Wesley Clark | The New York Observer

At DNC Vanity Fair Party, Chevy Chase Gets McCain's VP Choice Wrong; Ashley Judd and Jamie Foxx Boogie Down

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 13:26:04 -0400

DENVER—"There's my girl!" Chevy Chase bellowed as Madeline Albright walked into the backroom of the Vanity Fair-Google party on Thursday, August 28. The towering comedian, who was clad in a blazer, T-shirt and jeans, bent down to embrace his old friend. They discussed plans to get together—Mr. Chase promising an e-mail from "his people"—mugged for the cameras, and agreed that Barack Obama had nailed his speech. "If we're seen together, you're...

The End of Wes Clark's V.P. Campaign

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 20:01:55 -0400

It may ultimately be a good thing for Barack Obama that Wesley Clark stepped into such a mess when he discussed John McCain’s military service this week.

The background of the Clark flap is by now familiar: On CBS’ Face the Nation on Sunday, the retired general said that “I don’t think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president,” a comment that has been portrayed by the...

Wes Clark Is Right

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:21:28 -0400

Despite all the feigned outrage fanned by the mainstream media and the right-wing noisemakers, Wesley Clark—retired four-star general, former Supreme Commander of NATO, wounded and highly decorated veteran of ground combat in Vietnam, and a military man to his core—assuredly did not denigrate the war record of John McCain when he talked about the Republican candidate on television last Sunday.

Instead, perhaps naïvely, General Clark stated a very simple...

Hillary's Would-Be Vice Presidents

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 07:58:10 -0400

According to the conventional wisdom that governs the career calculations of most ambitious politicians, there are two ways to get ahead in elected politics.

The simplest way is to run for the office you covet when it comes open and to win it—or, failing that, to wage a noble-but-losing campaign that puts you first in line for the next time around. This approach enjoys a long tradition—renewed this year with John McCain’s nomination—in Republican presidential...

Clinton Campaign Stays on the Offensive Over Iraq

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 13:13:54 -0400

“I grew up in Lousiana and I learned a little bit about milking a cow,” said Lt. Gen. Joe Ballard on a Clinton campaign conference call today, referring to Barack Obama’s record on Iraq. “Just because you recognize the cow doesn’t mean you know how to milk it.”

“No one can tell you how to milk a cow—you have to learn that yourself,” Ballard went on. “There’s no doubt in my mind that he...

Wesley Clark: Clinton Can 'Avert War With Iran'

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 15:13:53 -0500

Hillary Clinton debuts a not-particularly-timely ad in which General Wesley Clark says she can "avert war with Iran," although his vote of confidence may help her recover from the N.P.R. debate yesterday.

Clark also says in the spot: "I see that Hillary's opponents have started attacking her. That's politics. What this country needs is...

Hillary Clinton, Wes Clark and Christie Vilsack Talk About 'Tertiary Recovery' at Breakfast

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 11:42:54 -0500

Hillary Clinton, Wesley Clark and Christie Vilsack just sat down for what can best be called a performance breakfast this morning at the Drake diner in Des Moines.

After greeting a few locals eating in the booths, the trio sat at the counter for coffee and fruit cup in front of about a dozen cameras.

After some niceties ("Well, you still swim everyday," Clinton said to Clark) the discussion took a sharp turn towards energy policy.

Clark...

Gen. Clark Rallies Hillary's Troops

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 15:46:03 -0400

Here's former general Wesley Clark stirring up the Hillary volunteers before last night's debate, and shortly before he was verbally assaulted at close quarters by a very angry Obama supporter....

Obama, Edwards Push Clinton for Hedging on Foreign Policy, Eliot Spitzer

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 09:33:56 -0400

For all Barack Obama’s aggressive talk about how he was finally going to force Hillary Clinton to answer for taking seemingly inconsistent positions, it was the New York senator herself who ultimately raised the issue.

After evading pointed attacks from Obama and John Edwards over Iran, Iraq, social security and taxes for much of Tuesday night’s debate at Drexel University here in Philadelphia, it was a question about, of all things, Eliot Spitzer’s failed proposal...

Hillary Gets Clark, Still Needs a Crowe

Tue, 18 Sep 2007 16:02:28 -0400

It’s not that Wesley Clark’s decision to endorse Hillary Clinton is bad news for the former First Lady.

The retired general and former NATO Supreme Allied Commander is popular with a segment of the Democratic base, and being able to claim support from such a decorated military man can only help her considerable efforts to prove she has the “toughness” to be president, whatever that means.

But the value of Mr....

Don't Go AWOL on Wes Clark

Wed, 14 Mar 2007 21:47:17 -0400

Sure, they look like friends now, but Wesley Clark was anything but pandering when he exchanged words with Anna Wildling, one of the people who came to hear him speak at Taj Lounge last night. During a Q and A, Wilding asked why America was so arrogant and, normally doesn't play well with other nations. Clarke, standing on a square ottoman to address the crowd, began answering. Wilding interjected. "You can disagree but you got...

Bush Broke Baghdad, But Democrats Still Break on Clean-Up

Sun, 17 Dec 2006 19:00:00 -0500

So now that the Democrats have won control of Congress, what should they do about the war in Iraq? “I never understand that question,” answered Charlie Rangel, the incoming chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. “You have a President that’s in deep shit. He got us into the war, and all the reasons he gave have been proven invalid, and the whole electorate was so pissed off that they got rid of...

Siberia: Is the End Near? Not on the Net!

Thu, 14 Dec 2006 12:16:50 -0500

Tonight might be Siberia's last night on 40th Street--it's still open, people!--but the reporters' no-man's-land has already found a new home on the World Wide Web. Last night The Transom stopped by to raise a glass and give a bear hug to Tracy Westmoreland, the grizzly barman with a big heart, only find him huddling over a laptop. "We're building the first step of what Siberia is online," said his computer wiz sidekick, Aaron Welch. He...

The Life and Death of an Iraq Plan

Thu, 14 Dec 2006 05:15:00 -0500

The idea of dividing Iraq into a Federalist system with three autonomous regions once had some currency amongst Democrats seeking alternative approaches in Iraq. Now it is all but abandoned. The idea, associated most closely with Leslie Gelb, the President Emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations, gained traction when it was endorsed by Joseph Biden, the incoming chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a possible presidential candidate. The two coauthored a widely...

Elsewhere: Hillary, Empire Zone, The Future

Fri, 10 Nov 2006 13:25:00 -0500

The Greatest Non-Candidate

Sun, 05 Mar 2006 19:00:00 -0500

No, Tom Brokaw is not running for President in 2004. Last month, despite the urging of his powerful friends, the 61-year-old NBC anchorman categorically ruled out any sort of candidacy. And that should have been that. But his friends won’t let the idea drop. Claiming to see no one with the stature to challenge President Bush among the declared Presidential candidates, they persist. “He simply is the greatest draft choice you could ever possibly...

W is for Wes

Thu, 04 Aug 2005 09:20:00 -0400

An eagle-eyed Politicker correspondent saw Wesley Clark in Union Square around 7 p.m. yesterday evening, walking solo and talking into a Blackberry cellphone. He was crossing the intersection of 17th St. and Park Ave. and bound for the W Hotel. Anyone know who he was meeting...

Donnie Fowler's P.R. Problem

Mon, 10 Jan 2005 11:33:39 -0500

Hillary Clinton isn't the only Democratic candidate dousing P.R. fires sparked by the indictment Friday of her former campaign finance director, David Rosen. Donnie Fowler, the candidate for D.N.C. chairman, has literally erased his ties to the fallen fund-raiser. On Dec. 22nd, Mr. Fowler's P.R. team posted a press release on its website announcing the members of the Fowler finance team: "Today, Donnie Fowler, candidate for Democratic National Committee Chairman, announced the leadership of his National Finance...

Kerry Finding Himself Strapped to Clinton In Three-Legged Race

Sun, 09 May 2004 20:00:00 -0400

The kind of week John Kerry had, you'd wish on George Bush (except it wouldn't dent his poll ratings):

There was more of the medals business (worsened by some cluck blabbing about quaffing protest-era brandies with the future standard-bearer at a Georgetown mansion, thus confirming the Spiro T. Agnew elitism charges denied by Mr. Kerry for three decades now). The "It's-her-car-not-mine" contretemps got a revisit (Mr. Kerry boasting in Michigan about owning all-American wheels, forgetting...

Kerry Tromps As Big Rollers Start to Salute

Sun, 08 Feb 2004 19:00:00 -0500

With their primary victories on Feb. 3, Senators John Kerry and John Edwards have turned the campaign for the Democratic Presidential nomination into a two-man race, at least for now.

And the sudden transformation of the campaign is being played out in New York, home of some of the Democratic Party's most influential donors and fund-raisers. New Yorkers who remained on the fence are getting ready to support either Mr. Kerry or Mr. Edwards,...

Power Punk: Matt Taibbi

Sun, 14 Dec 2003 19:00:00 -0500

Downtown bomb-thrower, Gen-X John Reed, better read than Red: Pissed-off prodigal son returns to targets Wesley Clark, Tom Friedman. The author of the New York Press ' "Cage Match" column, a weekly rant against the media, politics and everyone else who stands in his way, doesn't try to rile people. "The columns are supposed to be funny," said 33-year-old Matt Taibbi. "I don't enter into it with the idea of attacking people. Honest. Tom...

Is Wesley Clark a Democratic Ike or Bill's Clone?

Sun, 19 Oct 2003 20:00:00 -0400

The handlers, donors, endorsers and student supporters who had gathered to see former General Wesley Clark speak on Oct. 14 at Hunter College held their breath after one of several high-school students standing behindthe candidate suddenly faintedonto the_auditor-ium stage.

Mr.Clark, who is still a very new candidate, stopped his speech, joined the crowd surrounding the unconscious teenager and tried to help at one point by loosening the victim's belt. After an uneasy minute,...

General Clark Has Sgt. Rangel On Front Lines

Sun, 12 Oct 2003 20:00:00 -0400

WASHINGTON-Representative Charles Rangel of Harlem isn't shy about reminding a listener that he played a big role in making Hillary Clinton a U.S. Senator from New York three years ago. Now, however, he's talking about his next project: making Wesley Clark President of the United States.

"Even before he declared his candidacy, I used to tell people, 'Think about General Clark,'" Mr. Rangel said in an interview with The Observer . "They'd say, 'What does...

Meet Wesley Clark Jr.

Sun, 05 Oct 2003 20:00:00 -0400

Who tried to negotiate a pipeline deal with the Taliban AFTER they blew up the buddhas and forced jews to wear stars of David ? Who goes and works for Halliburton and the Carlyle Group when they leave office (or continue working for them while in office)? …Who has blocked and prevented any After Action Review as to what happened on 9/11? Who tried to block the creation of a Department of Homeland Security?...

The Terror War Needs Liberal Democrats, Too

Sun, 28 Sep 2003 20:00:00 -0400

The latest Democrat in the race is Gen. Wesley Clark, Rhodes scholar, former supreme allied commander of NATO, and ubiquitous TV presence before and during the Iraq war. General Clark recommends himself to his party as the man who can take down President Bush. His supposed strength comes partly from his impressive résumé, partly from his aura of toughness. Robert Bork (not the conservative jurist, but an art historian in Iowa City) told The...

Clark Prepares For New Combat

Sun, 28 Sep 2003 20:00:00 -0400

For a man disparaged by Republicans as a "weak" candidate, Wesley Clark provoked hysteria on the right when he finally announced that he would run for President. Conspiracy theories cropped up like noxious weeds, along with gutter attacks on this decorated general's personality, integrity and even his sanity.

While conservatives often proclaim their reverence for the nation's uniform, the right's respect for veterans who have devoted life and career to country now seems rather selective....

Candidate Clark Opens Offensive for City's Elite

Sun, 21 Sep 2003 20:00:00 -0400

If retired General Wesley Clark is going to overcome the disadvantages that come with his late entry into the Presidential race, he will be relying on people like Barbara Layton.

Ms. Layton, an East Hampton restaurateur and well-connected Democratic fund-raiser, has been smitten with Mr. Clark ever since she first heard him speak nine monthsago. Since then, she's been a sort of hand-holder for him on his frequent trips to New York, introducing him to...

Finding Demo

Sun, 20 Jul 2003 20:00:00 -0400

No, Tom Brokaw is not running for President in 2004.

Last month, despite the urging of his powerful friends, the 61-year-old NBC anchorman categorically ruled out any sort of candidacy. And that should have been that. But his friends won't let the idea drop. Claiming to see no one with the stature to challenge President Bush among the declared Presidential candidates, they persist. "He simply is the greatest draft choice you could ever possibly...

Try Telling Clark He's Not a Patriot

Sun, 22 Jun 2003 20:00:00 -0400

From the awful autumn of 2001 to the triumphal photo op on the deck of the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln this spring, Karl Rove's strategy has been consistent and clear: run every campaign as a referendum on the "wartime" presidency of George W. Bush. That plan has succeeded in mitigating the inherent political weaknesses of the Bush administration, and in concealing the damage done to American security by its foreign and security policies.

Mr. Rove...