Too Bad...Clark Walks And Quacks Like A Duck!

Politics - AP


Democratic Hopefuls Blast Bush in Debate
29 minutes ago

By RON FOURNIER, AP Political Writer

PHOENIX - Democratic presidential hopefuls focused fire on Wesley Clark
in campaign debate Thursday night, deriding the retired general as a belated
convert to their party — and indecisive to boot.

"I did not vote for George Bush. I voted for Al
Gore," Clark retorted in the most contentious of
four debates to date in the battle for the
Democratic nomination.

Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean and Sens.
John Kerry, Joe Lieberman and John Edwards
took turns criticizing Clark, saying he was
speaking warmly of Bush as recently as 2001, and
more recently switched positions to oppose the
war with Iraq.

Clark struck an above-the-fray pose at one point,
insisting, "I'm not going to attack a fellow
Democrat."

But even that drew a sharp response from his
rivals, primed to attack the retired Army general
who jumped to a lead in some national polls within days of his entry into the
race in September.

"I want to say ... welcome to the Democratic presidential campaign," Lieberman
said. "Look, none of us are above questioning."

With the pace of the campaign quickening, the Democrats traded jabs over
economic policy as well.

Gephardt told a questioner in the debate audience he favors repealing Bush's
tax cuts in their entirety, and insisted that would not result in an increase in her
taxes.

But Kerry, who favors retaining Bush's tax cuts only for middle-income
individuals, said, "You're going to pay more tax" if all cuts are repealed.

The field of Democratic contenders — shrunken by one with Florida Sen. Bob
Graham's withdrawal from the race — met onstage at the Orpheum Theater in
Phoenix, capital of a state that holds an early primary on Feb. 3.

For the first half of the debate, the candidates sat on tall chairs in front of
identical lecterns, each one bearing a CNN logo. The cable network sponsored
the debate, and Judy Woodruff, a network anchor, served as moderator.

The format switched halfway through. The lecterns disappeared, the men shed
their suit jackets and fielded questions from the audience — the first time in
any of the debates that the candidates have responded to questions from men
and women whose votes will prove decisive in the early primary states.

When they weren't sparring with one another, Democrats took time to heap
fresh criticism on Bush's postwar policy in Iraq, faulting him for failing to win
significant help from other countries.

"You remember on your report card you had your English grade, your history
grade and then it said, plays well together? He flunked that part," jabbed
Gephardt of Missouri.

Former Sen. Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois made a similar point, saying, "I
think we have to work well with others and begin to bring our troops home
with honor."

Clark — who voted for Republicans Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George
H. Bush for the White House — labored to fend off the criticism from the early
moments of the debate. "I would never have voted for war. The war was an
unnecessary war and it's been a huge strategic mistake for the country," he
said.

But Dean said that exactly one year ago, Clark had advised a Democratic
congressional candidate in New Hampshire to vote for legislation authorizing
the war in Iraq — a war the former general now criticizes sharply.

Lieberman, a supporter of the conflict, jabbed at Dean and Clark
simultaneously. In a backhanded compliment, he said Dean had been
steadfast in his opposition to the war.

By contrast, he criticized Clark for what he called a history of
inconsistency on Iraq. He said Democrats need a candidate who can
"reach a conclusion and stick to it."

Kerry said that despite Clark's declarations, the former Army general
"did say he would vote for the resolution" approving the war. He also
said Clark had praised Bush at a Republican fund-raiser last year — at
a time he said the Bush administration had already won tax cuts for the
rich from Congress and was trying to tap into the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge in Alaska for oil.

Edwards spoke dismissively of Clark, saying that he opposed Bush
from the start — even "when some on this stage had hope for" him.

"I could still have hope in early 2001 that this administration would learn
its lessons, as most administrations do," said the retired general, who
attended a GOP fund-raiser that year.

"Americans believed they had selected a compassionate conservative,"
he added. "Instead we had a guy who has deepened the deficits. He's
taken us recklessly into war. And he's been a radical, not a
compassionate conservative."

Clark also criticized his Washington-based rivals for failing to take
action against Bush's foreign policy. He said North Korea and Iran are
accelerating their nuclear weapons development in reaction to the
administration's "pre-emptive doctrine" and the Democrats in Congress
are doing nothing to stop it.

Dean accused several rivals of giving Bush "a blank check to go to war
in Iraq" by voting for or voicing support for a congressional resolution
last year.

But Dean also said he would support Bush's request for $87 billion to
maintain the troops stationed in Iraq and help rebuild the country.

That, in turn, drew a challenge from Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich, who
said the troops should be brought home because "they are targets" for
terrorists in the land that Saddam Hussein once ruled.

In a bit of political jujitsu, Kerry's backstage aides fed material to
Woodruff near the end of the debate alleging that Dean had once tried
to deny prescription drug benefits to elderly Vermonters.

Woodruff confronted the former governor with the information. "That's
silly," he said, adding he had informed the legislature at the time that if it
didn't raise cigarette taxes, there wouldn't be enough money to pay for
the benefit. Lawmakers relented, he added. Tweet