Clark blasts McCain's military service

[Red October]

Clark blasts McCain's military service
Josh Kraushaar

[excerpt]

Gen. Wesley Clark, acting as a surrogate for Barack Obama’s campaign, invoked John McCain’s military service against him in one of the more personal attacks on the Republican presidential nominee this election cycle.

Clark said that McCain lacked the executive experience necessary to be president, calling him “untested and untried” on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” And in saying so, he took a few swipes at McCain’s military service.

“He has been a voice on the Senate Armed Services Committee. And he has traveled all over the world. But he hasn't held executive responsibility. That large squadron in the Navy that he commanded — that wasn't a wartime squadron,” Clark said.

“I don’t think getting in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to become president.”

Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.), also on CBS, was equally uncharitable towards Obama’s record on foreign policy as he continued to distance himself from his former party.

“Sen. Obama, unfortunately, like a lot of the Democratic leadership, continues to take a position that we ought to withdraw ... even though the new policy is working,” said Lieberman. “If we had done what Sen. Obama asked us to do for the last couple of years, today Iran and Al Qaeda would be in control of Iraq. It would be a terrible defeat for us and our allies in the Middle East and throughout the world.”

http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20080629/pl_politico/11425

This after all the indignant huffing and puffing over all the terrible "swiftboating" John Kerry had to endure.     Liberals have turned hypocrisy into an art-form, and Wesley has given us a masterpiece.

Meanwhile, I'm starting to like Lieberman more and more.

[Chris_]

“I don’t think getting in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to become president.”

[docstew]

“I don’t think getting in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to become president.”

 :bs:yeah wes, but apparently almost starting WWIII against the russians in serbia is... "kettle, this is pot, you're black over"

[djones520]

And Obama has what executive experience that trumps McCains?  He has what military experience that trumps McCains?

I can't believe Clark went there.  Honestly, anyone smarter then your average DUmp monkey is just gonna think Clark is a dumb **** with these comments (if they already didn't).

[asdf2231]

Coming from a guy who was for all practical purposes relieved of his command for being an Ass Clown this holds very little weight.

[DixieBelle]

And Obama's 140-odd days in the Senate (and his inability to understand how to vote no less...) makes him more qualified?

[asdf2231]

And Obama's 140-odd days in the Senate (and his inability to understand how to vote no less...) makes him more qualified?

Why you rascist conservo-tool!

   :innocent: 

[DixieBelle]

And Obama's 140-odd days in the Senate (and his inability to understand how to vote no less...) makes him more qualified?

Why you rascist conservo-tool!

   :innocent: 

LOL! yeah, I know my comments aren't helping Oooobama's baby mama's kids are they?

[Chris_]

And Obama's 140-odd days in the Senate (and his inability to understand how to vote no less...) makes him more qualified?

Why you rascist conservo-tool!

   :innocent: 

LOL! yeah, I know my comments aren't helping Oooobama's baby mama's kids are they?

"I don't see how this conversation helps my kids."

[DixieBelle]

I'm just a fish-eyed fool.

[TheSarge]

“I don’t think getting in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to become president.”

Neither does getting fired by the President or nearly starting WW III....but that hasn't stopped you now has it General?

[lizard]

Never disrespect those who have served, and served honorably...for they protect the very freedoms you hold dear.

[formerlurker]

It may seem like a Herculean, if not quixotic, task to run as a retired general, on a national-security platform, in a party that is energized by the antiwar sloganeering of Howard Dean and characterized by the national-security angst of John Kerry. But quixotic missions are nothing new for Clark. After all, this is the man who led NATO's war in Kosovo — a just and necessary war, but a war that no one in the Alliance wanted to wage, with the possible exception of Tony Blair. This is the man who lobbied for a ground invasion of Serbia — an invasion plan that his president and peers on the Joint Chiefs of Staff declared dead on arrival.

This is the man who, as NATO shifted from war-fighting mode into peacekeeping mode, ordered his ground commander to deploy a helicopter assault team to block a surprise Russian advance into Kosovo's major airfield — an order his British subordinate answered with a terse and chilling rejoinder: "I'm not going to start World War III for you." After both men appealed to their national commanders — a practice permitted under NATO's vague and unwieldy war-fighting conventions — cooler heads in Washington and London agreed with Clark's subordinate, concluding that NATO's unity was more important than Kosovo's airport. A humiliated Clark was forced to rescind his order. Two months later, he was unceremoniously replaced as Supreme Allied Commander-Europe (SACEUR). The turn of events stunned Clark: "I never saw myself as a 55-year-old retired general," he later said.

To be fair, leading NATO into battle is something akin to herding cats, which is just one reason why the Bush administration is not always eager to turn every mission in the campaign against terror into a NATO operation. If anyone should understand why, it is Wes Clark, who saw NATO's politicians fight a civil war over targets, bases, and battle plans. (It didn't help that he served a halfhearted, distracted president.) The general shouldn't be blamed for NATO's balky command structure and dithering political leadership, but nor should he be lionized for leading the alliance to some great victory. After 77 days of bombing, the vaunted, hamstrung alliance barely beat back Serbia's 1960s-vintage military.

DON'T LOOK LIKE IKE
Nor should he be compared to Dwight Eisenhower; Wes Clark is no Eisenhower. Ike returned from Europe as a conquering hero, the general of generals. Even before he became president, Eisenhower was beloved by the American people, respected by America's allies, and feared by America's enemies. Clark is indeed a war hero — he fought and bled in Vietnam, earned a Silver Star after being wounded four times, commanded in times of combat and peace, and led NATO through its first war — but he is not beloved. In fact, if it weren't for extensive (and recent) time served as an armchair general, he would barely be known outside the Beltway.

Yet Beltway politics are an important front in Clark's campaign — or at least in the campaign being mounted in his name. As historian David Halberstam writes in War in a Time of Peace, Clark's critics "always believed he might be a little too political." Clark often frustrated subordinates and superiors alike with his micromanaging tendencies and political maneuvering. In fact, he tried to play the hawkish Blair off against the distracted Clinton during NATO's Kosovo campaign. Some NATO air commanders, especially the American ones, blamed Clark for compromising with NATO's political leaders too much on targets early in the war, thus lengthening the campaign. After weeks of trying to corner and back channel Clinton and the Joint Chiefs into launching a ground war, Clark was virtually quarantined from the war council. "I rue the day I made him SACEUR," Defense Secretary Bill Cohen is reported to have said.

In an unmistakable sign of his anger with Clark's style, Joint Chiefs Chairman Henry Shelton didn't even bother attending Clark's formal retirement ceremonies. Shelton wasn't alone: Several other chiefs were AWOL as the Pentagon saluted General Clark for his abbreviated tenure.

http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-dowd082103.asp


McCain spent 5 years being tortured in a POW camp.   This POS gets the door because he can barely handle Kosovo. 

Uh-huh. 

[djones520]

I read some more on this story...  My head almost exploded when I read this part.

When Schieffer then asked what executive responsibility Obama had held - the Democrat's résumé includes work as a community organizer in Chicago and eight years in the Illinois legislature - Clark said that Obama was running on the strength of his character and good judgment.

I am absolutely amazed that the universe did not explode with the utterance of such hypocrisy.

[TheSarge]

I am absolutely amazed that the universe did not explode with the utterance of such hypocrisy.

Barakstar! has two of the most useless retired Generals to ever dabble in politics...Wes Clark and Merrill McPeak as advisors.

That should send a chill down the spine of anyone who's ever worn the uniform...or wears it now.

[Jim]

I am absolutely amazed that the universe did not explode with the utterance of such hypocrisy.

Barakstar! has two of the most useless retired Generals to ever dabble in politics...Wes Clark and Merrill McPeak as advisors.

That should send a chill down the spine of anyone who's ever worn the uniform...or wears it now.

aint that the truth !

[Rebel]

Clark is a ****ing piece of shit who needs to go ahead and assume room temperature. 

[Rebel]

"I will tell you the reason Clark came out of Europe early had to do with integrity and character issues, things that are very near and dear to my heart. […] I'll just say Wes won't get my vote," casting doubt upon the presidential contender's legitimacy. General Henry Shelton, 2004

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Shelton

CIB, Masterblaster wings, HALO wings, Pathfinder, Long tab (Special Forces), and Ranger? I'm going with him.



Don't care for his politics, though.

[Thor]

No offense intended towards anybody, but, in general, military commanders are control freaks. There are always exceptions to the rule.  Hence the death and demise of TQM/ TQL.

[Mr Mannn]

I really think the Lib attack on McCain's record is going to backfire.

Kerry was running on his four month tour of duty, and the facts showed he was a coward who stood before congress and LIED about his fellow soldiers.
The Swiftboat was a natural response.

McCain is NOT running on his record. This is going to play as underhanded in mainstream America.

[dandi]

I really think the Lib attack on McCain's record is going to backfire.

Kerry was running on his four month tour of duty, and the facts showed he was a coward who stood before congress and LIED about his fellow soldiers.
The Swiftboat was a natural response.

McCain is NOT running on his record. This is going to play as underhanded in mainstream America.

I would say that this could very well be the moment the water skis came off the ramp and over the shark pen.

[Peter3_1]

Clark was the very model of the "Perfumed Prince" of an officer post RVN, as contemporaries have stated. Obsequious with superiors (but not sickeningly so) and aloof and very superior with subordinates.

He has little room to critique others. 

[NHSparky]

Wow...the Clinton sock-puppet didn't just shoot himself in the foot on that one, he blew his ****ing legs off ala Max Cleland.  See what happens when you play with shit that goes, "BOOM", people?

And I love the claim by Andrea Mitchell on NBC that his comments were merely a "gaffe".

I call BULLSHIT!

[Bluesuiter-Retired]

“I don’t think getting in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to become president.”

 :bs:yeah wes, but apparently almost starting WWIII against the russians in serbia is... "kettle, this is pot, you're black over"

So whom is running for the DEFEAT-O-CRAT party, oh-bum-uh or Clark?  What is oh-bum-uh's qualifications to be commander in chief.

Aside from the World War 3 deal, there is the quasi violation of the federal law which prohibits the military from getting involved in civil law enforcement during the Waco fiasco.  I didn't know the FBI or ATF owned Bradley APCs or M-88 ARVs.  I find it hard to believe that the Army would hand over the keys to either of those vehicles to the FBI or ATF without extensive [over a several month time period] training.  Imagine the "hand receipt" for loaning those multi-million dollar vehicles!  I have no doubt that active duty military personnel were operating those vehicles, which makes it a violation of federal law.

[Rebel]

Wes Clark went from an O-6 in '88 to a 4-star O-10 in '96, all by playing politics. He became a favorite of Clinton after Waco. He's a piece of shit. No matter HOW you look at it, no one can tell me what he did, without reservation, was collaborate in one of the greatest violations of the Posse Comitatus Act since the War between the states.