YearlyKos: General Wesley Clark
03 August 2007 9:19 am by Taylor Marsh
YearlyKos: General Wesley Clark
TM is serving as a volunteer on the advisory committee to the convention’s leadership forum.
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“That makes me feel awfully good and I haven’t even announced yet.”
– Former General Wesley Clark
He was kidding. But after the rousing welcome he had to say something.
Wesley Clark unloaded both barrels today and gave a tremendously powerful keynote
speech this morning. This man has learned a lot since his 2004 presidential
run. The way he speaks and delivers his message is nothing short of exhilarating
and inspiring. Hope to have the full audio a bit later.
Clark spoke widely of U.S. foreign policy. One of the subjects he touched more
than once is the importance of negotiating between the Israelis and the Palestinians
and getting a settlement between them.
When it came to Iraq, Clark didn’t mince words.
“We are not questioning the generals. Mr. President, we
are questioning you! Stop hiding behind Dave Petraeus.”
– Wesley Clark
That rally brought a standing ovation from the entire room, with cheers from
front to the back of the grand ballroom.
Clark also didn’t miss a moment to go at one of the ‘08 contenders.
“It seems everything reminds Rudy Giuliani of 9/11.” –
Wesley Clark
One of the common threads I’m hearing from a lot of military men and veterans,
all Democrats, is that we need to get out of Iraq, but we have to careful about
how we do it. To paraphrase Clark, history doesn’t stop when the last soldier
walks down the road to Basra. We will still have interests in the region after
Iraq. I’ll be addressing this discussion, which is opening out on the most important aspect of what we’re about to face in Iraq, how we redeploy when Republican support for this disaster crumbles in the fall, a bit later today.
Clark also talked about the argument against Iraq and how to mount our debate
against what Bush is doing. He advised us to not play on Bush’s turf, because
it’s not about the troop force. The troops have done an amazing job. It’s about
putting the intelligence back in our policy.
“Bush always listens to the generals. When he gets tired of listening
to them he replaces them. …” – Wesley Clark.
Clark also mentioned Edelman and Cheney and how they treat Democratic arguments, as well
as their response to anyone pushing back against the failed policies of Bush-Cheney.
Obviously, the Edelman comment was directly pointed at his letter to Clinton,
accusing her of helping the enemy by doing her job.
After his speech, Clark took questions. One was about the ‘08 candidates and
who he supported. He hasn’t endorsed anyone yet.
