Boy, talk about your echo chamber in the media. Yesterday, General Wesley Clark went on CBS' Face the Nation, and repeated something he's said many times before. If you missed it, here's the full quote in context :
Bob Schieffer: Well you, you went so far as to say that you thought John McCain was, quote, and these are your words, "untested and untried," And I must say I, I had to read that twice, because you're talking about somebody who was a prisoner of war. He was a squadron commander of the largest squadron in the Navy. He's been on the Senate Armed Services Committee for lo these many years. How can you say that John McCain is un- untested and untried? General?
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Because in the matters of national security policy making, it's a matter of understanding risk. It's a matter of gauging your opponents, and it's a matter of being held accountable. John McCain's never done any of that in his official positions. I certainly honor his service as a prisoner of war. He was a hero to me and to hundreds of thousands and millions of others in Armed Forces as a prisoner of war. 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 Air- in the Navy that he commanded, it wasn't a wartime squadron. He hasn't been there and ordered the bombs to fall. He hasn't seen what it's like when diplomats come in and say, 'I don't know whether we're going to be able to get this point through or not. Do you want to take the risk? What about your reputation? How do we handle it-'Bob Schieffer: Well-
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: ' -it publicly.' He hasn't made those calls, Bob.
So, in short, General Clark respects John McCain's service, calls him a hero to millions, but notes that experience doesn't make him qualified to be Commander in Chief.
Now, VoteVets.org isn't getting into the presidential race, but I don't see what is so wrong about what General Clark said. And yet, immediately and unsurprisingly, the McCain campaign let loose with a response that expressed shock and dismay. Almost right after that, all of the media was up in arms about how 'wrong' this was. Pretty disappointingly, even progressive surrogates couldn't muster the strength to back up General Clark on TV.
Why?
This wasn't a swift boating, or any low politics. General Clark called McCain a hero to millions for his sacrifice. And, that's a pretty big statement coming from a man who, himself, left Vietnam on a stretcher. But, facts are facts:
• Senator McCain's service and experience, both as a POW and as a Senator apparently hasn't infused him with a dose of good judgment.
• Senator McCain's experience hasn't led him to realize that the war in Iraq and it's continuance has empowered and emboldened Iran, and destabilized the region.
• Senator McCain's experience hasn't caused him to recognize that we're losing ground in Afghanistan, and Osama bin Laden is still out there, plotting.
• Senator McCain's experience didn't lead him to support the 21st Century GI Bill -- he opposed it. It didn't even make him feel the need to get back to Washington to vote on this -- one of the most important veterans' bills this Congress. He twice skipped votes on the GI Bill, to fundraise.
• Senator McCain's experience didn't help him empathize with troops are overstretched and overdeployed, when he voted against the bipartisan Webb-Hagel "Dwell Time Amendment," which would have given troops as much time at home as in the field.
Senator McCain is running on his experience, saying it makes him ready to lead right away. By doing so, he is asking people to look at what that experience taught him. By looking at Senator McCain's positions and votes (or lack of them), it seems that experience has not given him the right judgment on important issues of our time. And, while we should all honor Senator McCain's service, that doesn't mean we should necessarily honor it by putting him in the White House to take up George W. Bush's third term.
So, General Clark is 100 percent absolutely right, and he should not back down. I'd hope that some of the so-called progressives on television back him up on this, and not get intimidated by the media and McCain campaign press releases. These are important times, and deserve a blunt and honest debate.
In some circles, that's just called 'straight talk.'
UPDATE: Since a lot of you are sending words of support on here for General Clark, we started a petition where you can sign to thank him, and tell him to keep it up. We will take the petition to General Clark, personally. Also, it's important to sign, so we can show the media that we've got his back.
Follow Jon Soltz on Twitter: www.twitter.com/jonsoltz
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But experience means nothing if your positions are wrong. It's not bad enough that McCain is running for Bush's third term - it's made worse by the fact that he had to backpedal on so many of his previous positions and pander to the right in order to get where he is today. His campaign has been broke and is bending if not breaking campaign rules. He has engaged in foolish jokes and statements like "bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran" and "In Iraq for 100 years" that show to the world that he is NOT the man for this job.
On the other hand, Obama has the right positions and the right perspectiv
It's not about 'experienc
Mike Luckovich from the Atlanta Journal Constituti
http://www
The trouble starts when the children in the GOP, desperate to hold onto their un-America
I used to watch Fox-Kids and read the Wall Street Journal (now just a GOP Rag) but I can't even do that anymore.
The far-right now has far more in common with al Queada, and Al Jazeera than it does with Real America or Americans!
These un-America
But most of all, they HATE THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTI
We need to scrape these neo-con maggots off the bottoms of Uncle Sam's Shoes once and for all.
And the easiest way to do that is to simply vote for Barak Obama in Nov...let'
orchestrat
and Cheney's farce in Iraq, which has only managed to destabiliz
manantly destroy the sovereign country of Iraq, cost 100s of thousands of lives , a trillion U.S. dollars
and accomplish
more than can be said for McBush's Iraqi folly.
Why is getting shot down and being a POW got anything to do with being a president?
I'm sorry he suffered but this man is not fit to be dogcatcher
http://www
McCain may have demonstrat
As for throwing people under the bus, the lunatic fringe echo chamber makes it a necessity. Witness your own post and the kool-aid being served at your corner of the echo chamber.
That was such good 'experienc
So, yeah, we need a president with 'executive experience
If we're going to use the word to describe anyone who was a p.o.w., then he was a hero. If we're going to use the word to describe anyone who was injured in a war, he was a hero. If we're going to describe anyone who was injured in a war, tortured as a p.o.w., signed anything put in front of him while doing propaganda video and giving military informatio
In my opinion, his military service and his time as a p.o.w. should certainly be given a measure of respect, since most people can be quickly broken by torture to the point at which they'll do or say pretty much whatever they're told to do or say; but to call him a hero blithely denigrates and ignores the memory of those who were valiant enough, or just bullheaded enough, to spit in the faces of their torturers and refuse to submit. THEY are the REAL heroes, the ONLY real p.o.w. heroes. They died for their faithful service to their country, and it's a damn shame that we honor as a hero one who gave so much less.
"McCain isn't a hero because he was tortured. He's a hero because he declined an offer by his captors to be released, refusing to leave his fellow Americans behind.
It may not take much effort to get shot down, but it must take a considerab
Surely self-sacri
We can make no similar analysis of Obama, since he hasn't fought in any wars in his lifetime. But we have been given a glimpse at how Obama responds to external pressures and where he draws the line on loyalty and self-sacri
McCain is an old pro at this particular angle of cynicism. He's gotten himself in enough trouble in his political career that he usually, though not always, finds somebody he can run over for public enjoyment right away, in order to direct any unwanted attention elsewhere.
The obvious reality is that it simply is not possible to run for any high political office - and most especially the presidency - without tossing all kinds of people under that bus. EVERY politician does it. In fact every president, including Washington
BTW, McCain's new plane was unveiled and one of his workers joked with the press that they would have to earn their way to the front, in order to get the best access. Funny joke...huh
But We must keep on fighting in all Media newspapers
We have many to talk apropos Experience until they stop playing that card...
Reminds me of the quote by Samuel Johnson, "Patriotis