supportive attitudes towards Dubya, Rummie and the Big Chain-ee, of all the people who represent just about as far from the Dem party as a person can possibly get! I mean, would someone in their right mind actually throw a hat into that particular ring at this particular time in history just on account of "popular groundswell support"?... what did he get, 713 encouraging e-mails or something? We're talkin' about a government who buys toilet paper by the WAREHOUSE full here!

DeGaulle, I had to laugh outloud the other night... a TV talking head was holding forth about how it would be better for the French to behave like DeGaulle did in WWII... after having read Churchill's 6 volumes on that contest, I imagined maybe some folks would just as soon the French did NOT behave today as DeGaulle did then. It took someone like Ike to cope with that menagerie; Clark ain't in that category. McCain would've been, I believe.