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| Byron York straps on the Cruel Shoes with respect to Wesley Clark |
| 2004-01-25 |
| EFL from NRO - relates to WOT due to CAPPS II content. The Awfulness of Wesley Clark The candidate for people who want a really bad candidate. By the end of the Democratic presidential debate on Thursday night, it was impossible to avoid the question: Was Wesley Clark trying to hurt himself? Or had the retired four-star general simply not considered the possibility that debate moderators would ask him, like, questions? Consider Clark’s response to a query about the lobbying work he did in 2002 and 2003 for an Arkansas-based company called Acxiom. The software firm has developed a product called CAPPS II, which is an airline screening system that gathers information on passengers and color-codes them according to their potential terrorist risk (the name stands for Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System). Clark earned a reported $500,000 for pitching the product to the Transportation Department, the FBI, and the CIA. Some civil libertarian groups have strongly criticized the CAPPS II system on privacy grounds, and in recent days, the campaign of Sen. John Kerry has attacked Clark for his lobbying. The Los Angeles Times quoted a Kerry spokesman saying recently, "Wes Clark was a high-paid Republican Washington lobbyist who cashed in on his military record." So it was no surprise that Clark’s lobbying came up in the debate. But when he was asked whether CAPPS II might "step over the line" of airline passengers’ privacy, Clark seemed to have no idea what it was all about. "Well, I don’t know about CAPPS II because I have not seen the program, and I don’t think many of the people who are worried about it have," Clark said. "I was on the board of the company [Acxiom], and I did take them around and introduce them to various members of the United States government, the Defense Department and so forth, because their technology will improve our security." You know I just introduced some people to some other people and they handed me this paper bag and when I got home and opened it... But was CAPPS II a threat to privacy? "Had I still been on that board when all this was going through, I would have insisted that the American Civil Liberties Union and others be brought in to pre-approve CAPPS II," Clark said. "Whether that was done or not, I have no idea." End of answer. -snip - Peter Jennings stuffs Clark on his endorsement from Michael Moore. It turned out Clark didn’t know any more about Michael Moore than he knew about CAPPS II, the product he had made half a million dollars selling. Wish I could do that. On other topics, Clark backed away from an earlier statement that if he is elected president, the United States will not suffer any more 9/11-style attacks. What he really meant to say, Clark explained, is that "President Bush must be held accountable." but I won’t guarantee that I would do better. Clark also announced that he would "suspend all portions of the Patriot Act that have to do with search and seizure." He called for returning federal law enforcement to the days before cell phones changed the ways criminals (and terrorists) do business. "If they [investigators] want to do a wiretap, they can do it the old-fashioned way He was worried that a negative article might have a negative impact on the sales of the country music albumn that he plans to formally release next week in South Carolina. All in all, Clark’s was the weakest performance in a presidential debate since, well, his performance in the early debates. Ouch!!!! Snip - charecterization of Clarks pulling rank on Kerry incident; peters into review of debate performacnes by Edwards Dean and Kerry zzz. Dean’s non-mea culpa, clearly practiced and tested with his advisers, didn’t fare any better than his early explanations of his Iowa rant. "Don’t be hard on yourself about hooting and hollering," Al Sharpton advised the former Vermont governor. "If I had spent the money you did and got 18 percent, I’d still be in Iowa hooting and hollering." I’m glad Sharpton is in the race. |
| Posted by:Super Hose |
| #3 Matt, that is beautiful. I think I saw the exchange on TV. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-1-25 8:54:51 PM |
| #2 For a little amusement about the election Common Dreams has an unintensionally hilarious opinion piece, Al-Qaida will do Whatever it Takes to Assure Bush is Re-elected. I'm sure a troll will entertain us by posting it. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-1-25 2:53:29 PM |
| #1 Per Sensing and Stryker, here's a great example of how to answer questions from reporters; http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/01/20040122-5.html |
| Posted by: Matt 2004-1-25 2:02:48 PM |