Say Anything Blog

Once on the short-list of VP candidates, Wesley Clark’s recent foot-in-mouth performance has reportedly caused him to be crossed off.

Nearly a week after his controversial “Face the Nation” appearance last Sunday, retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark is taking a break from the presidential campaign — but many Democratic insiders think he has already been crossed off the list of Barack Obama’s potential running mates. . . .

“On a scale of 1 to 10, Clark’s words were a 10 in terms of unhelpfulness,” said one Democrat who has helped manage past presidential campaigns.

I don’t think that attacking McCain’s military record is going to be helpful strategy for Obama and his Democrats period.  Clark was right that McCain’s service in the military, including getting shot down in Vietnam and spending five years being tortured by Vietnamese socialists, not necessarily qualifying him to be President.  But most Americans generally view military service as a positive for a candidate, and McCain’s story of pain and perseverance is particularly appealing.  So though Clark was right, his snide belittlement of McCain’s service is simply going to end up reflecting more on Clark than McCain.

And when you combine in Clark’s hypocrisy on this matter - remember that in 2004 Clark was telling us that John Kerry’s military service qualified him to be President - he just ends up looking like a horse’s ass.

On a related note, this had me chuckling:

At first, Clark moved aggressively to defend his remarks, scheduling additional press appearances and even updating his Facebook status to “Wes Clark knows that John McCain is largely untested and untried when it comes to matters of national security.”

A significant figure in American politics responding to a controversy by updating his Facebook status?

We are, indeed, in a new era of politics.