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| Dean Hits Party Insiders for Their Clark Support | |
| 2003-09-29 | |
| Let the self-feeding frenzy begin! Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean accused some party insiders on Sunday of desperation politics in backing Democratic presidential rival Wesley Clark, a retired general who voted Republican in the past. Voted for Reagan! HE’S A WITCH! BURN HIM! BURN HIM! Dean, who has campaigned as a Washington outsider, said members of the establishment embraced the former NATO commander after White House bids of ALL others in their circle sputtered. "I think that Wes Clark is, first of all, a good guy," Dean told CBS’s "Face the Nation." But Dean added, "I think what you see in the Wes Clark candidacy is a somewhat of a desperation by inside-the-Beltway politicians. You’ve got a lot of establishment politicians now surrounding a general who was a Republican until 25 days ago." Yup, desperate is what I would call it. Clark declared his candidacy and party affiliation as a Democrat this month, and promptly replaced Dean atop a number of polls for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination. (Shows how weak the field still is) Clark joined Dean and eight other Democratic presidential candidates for his first debate last week as some polls showed the political newcomer even with President Bush. (For about a nanosecond) Bush’s job approval ratings have dropped from the 70 percent range during the Iraq war to below 50 percent, about what where they were before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. (But climbing back up) Dean noted that Clark voted for Republicans Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon for president. "I think that’s going to be hard to swallow for a lot of Democrats," Dean said. (Please don’t say ‘swallow' and Democrats! I’ll have those Monica nightmares again!) Another Democratic presidential contender, U.S. Rep. Richard Gephardt of Missouri, took aim at Dean. Again sounding a line from the Thursday debate, Gephardt accused Dean of having echoed Republican criticism nearly a decade ago of the federal Medicare health insurance program, a critical issue to older voters. "We need to improve (Medicare), but we sure don’t need to adopt the Republican rhetoric on this that it’s a horrible program. It’s not. It’s a great program," Gephardt told NBC’s "Meet the Press." (Maybe France can show us how their system works? How do you get 15k people out of the medical system?) Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, who is also seeking the 2004 Democratic nomination, said he would not back the Bush administration’s request for $20 billion for Iraqi reconstruction until it answers questions about the postwar effort. "Questions, like ... what are we going to do to bring our friends and allies into this process, how long is this going to go on, what is the long-term plan, what do we expect the long-term cost to be?" Edwards told "Fox News Sunday." (Good thought Senator! Now that our troops have won the war, let’s lose the peace. In addition why don’t we tell our troops that they cannot actively seek out terrorists. Change the rules so we can’t touch them until the shoot at us.) Americans are increasingly concerned about the soaring costs of the Iraqi operation. Besides the $20 billion for reconstruction, Bush has asked the U.S. Congress for $67 billion more for the U.S. military deployment. He received $79 billion in emergency funding mostly for the Iraqi operation in April. I wonder why NONE of the news shows hold the candidates feet to the fire? Why not ask a hard question like: Ok you don’t like the $87b request, where should we get the money? How long DO YOU think it should take to turn a totalitarian ruled country into a democracy? How long DO YOU think our troops should be in Iraq? These idiots are getting softball pitches and then trying to throw spitballs in return. None of them has a novel idea on how to run the country, help the economy (Note: you can’t tax yourself into a good economy), or manage foreign policy. Save for Mr. Dean who thinks that we should consider Hamas an Army and not a terrorists organization. That is why I'm throwing my support behind the only candidate that makes sense, Rev, Al Sharpton!
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| Posted by:Cyber Sarge (Republicans for Sharpton) |
| #2 Have any of the DNC beltway insiders figured out which positions of Clark's they support? The changes are tough to keep track of. |
| Posted by: Superhose 2003-9-29 3:07:30 PM |
| #1 I wouldn't worry to much about Gephardt or Edwards - both have been missing about 90% of the votes in the offices they now hold - while they frantically try to become presidential nominees. Wonder if they realize you can't miss 90% of the choices when you're president? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2003-9-29 11:43:16 AM |