Clark on rampage
Wesley Clark’s campaign has gone
beyond rational to the point of weird. The latest
is the campaign's response to Majority Leader Tom
Delay’s comments on Meet the Press. The response
resembles something between first year law
students campaigning for campus president of the
school Democratic club. Here is the Clark
response:
Clark
Campaign Strategist Reid Cherlin responded to Tom
'Chicken-Hawk' Delay's latest cowardly comments,
"The closest to real combat that Tom
'Chicken-Hawk' Delay has ever come was when he got
himself a student deferment from Vietnam and
instead suited up in his exterminator outfit and
defended the people of Texas against invading
cockroaches, marauding red ants and hostile moths.
Wes Clark has seen real combat, given his blood
for our country, and commanded troops in battle,
which is why he believes we need to win the war on
terrorism instead of declaring victory when we all
know that the terrorists directly responsible for
9/11 are still out there at large. General Clark
lives in a world where he believes that America
will be stronger, safer and more secure if we are
focused on winning the war against the terrorists,
getting Osama bin Laden and working with our
Allies."
They also wanted to remind the
public of why Tom is ‘Chicken Hawk’ Delay. They
chose the ridiculous moment when Delay was
defending the choice of Dan Quayle for V.P.:
Just
to remind people of the Chicken-hawk's views on
military service, here is what he has said about
his lack of military experience, in an excerpt
from the/ Houston Press/:
"He
and Quayle, DeLay explained to the assembled media
in New Orleans, were victims of an unusual
phenomenon back in the days of the undeclared
Southeast Asian war. 'So many minority youths had
volunteered for the well-paying military positions
to escape poverty and the ghetto that there was
literally no room for patriotic folks like
himself.' Satisfied with the pronouncement, which
dumbfounded more than a few of his listeners who
had lived the sixties, DeLay marched off to the
convention." [/Houston Press/, 1/7/99]
Speaking of V.P.
If that wasn’t weird enough,
Clark let loose with the fact in a one-on-one
meeting with Howard Dean he was offered the V.P.
slot. Why would anyone bring up what cannot be
verified after the fact and this late? While there
were rumors of the offer and a sense of trying to
keep Clark out of the race by Dean back then, you
sure don’t walk into the issue at this late date
of whether you were or were not offered the slot.
Once again, it shows the naiveté of Clark and his
amateur campaign.
Dean campaign manager Joe Trippi,
appearing separately on the show, denied that Dean
offered Clark the V.P. slot.
Dean's campaign has not focused
on a running mate, Trippi said, and "particularly
back in the period he was talking about, we were
still an asterisk in most of the polls, so to be
talking to anybody about being vice president
doesn't make a whole lot of sense."
In a childish response, the
Clark campaign offered this rebuttal:
"Joe
Trippi may want to check in with his candidate
before talking. Howard Dean did in fact offer Wes
Clark a place on the ticket in a one-on-one
meeting that Trippi did not attend. Joe Trippi
shouldn't comment on meetings he wasn't invited
to."
The shrillness of the Clark
campaign causes the question to arise of how much
longer will this go on? For awhile, seems to be
the answer. The Clark campaign is raising money
off of Clark’s certain comment in reply to what he
would do if Republicans questioned his patriotism.
The website
www.GeorgiaForWesleyClark.com is using Clark’s
words to raise money. The
Associated Press is reporting:
"When
General Clark was asked how he would respond if
anyone from the right-wing criticized his
patriotism or military record, he responded in no
uncertain terms: 'I'll beat the s--- out of
them,'" says the appeal on the group's Web site.
"Do
you agree it's time to beat the — ahem — 'spit'
out of the right wing? Well, show it by donating
to our special 'Beat the Spit' fund-raiser! Every
dollar raised will be categorized as a 'Beat the
Spit' dollar, and will go to the 'Clark for
President' campaign," the group says.
Clark blames President for 9-11
Wesley Clark is reported as
staying on the warpath in
Politics New Hampshire Online. They report
that:
His
biggest applause of the night came when he
addressed the September 11 terrorist attacks.
“More
could have been done,” to anticipate the tragedy
he said, “and this president could have done it.”
However, he was questioned by
someone with more pacifist nature when they
questioned Clark about his support of the School
of the Americas in Georgia. Rep. Dennis Kucinich
has criticized the school which is for the purpose
of training Latin Americans, of training
individuals who violated human rights. Clark
responded:
“The
School of the Americas teaches human rights,” he
said.
Later
in the forum, Clark revisited the issue when
another questioner indicated he was dissatisfied
with the general’s earlier explanation.
The
program, he said, offers the opportunity for Latin
American soldiers to be exposed to the Democratic
culture of the United States so that they come to
respect the values they are being trained to
defend.
Dean’s approach
The
Washington Post reports on Howard Dean’s
approach to legislating and life in how he pushed
for universal health care as Governor of Vermont:
Dean,
a doctor by training, would be the nation's first
governor to guarantee health coverage to every
state resident. And he would do it in a single
legislative session, with one enormous bill.
It was
ambitious, bold -- and an utter failure. In May
1994, five months after he began, Dean pulled the
bill and declared the effort dead.
But it
wasn't the end. Like a pragmatic physician who
tries a new therapy when the first fails, Dean
devoted much of the next decade to smaller,
incremental changes aimed at filling the state's
health care gaps.
It was
a slower strategy, but by the close of his tenure,
Dean came very close to achieving universal health
coverage.
Vermont now has one of the nation's highest rates
of health insurance coverage, providing care to
virtually every child and more than 90 percent of
adults. The national average is 83.7 percent.
Trippi on Dean’s Enron
Washington, DC - Today on
This Week with George Stephanopoulos, Dean
campaign manager Joe Trippi offered yet another
explanation as to whether or not Governor Dean met
with Enron officials before giving the company
lucrative tax breaks. Steve Murphy, campaign
manager for the Gephardt campaign, today released
the following statement in reaction to these
comments:
"It has been nine days that
Governor Dean has refused to answer any questions
regarding his dealings with the Enron Corporation.
Howard Dean could put all of these questions to
rest if he would simply disclose basic facts and
documents related to his time as governor. It is
time for Dr. Dean and his campaign to finally come
clean with the facts about his dealings with the
Enron Corporation."
This Week with
George Stephanopoulos, 12/21/03
MR. STEPHANOPOULOS: Let
me turn to something else that your opponents have
raised in the last week or so, especially Dick
Gephardt. He accuses Howard Dean of "gross
hypocrisy" on the issue of Enron, because he says
that "Howard Dean is out there on the campaign
trail attacking George Bush for his ties to Enron,
yet when he was governor of Vermont, he passed
into law a tax break which Enron took advantage
of." And I just want to ask this question very
clearly because it's been tough to get a clear
answer from the campaign. Did Howard Dean meet
with representatives of Enron at any time in order
to bring their business into the state?
MR. TRIPPI: He says he doesn't think so. We
don't believe he did.
MR. STEPHANOPOULOS: But
you don't know?
MR. TRIPPI: Hundreds of
thousands -- I mean, how many meetings occurred,
but no, we don't believe so. And again, this is
about, I mean, it's about every single attack -- I
mean, we are just getting -- and particularly in
Iowa, I mean, the Republicans have ads up against
us, Gephardt has ads up against us. There's
committees that we can't even figure out who
started the committee or who's sponsoring it,
attacking us with stuff –
MR. STEPHANOPOULOS: But
this is a fact that could be discovered and that's
another point your opponents raise. They say
because Howard Dean has refused to release his
records from the gubernatorial office, they can't
-- we can't know the truth about this and we would
know the truth if the records were released. How
come the governor will not release the records?
MR. TRIPPI: He said that
this is in front of a judge and the judge will go
through those records one by one and decide what
should be released and what shouldn't, and that's
normal –
MR. STEPHANOPOULOS: Well,
but it's something, actually, Democrats, and I
believe, Howard Dean, have actually criticized the
Bush administration for. They say that, you know,
the Bush administration has a penchant for secrecy
and they've had to take vice-president Cheney, for
example, to court to get him to release records.
How is this different? Why not release them on
your own?
MR. TRIPPI: Because,
first of all, it affects not just the current
governor of Vermont, but all governors into the
future of Vermont. It's not -- it's now a decision
that the state is going to have to make. These
papers are not owned by the governor any more.
They're not his.
MR. STEPHANOPOULOS: But
he could call on them to be released.
MR. TRIPPI: He said that
they are in the right place now. A judge who's not
involved in politics will decide what should be
out and what shouldn't. And you know, it's kind of
an interesting thing that this really is not about
-- our candidacy now is about all these other
people out there, because we are funded -- what is
the thing about Enron? We didn't take any money
from Enron, ever, that I know of. And so that's
all public record. The president did. The
president has corporate bundlers going crazy
raising him 200 million dollars, 200 million
bucks. It's not going to be a fair fight in the
general election. I mean, it's not even going to
be a fair fight now. It's going to be 200 million
to zero against every one of our opponents.
There's only one force in this country that can
take the country back from those folks, and it's
the American people. And that's way our campaign
is about trying to get two million Americans to
give us 100 dollars.
Kerry working Iowa
Sen. John Kerry continues to
work retail politics in Iowa as he asks for votes
in small groups or at a truck stop in Newton,
Iowa. At the truck stop the Des Moines Register
caught up with the candidate and he told the
Register he wants Attorney General John Ashcroft
investigated. He said he will recommend that
President Bush appoint a special prosecutor to
investigate whether Attorney General John Ashcroft
committed perjury by violating federal election
law in 2000.
He also continues with the theme
that Howard Dean is unqualified to be President
because of a lack of foreign policy expertise
according to the Register:
But
Kerry, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee, continued to make foreign policy the
defining issue when comparing himself to Dean.
"If
we're going to beat George Bush, we need a nominee
who can stand up to Bush," he said.
"You
wouldn't hire a contractor to build a house who'd
never built a house."
Kerry’s working for America
Today, John Kerry kicked off a
four day ‘Fighting for Working America’s Tour’ to
discuss his ideas to create jobs and make it
easier for working families to make ends meet.
John Kerry promised to end the ‘special interest’
economy ushered in by George W. Bush and launch a
new economy era that works for America’s families.
I. Get Rid of the
Special Interest Economy
·
$100 billion for 16 biggest
corporations: Bush proposed to repeal the
corporate AMT that would have lavished $100
billion on 16 corporations.
·
$2 billion: Iraq reconstruction
contracts awarded to Haliburton.
·
53% of Iowans had pensions and
401(k).
·
$2.18 billion: losses in Iowa in
from 2000-2001.
Get rid of Bush tax cuts for the
wealthy to invest in education and health care.
Time and again President Bush has chosen to shower
tax breaks on those who need them least. This is
not only unfair, but it is bad economics. Our
nation has gone from a surplus to record deficits
robbing our children’s future and from creating 23
million new jobs to losing over 3 million lost
jobs.
Stop special interest giveaways
and crack down on corporate scandals. Bush has
supported giveaways for big oil companies, no-bid
contracts for Haliburton and giveaways to
corporate America – even $180 million for a
shopping center with Hooters. Corporate scandals
- some led by Bush's closest corporate cronies –
have wiped out personal savings and shaken
investor confidence. John Kerry will get rid of
these special interest giveaways and crack down on
corporate scandals.
II. Create More Jobs
·
30,900 Iowa jobs have been lost
since President Bush took office.
·
Tyco Electronics is moving ahead
with a plan to lose its plant in Guttenberg, Iowa
putting more than 100 people.
·
WorldCom corporate malfeasance and
lack of enforcement by the Administration resulted
in the layoff of approximately 150 Iowans.
Crack down on companies that go
abroad to avoid taxes and instead give tax breaks
to companies who invest in jobs here in the USA.
Kerry’s manufacturing tax credit will give tax
breaks to companies that hire additional workers.
He will also crack down on countries that are
practicing unfair trade or manipulating their
currency to undermine American exports.
Create 500,000 jobs through
alternative energy sources and help family farmers
by better targeting subsidies and encouraging
conservation among family farmers.
·
Help small businesses by reversing
the cuts that George Bush has made to loans and
women’s business centers, by assuring that have
the federal support that they need to grow and
thrive, encouraging startups, and helping small
manufacturers.
III. An Economy Where
Middle Class Families Can Succeed
·
71.4% of children under age six in
Iowa with all parents in the labor force.
·
Average annual cost of child care
for a four-year-old in a center in Iowa: $6,198
·
Average 4 year public university
tuition and fees in Iowa rose 20 percent in the
last year.
Stop soaring health care costs
that are putting a tight squeeze on families and
hurting businesses. That means cutting
prescription drug costs and helping out with the
highest cost cases so we can tamp down health care
premiums.
Make college affordable for
every American. To succeed in the new economy,
Americans need a workforce is more innovative and
productive than our competitors. Kerry’s plan
makes college affordable for every family with a
new tax credit on the first $4,000 of tuition for
all for years.
Cut the budget deficit in half
in four years. John Kerry will not balance the
budget by cutting Medicare or school lunches and
he won’t do it by raising taxes on middle class
Americans. He will take on corporate loopholes,
cut wasteful government and get rid of tax cuts
George Bush lavished on the wealthiest.
Stopping the tax hikes and the
education cuts that are going on in the states –
that are causing layoffs and hurting our economy.
I have proposed a “State Tax Relief and Education
Fund” that will provide relief that does just
that.
Edwards on rural communities
John Edwards continued to
campaign in Iowa. He continues to struggle to gain
traction despite his in depth policy statements.
In his latest swing he campaigned on rural
communities.
"Family farmers are the backbone
of the small towns and rural communities across
our country, but they're under attack from big
corporate factory farms and those who want to cut
the safety net. We must do everything we can to
help family farmers stay strong in good times and
bad, and that's why I was proud to support the
farm bill passed with Senator Tom Harkin's
leadership last year," Edwards said. "I will fight
for family farmers by standing up to the big
factory farms. I also know that the best stewards
of the land are those work and live on it. Farmers
want clean water and air for their families, and I
will give them the tools they need to practice
sound conservation."
Edwards' policies for rural
America include:
·
A National Moratorium on the
Construction and Expansion of New CAFOs.
Edwards, who beat the only corporate hog farmer in
the U.S. Senate in 1998, is proposing a national
moratorium on the construction and expansion of
new CAFOs. Edwards' proposal would flatly stop the
creation of new CAFOs.
·
A Ban on Packer Ownership to Help
Family Farms from Iowa to North Carolina.
Edwards wants a strong ban on packer ownership
that can become law now. That ban must stop the
spread of large corporate hog interests which are
driving small farmers out of business by
influencing livestock prices and restricting
access to markets for independent producers.
·
Full Funding of the Conservation
Security Program. The Conservation Security
Program (CRP) in the 2002 Farm Bill offers farmers
incentives to implement environmentally sound
farming techniques. However, House Republicans
have refused to fund the CRP and the Bush
Administration has stalled on putting the rules
into their final form. Edwards supports fully
funding the CRP and finalizing the rules so
farmers can begin conservation practices.
Edwards has also unveiled the
CLEAN plan (Concentrated Livestock Existing
Alongside Nature) to limit pollution water and air
pollution from large corporate livestock
operations. The CLEAN Act would:
·
Establish tough pollution limits
for livestock operations. The act would
require the Agriculture Secretary and EPA
Administrator to establish maximum acceptable
levels for the discharge of nitrogen, phosphorous,
and other pollutants. Discharges that risk
significant soil toxicity, pollution of surface or
ground water, or harm to human health would be
forbidden.
·
Establish limits for hydrogen
sulfide and ammonia emissions from large CAFOs.
The strict limitations would be the first national
emissions limitations for these pollutants.
·
Establish rigorous requirements
for spraying and waste containment. The act
would require new limits on spraying, including
spraying near sensitive locations and in inclement
weather. The act would also establish new
requirements for containing excess waste,
including both wet and dry waste.
·
Mandate tough penalties for
polluters. Concentrated Animal Feeding
Operations (CAFO) owners who violate this act
could lose their CAFO and face stiff monetary
fines.
·
Prioritize federal funding for
clean water and prohibit funding to construct or
expand CAFOs. In order to ensure that farmers
have the resources to comply with the new
requirements, the act would prioritize federal
funding for clean water practices. And to ensure
money is targeted to aiding the environment, the
act would bar uses of Environmental Quality
Incentives Program (EQUIP) funds to construct or
expand CAFOs.
·
Encourage states to improve their
regulations. The act does not apply to states
that provide greater protections against
pollution, including a moratorium on any
construction or expansion of CAFOs. This will
encourage states to provide even stronger
pollution protections.
More McCain supporters
More than 60 additional former
New Hampshire supporters of John McCain today
endorsed Joe Lieberman for President, joining a
steering committee of 50 others and bringing the
total number of former McCain Supporters for
Lieberman to more than 100 including 15 former
town chairs.
"I'll be fighting hard for Joe
Lieberman for the same exact reasons I fought hard
for John McCain," said McCain's former town chair
in Strafford County, Leonard Arkerson. "Both men
are straight talkers who fight for what they think
is right -- not what's easy or convenient."
"I'm proud to announce my
support for Joe Lieberman because he is just like
the voters of New Hampshire independent minded,"
said former McCain supporter Carol Grant of
Atkinson. "He's a man of integrity who puts people
and principle over politics every single time."
Several steering committee
members will be joining Lieberman in New Hampshire
throughout the day today in Hampton, Portsmouth,
Concord, Manchester, and Candia.
Does Uncle Sam want you?
Dennis Kucinich says that there
is going to be a proposal for a draft and he is
going to oppose it. Kucinich campaigning in Des
Moines stated loud and clear that he believes
because of the on going war in Iraq that the Bush
administration is going to reinstate the draft.
According to the
Des Moines Register, "The truth of the matter
is . . . if we stay at war in Iraq, and we start
to expand the United States' activities, which
this administration is planning on, we are looking
at a draft," Kucinich said. He spoke at a town
hall meeting attended by about 100 people at
Creative Visions, a nonprofit social services
agency on the city's north side.
"I want everyone to hear me loud
and clear on this. I will do every- thing that I
can to stop any kind of a draft based on our
presence in Iraq. I want to get out of Iraq and
leave our kids to pursue their college education
instead of dragging them onto a battlefield where
we shouldn't even be," Kucinich said.
The Bush approach
The
Washington Post covers President Bush’s latest
success in foreign policy. It examines the extent
of the success of the Bush doctrine:
But
Bush's supporters say it is precisely his
willingness to go it alone and take preemptive
action that has encouraged other countries to seek
diplomatic solutions before the United States
launches a military attack. The Libya and Iran
concessions "show the peripheral benefit of
preemption," said Kenneth Adelman, a Reagan
administration arms control official who now
serves on a Pentagon advisory panel. "Most of all
it scares the bejesus out of rogue dictators." As
for stubborn allies such as Jacques Chirac and
Gerhard Schroeder, "they pay more attention when
there's a forceful U.S. policy," Adelman said.
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