Joe Conason from the New York Observer wrote a brilliant piece for Truthdig.com about the Wesley Clark "fake outrage." Here are some out takes and the link:

"...Gen. Clark stated a very simple fact. McCain’s service in Vietnam doesn’t prove his aptitude or competence to serve in the nation’s highest office.,,,Supporters of McCain insist that his military service should be exempt from discussion, except when they feel like bringing it up to prove some point about national security, terrorism or the presidency that it really doesn’t prove at all.

"There was once another former POW whose candidacy for high office vindicates the Clark argument.

"Or has everyone forgotten Adm. Stockdale?

"The late James Bond Stockdale epitomized the bravery and idealism of the Americans imprisoned and tormented, both physically and mentally, by their captors in Hanoi. Captured and beaten after his Navy jet was shot down, he lived in leg irons for two years and in solitary confinement for four years between September 1965 and February 1973, when he was finally released. His many honors and citations included the Medal of Honor, and he rose to vice admiral. He was a man of indisputable intelligence who taught philosophy at Stanford University and wrote several books before he died of Alzheimer’s disease three years ago...

"So a headline in The Washington Times called Stockdale a loser, and conservative columnists denigrated him as “geezerish,” “lame” and “the big loser.” Rush Limbaugh, who evaded the Vietnam draft thanks to an inflamed boil on his behind, devoted nearly an entire broadcast to mocking Stockdale. After playing a clip of the admiral defending abortion rights, the radio host described him as “intellectually vacant” and “pandering” and suggested that his pro-choice views were insincere.

Incidentally, the Limbaugh show’s producer back in October of 1992 was none other than Roger Ailes, who now heads Fox News Channel, where the faked anger over the Clark comments has swiftly reached a seething boil. He’s a phony, and so is this latest eruption of right-wing indignation."

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20080703_fake_outrage_over_clark_comments/

Posted at July 3, 2008 10:10 PM in response to Who's Swiftboating Who?

Thanks for that picture and bio link. Clark's a great man.

Posted at July 3, 2008 9:17 PM in response to Who's Swiftboating Who?

Maureen Dowd's column yesterday pointed to Wesley Clark's (and other guys who were on the ground) hidden feelings about "flyboys" who were safely in the air while they were getting shot at and blown up on the ground in Vietnam.

Really, looking at McCain's military track record, he's in a league with George W. Bush. He was careless and was living off of his family name. He crashed several jets (not shot down just stupidity) wasting millions of tax dollars.

This is gonna make him blow as it nearly did when the reporter visibly annoyed him when asking him point blank if he thought his military service entitled him to the Presidency. It doesn't but he truly thinks it does. And as many others have said in response to the Wesley Clark "kerfuffle," it goes right to the heart of his campaign: it's all he has and everything he's running on, and it's a sham as Karl Rove and George W. Bush showed Republicans during their primary fight in 2000. (They did it to John Kerry too and Max Cleland.)

No matter what what Wes Clark did was spoke the honest truth and showed true character and guts when he stood behind his words in follow up interview by vicious McCain-apologists in the MSM. Obama should have been more supportive that first day.

Rove and Bush and the Republicans had no shame and set such a low bar against attacking American war heroes like Tammy Duckworth, Max Cleland and John Kerry, that they can cry foul all they want-the Karmic world is coming back to to bite them in the behind. Plus, they already did such a job on McCain in the past. McCain is going to lose his cool and reveal that famous temper sooner or later just like he did on the verge of tears against George Bush in their South Carolina debate.

It's Democrats' job to help make his blood boil.

Posted at July 3, 2008 9:10 PM in response to Who's Swiftboating Who?

It's disgusting to see that this golddigger c-word-calling old white man just considers us a "Latino vote." Hopefully, Obama takes him out to task on this. A race game is something that the Republicans just won't win. They have a track record called Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter, and no matter how you slice it, McCain needs to pander to the crazy Republicans (of which he's one) just as much as much he did to the Christian extremist right.

Latinos aren't stupid enough to buy into McCain's Republican B.S. -(Miami aside).

Posted at July 3, 2008 8:52 PM in response to New McCain Radio Ad Attacks Obama Over Hispanic Vote

Maybe Obama should have answered the sobby McCain this way:

"“We’re running for the hardest job in the world. You’re not going to get any breaks from Putin. You’re not going to be treated nicely when you’re trying to deal with the Middle East,” she shot back."

–Hillary answering an attack weary Obama (Vanity Fair)

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/08/clinton200808?printable=true¤tPage=all

Posted at July 2, 2008 10:57 AM in response to Maybe Clark Should Have Said It This Way??

Can Hillary Clinton please hand Barack Obama this line the way Deval Patrick did during the primary, so he can slap that crybaby McCain with it? (without the 'xerox' or 'just words' snarkiness):

"“We’re running for the hardest job in the world. You’re not going to get any breaks from Putin. You’re not going to be treated nicely when you’re trying to deal with the Middle East,” she shot back."

–Hillary answering an attack weary Obama (Vanity Fair)

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/08/clinton200808?printable=true¤tPage=all

Posted at July 2, 2008 10:55 AM in response to New Meme: McCain is too "thin skinned" and "hot headed" to be President

Obama defended Clark against the "Swiftboating" tag. It's complete B.S. that the Republicans (Fox News included) hope will somehow stick. It won't. McCain knows that this isn't on the level of Swiftboating of John Kerry or nowhere close to the disrespectful, below-the-belt treatment that Karl Rove and Bush gave him in 2000.

The key is to get hot head McCain publicly pissed off again like he did during the primary against a NYT reporter on his (Cindy's) campaign plane when she asked him about his flirting with being on the Kerry ticket as VP in 2004. The truth gets him furious when he has no answer for it and it goes against the mythological narrative he's trying to create.

He has a lot in common with Bush in his miliary service. He was cocky and had a sense of entitlement because of who his father was. He was wreckless (literally) bringing down millions of dollars in crashed jets that he could not handle.

I don't think he's scared sh*tless. I think he's a cocky "little jerk" who has bought into his own myth and is angry that someone would call him out on it. His wreckless side is showing and he was stupid enough to jump right into the fray and even dumber for calling out Jim Webb into the fight. Clark and Webb have more military brains that McCain and will show it.

There are bound to be more examinations now on the reality of McCain's military service-beyond his authentic heroism in the Hanoi Hilton.

(See this NYT article: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/29/us/politics/29mccain.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&partner=rssnyt)

Posted at July 2, 2008 4:45 AM in response to Swiftboating McCain

Josh Marshall is right about this and so is TPMer David Olstein in his blog "McCain is Too "Thin Skinned" and "Hot Headed" to be President."

McCain was baited into this and naively took bite that smart Democrats knew he would. This is going to draw more stories from enterprising journalists that have been giving the so-called "maverick" a free ride for years. When a few stories come out speaking to the stark reality of his cocky-carelessness in the military which he approached with a huge sense of entitlement, he's going to wish that he just STFU.

He came from a military family and just like George Bush, he had a sense of entitlement and was wreckless. He crashed four jets. His time as a POW is something he should be honored for, but that's it. The rest of his military time is up for scrutiny and it takes good, strong military people with a track record and credibility (and guts) to take on the Republican myth-makers and love struck McCain media defenders.

He's taking on Gen. Clark and was stupid enough to call up Jim Webb into the fight as well with his 'stop picking on me, I'm a hero' sobbing. Someone needed to call McCain out and take him to task on this

The Republicans weren't crying foul when John Kerry, a true American Hero with more ability and honor than McCain, was being made a punching bag: McCain even brought some of the Swift Boaters into his campaign. Plus this Wesley Clark situation is nowhere near as bad as the Bush/Rove tactics in the 2000 Republican primary (mostly because he's telling the truth).

The NYT had a good article looking at McCain's military background last month that's truly worth a read because it touches on some of what Gen. Clark knows about McCain and the rest of the country needs to know: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/29/us/politics/29mccain.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&partner=rssnyt

Thank goodness for Wesley Clark.

Posted at July 2, 2008 4:25 AM in response to New Meme: McCain is too "thin skinned" and "hot headed" to be President

Throw in Lalo and gotalife and you've gotadeal.

Posted at June 10, 2008 2:08 PM in response to TROLL FUND FOR OBAMA

So, does Connecticut have any type of recall like we do in California? Remember how our no good Arnold got into power with a little help from Enron and Karl Rove in a recall of Gray Davis. I guess I should read my constitution.

I'll bet those disgusting dummies who backed Lieberman in his Independent bid are kicking themselves in the pants now. I'd say it serves them right, but their stupid gullible mistake is punishing the rest of the country and the Democratic Party.

Where's Al Gore? Can't he shoot him down, or would that put a ding in our fabulous ex-VP's armor? Ned Lamont! Ned, get out there and start cutting the little fellow back down to size again. Soon-to-be-Senator Lamont will have to last laugh when Chris Dodd goes to work in the Obama administration while Joke Lieberman ends up marginalized and stuck in caucus in the hell of the Republican minority where he deserves to be.

For someone who milked his Civil Rights activism for all it was worth in that last very unfortunate election, he sure is showing his true stripes.

Posted at June 10, 2008 2:01 PM in response to Lieberman Camp To Obama: Back Off