Wesley Clark this morning on CBS’s “Face the Nation”
”I don’t think getting in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to become president.”
Take a look at the telling video, most notably from 0:21 to 2:15:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXOE0oGRNXA&eurl=http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video_log/[/youtube]
You have got to be kidding me, right? Clark on McCain: “He hasn’t held executive responsibility.” That may stand as one of the strangest things an Obama supporter could hit McCain on. Have you taken a look at your candidate’s resume, Mr. Clark? What executive responsibility has he held? As a former general, you should be ashamed that you are supporting one of the least qualified presidential candidates in American history. With so much at stake when it comes to national security, how do you, Mr. Clark, support a man who has not admitted the success of the surge because of his own political ambitions.
Give me a man who chooses country before party and self.
Go ahead Barack, put Clark on the ticket…what a laugh.
Update: A Clarification- I do not believe that McCain’s military service qualifies him for the Presidency. I do believe, however, that Clark is not acknowledging the fact that McCain gained valuable lessons of war and leadership in Vietnam and that it is hypocritical of him to criticize McCain for running only as a former service member when the candidate Clark supports, Barack Obama, is a champion of the mysterious policies of “Hope” and “Change.”
June 29th, 2008 at 9:46 pm
The Dems are hammering McCain on these shows. Why are McCain’s “speakers” not doing the same back?
June 29th, 2008 at 9:53 pm
It is a little hypocritical, but your first quote from him is dead on. It’s not, and the Dems would be wise to start smacking McCain down everytime he links his vietnam service as a quality for president. I cringe when I see the commercials, it’s so ripe for the picking for his opposition.
June 29th, 2008 at 10:18 pm
Yeah, crazy like a fox. This is the second or third time an Obama surrogate has questioned McCain’s service as a qualification to be president, which is quite different from challenging his service as dishonorable. Clark was effective so I think we will see him making this argument again.
June 29th, 2008 at 10:25 pm
did he really just say that Barack is running on character and judgment? wow.
June 29th, 2008 at 10:40 pm
“This is the second or third time an Obama surrogate has questioned McCain’s service as a qualification to be president, which is quite different from challenging his service as dishonorable.”
McCain’s POW story is absolutely incredible. Apparently he should make no mention of it, however, because according to Obama surrogates like Wesley Clark, it’s idiotic to suggest that having sacrificed dearly for one’s country is an admirable quality for a presidential candidate. No, John McCain would have been better off becoming a community organizer.
June 29th, 2008 at 11:05 pm
Michael, I am curious what other Presidential candidates, if any, were less qualified than Obama?
June 29th, 2008 at 11:26 pm
Tom,
Your point is well taken, haha. I do not believe I could give you one in our modern history. Some editing may be in store…
June 29th, 2008 at 11:43 pm
I’ve had a cousin who worked on Clark’s staff (unfortunately). He’s simply a hot head full of hot air.
June 30th, 2008 at 12:17 am
Here’s the response to Clark’s asinine charge by Brian Rogers of the McCain campaign:
“If Barack Obama’s campaign wants to question John McCain’s military service, that’s their right. But let’s please drop the pretense that Barack Obama stands for a new type of politics. The reality is, he’s proving to be a typical politician who is willing to say anything to get elected, including allowing his campaign surrogates to demean and attack John McCain’s military service record.”
June 30th, 2008 at 12:20 am
Look for this in the cartoons in tomorrow’s papers…
June 30th, 2008 at 1:30 am
And yet, what is strange is that I told one of my friends the exact same thing just a few days ago. McCain’s Vietnam experience in no way qualifies him to be President, and I really wish he’d stop running on that message for our sake as a party. I think he could do much better against Obama if he wouldn’t mention Vietnam as the answer to a ton of questions and highlight it in his ads.
June 30th, 2008 at 5:58 am
#11 It does get tiresome. For every question McCain has any problem with he refers to Vietnam. He answered a question about the housing crisis by saying he had been a POW! Funny thing is, he’s been in Washington a lot longer than he was in Vietname but you wouldn’t think so.
June 30th, 2008 at 8:06 am
I agree with #1. McCain and his team need to hit back harder and faster at these ridiculous assertions put forth by Obama and his backers. If he doesn’t respond to this nonsense, some of it will stick, and he can’t afford that. C’mon McCain, show some backbone!
June 30th, 2008 at 8:50 am
Obama and his team are going to let all of America know that McCain is Bush III and that he feels entitled to the presidency because he was a POW.
McCain’s use of Vietnam as the answer to everything in this world sickened me during the primaries and still sickens me now. My opinion of McCain hasn’t changed just because he is now the nominee for the Republican Party.
June 30th, 2008 at 8:53 am
#12
Although, FWIW, McCain did spend more time as a POW than Obama’s spent in the U.S. Senate.
June 30th, 2008 at 9:02 am
Oh, I know. I read that McCain was a POW from ’67-’73, which is quite incredible. But are you suggesting being a POW in Vietnam prepares someone to be president more than being in the senate? That I do not believe.
June 30th, 2008 at 9:09 am
Wesley Clark is, and always has been, an A-hole.
June 30th, 2008 at 10:31 am
Clark was wounded in Nam too. Only diff is that he has way more executive experience than mccain.
June 30th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
What’s funny is that in 2004, after it became obvious that John Kerry was thoroughly boring and unlikeable, the Dems decided to center his campaign around his Vietnam service.
Remember the “Reporting for duty” gimmick at their convention? But since then, apparently they’ve decided that military service is entirely irrelevant and that candidates should refrain from even bringing it up.
As to Wesley Clark’s executive experience, his stint at NATO didn’t end all that well.