Clark: Open letter to Edwards: Why Retain Shelton?

[Bread and Circus]

Looks like Clark is a little miffed Edwards has retained
Shelton.

First, I think Shelton and Cohen are dirty bastards. Second,
it really makes me wonder about Edwards cozying up to a
bastard like Shelton. Third, it looks like the Clark campaign's
"war room" is staying fired up.

I think this is good for discussion:

http://clark04.com/press/release/071/

For Immediate Release
Date: November 11, 2003

Clark Communications Director questions John Edwards retaining Hugh Shelton.
Honorable John Edwards
Edwards for President
PO Box 300034
Raleigh, NC 27622

Dear Senator Edwards:

I'm simply astounded that you have retained General Hugh Shelton as an adviser to your presidential campaign. This choice undermines the spirit of civility that you have urged your fellow candidates to uphold. Just this September, you said: "We need to be really careful that our anger is not directed at each other." Maybe you should share that advice with your own campaign team.

General Shelton has engaged in precisely the type of politics as usual mud-slinging that you profess to abhor: he initiated what has become a smear campaign that the Republicans have gleefully taken up. And his character assassination was the worst type: General Shelton leveled charges about "integrity" and "character," and then refused to back up his charge with an ounce of evidence or a shred of substantiation. Attacks like these have no place in campaigns, or in any public discourse. You should insist that General Shelton either repudiate his attacks or come forward and provide proof for what he said.

Your association with General Shelton is also curious given your position of support for the war in Kosovo. As you know, by waging war against Slobodan Milosevic in Kosovo, we saved 1.5 million Albanians from ethnic cleaning, all without losing a single American life. Have you changed your mind about this operation? Do you now think we should have refused to stop the genocide and given Milosevic free reign in the region, as your adviser apparently believes?

By associating with General Shelton on this campaign, you seem to have given in to the negative politics that you say you have risen above. I hope that throughout the campaign you will maintain the high level of dialogue that you have insisted on for others and that you will address this matter promptly.

Sincerely,

Matt Bennett
Communications Director
Clark for President

[maddezmom]

1. miffed perhaps

but it'll be interesting to see the response.

[Demobrat]

2. Edwards to Clark:

Go piss up a rope.

[Bread and Circus]

4. Family doctor to Edwards....

Why cozy up to Shelton now?

[MIMStigator]

33. Clark is IN.. HIS... FACE!!! Go General

n/t

[chimpymustgo]

3. Hmmmm...

Because I like both Edwards and Clark, I'm sorry to see this bit of grandstanding.

First of all, if Gen. Clark has something to say to Sen. Edwards - he should say it. An open letter from "Matt Bennett, Communications Director" is kind of declasse. I'm surprised by this.

[Bread and Circus]

5. Why Shelton Now?

[jumptheshadow]

6. Would South Carolina have anything to do with it?

What are the polls showing now?

[Renew Deal]

12. Clark by 7 in SC.

That is probably why. It is over for Edwards if he doesn't win NH and/or SC.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

41. This is great for Clark - totally neutralizes Shelton's comments

makes it look as if they were politcally motivated. Why else would Clark release a statement and call attention to it?

[Donna Zen]

15. declasse

An interesting discriptor when one considers Edward's move. Now let me see. Shelton is admittly a repub and a bush contributor who just happens to work the revolving door. Okay, I see: blame the victim.

[mbali]

31. Speaking of classless moves . . .

Some of you folks apparently have already forgotten how Clark purposely stepped all over Edwards' announcement by leaking HIS intention to join the race on the same day. Edwards' response?

"I think Wesley Clark is a good man. And we're a diverse party; having good candidates in the race is good."

Talk about class!

[KittyWampus]

37. No, At This Point A Staffer Is The Most Appropriate

Because this isn't personal... YET.

Clark has been staying above the fray. Unlike just about every other candidate. He has been bashing Junior and Co. relentlessly and to good effect. That Edwards would confer with Shelton, who is basically a NeoCon operative is kind of..... unsavory.

Interesting move... this might get Clark some PUBLICITY, which he needs because the MASS Media is ignoring him.

Whilst local presses are pretty darn good wherever Clark goes. :)

[eissa]

7. Good for Clark!

Shelton has been bad-mouthing Clark for a while now with his "character/integrity" spew that Stormin Norman has been repeating lately as well. If you are going to make those charges, you better back them up.

I'm also surprised to see Shelton working on a democrat's team -- how did that happen?

[Mairead]

21. "I'm also surprised to see Shelton working on a democrat's team"

Note where Edwards appears on this assessment:

[Bread and Circus]

25. That's a neat chart....

It makes Wesley Clark more liberal than
everyone but CMB, Kerry, Kucinich, and Sharpton....

Wonder how they came up with that?

[Myra]

54. Yeah, Edwards is crossing the line lately IMO

I was already determined not to support him
since he voted for the Iraq slaughter.
But I at least thought he seemed decent
(I mean, he "came out" on The Daily Show :)).

But his attack of Dean in that last debate
really turned me off. And now he's getting
in bed with a pretty bad guy/Shelton.

I think the Clark camp did well by releasing
that open letter. Good for them.

[Renew Deal]

8. Shelton has been a Bush supporter. Edwards is a desperate slimeball.

He can't get anywhere with his "message." Now he tries this. Edwards was going nowhere before Clark got in it. Where does he think he's going to go now?

[tjdee]

57. Clark was a Reagan supporter. So what?

Clark also gave a speech praising Bush.

So what? Does that change Edwards' politics? Uh....no...

I like Clark a lot, but this is one of the lamer things I've seen.

[in_cog_ni_to]

9. My first thought was

"How better to get Clarks goat?" Hire General Shelton! I just lost all respect for Edwards. I'm sorry. First, he jumps on Dean for the CF issue and now THIS? TACKY thing to do. Clark needs to find Edward's worse enemy and hire him.

[Renew Deal]

11. You are right about that.

I mean Clark's and Sheltons issues are supposedly personal. I don't know why Edwards thinks this is a good idea. Is he going to trot Shelton around to stump speeches to go after Clark?

[AP]

13. Shelton prepped Edwards for Meet the Press.

If Edwards simply asked his fellow NC'ian to perform this function in exchange for a couple hundred bucks, it's might simply be a clever tactic for doing well on MTP.

If their relationship goes beyond that, it's worth asking if Edwards approves of Shelton's spinning against Clark and if he approves of Shelton's attitudes towards Milosevic.

[Bread and Circus]

16. Edwards should have asked Clark to prep him....

That's what Dean did before Clark declared his
candidacy....

Shelton is known to support Bush.

Edwards could have chosen a lot better general
than Shelton to prep him.

This is a clear sign Edwards may not be the right guy for
times like these (i.e. We are at War essentially with
an entire region of the world).

[bearfartinthewoods]

20. maybe he'll come around

like Clark has........

[AP]

23. A "clear" sign?

A sign maybe. But I'd hardly call it "clear". Remember all the things that were said about Clark based on the company he kept?

[Bread and Circus]

27. Yeah, poor choice of words on my part...

sorry.

And let the record show you have always been super-fair to
Clark!

Thanks AP.

[Donna Zen]

29. Or they could have just gone to Clark's site

and read last Thursday's speech and the outline. I mean, that's what Biden did.


There is more to this than meet the desktop. Clark usually refers to this as political buzz.

[mbali]

30. Excuse me?

Edwards is supposed to ask one of his opponents to prep him for a campaign appearance? And you think that that opponent would actually do it?

[mbali]

28. Since when are candidates supposed to first get permission

from other candidates before hiring their advisers?

Has Dean cleared all of his advisers with Edwards? Has Kerry cleared all of his advisers with Kucinich? Has Sharpton cleared all of his advisers with Lieberman?

I can't help but wonder why some folks have their shorts all in a bunch because John Edwards has sought military advice from a general yet think nothing of Howard Dean wanting to be the candidate of bigots.

Jeez!

[AP]

10. Have to admit, I wonder why Shelton too.

Shelton is liar for the Bush administration and I find his attacks on Clark quite disgusting and transparent.

I'm looking forward to hearing Edwards's response.

What I know about this now is that Shelton is a N. Carolinian who prepped Edwards for his appearance on Meet the Whores. I guess if you want a guy who can replicate Russert's thinking, Shelton is probably the guy.

You wonder, who's zooming whom, though. Or, at least you hope someone's zooming someone. I just hope that Shelton doesn't reflect Edwards's attitudes. If Edwards is talking about working quickly out of chaos and towards democracy in Iraq, then it looks like their opinions differ, since Shelton seemed intent on keeping Yugoslavia chaotic.

[mbali]

38. GMTA

See below

[Pastiche423]

14. GMFAO!

[Bread and Circus]

17. Pastiche, I don't speak that language...

would you care to elaborate...in English?

[Pastiche423]

19. The 1st letter stands for "giggling"

[Bread and Circus]

22. Thanks!

:hi:

[IndianaGreen]

18. Stop fighting in the war room!

If Shelton has something to back up what he said about Clark, he better produce it or stop his McCarthyism.

[in_cog_ni_to]

26. That's just it.

He doesn't. It's nothing but professional jealousy. He wanted to be the "Supreme Commander" in Kosovo and didn't get the job. It's a personal grudge that he's politicizing it and Edwards is helping him along with this VERY stupid move.

[Eloriel]

40. Uh, I don't approve of Shelton's criticism of Clark BUT it's hardly

McCarthyism.

McCarthyism is accusing people of being communists, communist sympathizers, former communists, etc. No one has accused Clark of anything like that, despite Clark's mis-speaking during that debate.

Let's please not dilute the actual meaning of the term, shall we?

Eloriel

[spooky3]

24. I don't like the looks of this but will wait to hear what Edwards says.

[Mz Pip]

32. Shelton is using Edwards

to get Clark. Shelton doesn't support Edwards, he just wants to use Edwards to knock Clark out of the race so he can comfortably go back to his liitle puppet George.

I thought Edwards was smarter than this.

MzPip
:dem:

[AP]

45. Did Edwards say anythign on MTP to hurt Clark? No. Maybe Edwards is smart-

er than Shelton?

Let's see what Edwards says about this.

[FrenchieCat]

34. This is truly disgusting....

I knew Edwards needed some foreign policy advise, but to get it from a Neo-Con?????

Could have gotten General Zinni or somebody like that, for Christ Sakes!

Edwards just fell down like a great big Zero! Desperation is never pretty!

[mbali]

36. How do you know

what Shelton advised Edwards on? Or that Edwards is not just picking his brain about various military issues, hardly a bad thing for a candidate or a president to do. Gathering information does not mean one is buying into someone's political philosophy. How better to figure out how to deal with Bush's military and foreign policy approaches than to talk to someone who intimately knows their strategies?

Has everyone forgotten that Hugh Shelton also advised Bill Clinton? He probably knows a little something about something, whether you agree with his political leanings or not.

How strange to beat up on someone for seeking information.

[democracy eh]

35. if true, losing respect for Edwards

Already had reservations about him when he gave up his seat.
Which partially explains his actions, he is one of the candidates with the most to lose.

but also remember it was the news that Clark would announce the next day that took the wind out of Edward's campaign kick-off. at least from the media's perspective.
Grudge? Carolina's competition?

IMHO it is appropriate for a lower level staffer to comment on an opponent's hiring decision as long as it is just that. If Mr. Edwards does trot out Shelt to stump or smear then it up to Clark to reply. if this happenned later in the campaign it might be appropriate for a senior statesman supporter to comment.

Clark has been trying to take the high road and prove his 'integrity' and 'character' as opposed to getting in to a pissing contest with the senior retired military groupthink dinosaurs. the more he proves himself. the more we understand why he didn't neccessarily fit in with the other Generals. the words Thinking and Heart come to mind.

At the same time, it will be appropriate for Clark to take these S.O.B.s on to defend his character and further distinguish himself from the military republican complex, someday. But it will be at time of his choosing.

[chaska]

39. I've been holding off ... but now, it's on, baby.

I am a native South Carolinian, as is Edwards. Edwards is a joke. The guy has one term of experience in government, and unlike Clark he has achieved nothing in his life apart from his legal career (f'in ambulance chaser).

Edwards has no presence in SC. The guy's a joke. He hasn't a chance in hell of winning the nom, let alone the general election. I've been holding off on saying this clown needs to get out. But no more. Edwards is wasting everybody's time. He needs to do as Clark was ordered to do: get his f'in face off the tv.

I'm furious at this guy taking attention away from other more serious candidates. Who the hell does he think he is? Think about it, Gephardt attracts labor, Sharpton - Black people, CMB - women, Kucinich - committed liberals, Kerry - Northeasterners, Dean - the young, and Clark - Southerners/military/conservatives/people like me. Who does Edwards bring to the party? Trial lawyers? He's simply not a serious candidate ... all the gravitas of Pee Wee Herman (apologies to Pee Wee).

Edwards knows he's not going to win - if he doesn't then he must have one colossal ego. Granted, he's not smart.... Surely, when he got into this thing he only had thoughts of making a warm up run, in hopes of a possible future shot at the job, or the vp slot. And he's a Southerner, he better than anybody knows that Dean can't win the South against Bush. So what does he decide to do? He torpedoes the strongest possible candidate we have to defeat Bush. What an ass. Let's get this bum outta there. He's throwing the fight.

[AP]

46. Edwards hasn't torpedoed Clark.

If anything, Edwards is blocking for Clark. Clark should be happy Edwards is in this. The rest of what you say I totally disagree with. I think we need more politicians with the kind of experience Edwards has.

[KittyWampus]

49. Edward's Reply To Clark Was REAL Civil

Man O'Live, Southerners can be so durned polite when in contention...

Whatever else Edwards is I don't think he's an 'ambulance chaser', by the way.

Shelton was advising Edwards for a while, before Clark entered.

So was Shelton's origianl remarks smearing Clark in part to help Edwards? I'm just asking. :)

Wish Edwards had found someone who could advise him that wasn't a Neo Con though :(

P.S. Clark's campaign probably wanted publicity since the Mass Media is skunking him. And this kills 2 birds by addressing Shelton's smears.

[andym]

48. I think Edwards and Clark have great respect for each other

I think Edwards and Clark have great respect for each other
Just, IMHO.

[neuvocat]

42. Shelton is an advisor to Edwards?

I honestly had no clue.

:wow:

[andym]

43. This is an attack against Shelton's smear, not Edwards

I think this is just a way for Clark to get out a counterattack against Shelton.

Edwards and Shelton are from NC, and are likely to know each other.
For example, Edwards likely helped get Shelton the Congressional gold medal. http://edwards.senate.gov/press/2002/0919a-pr.html

So it's not too surprising that he would call on Shelton for help in military matters. However, I would be surprised to hear that General Shelton is playing a major role in Edward's campaign, and I do think it wise for Edwards to distance himself from someone who would make vague smears against one of his opponents.

[JI7]

44. what do you want edward's to do ?

just because he advises him in some ways doesn't mean he thinks and makes decisions for edwards as the bush people do for bush. edwards is smart enough to listen to many sides and do what's right. but i'm wondering if this means shelton is a democrat. i do think it's a good thing he isn't supporting bush though. shelton still served in a position which gave him experience that edwards doesn't have so i see nothing wrong with just listening to him. it's not like edwards is going around lying about clark or making accusations he can't back up. if edwards did win the nomination i think he would get john kerry to advise him on military/foreign policy issues but kerry is running himself so it's not possible.

[criticalwords]

47. You all are...ONCE AGAIN...proving just how little you know!!!

First of all, no one..HIRED...anyone. Shelton does not work on Edwards' campaign team! HE HASN'T EVEN ENDORSED JOHN EDWARDS!

Shelton has been giving the Senator advice for years about the military...LONG BEFORE CLARK DECIDED TO BECOME A DEMOCRAT!

To say that Edwards got advice from Shelton to undermine Clark is pure ignorance on your part.

Shelton...IS A FELLOW NORTH CAROLINIAN! He has done many things at NC State University, the first college that Edwards graduated from, and he and Edwards know each other from way back! He was just trying to help Edwards because they know each other, and Edwards, just like Dean, Clinton, Dubya, and a lot of other politicians, has never served in the military, but don't jump on Edwards for it!!! He enlisted in the draft during the Vietnam error, but his lottery number was never selected. That was good for him, but it's not like he was dodging the draft or anything, he just wasn't selected. So, since he doesn't have military experience, and he went directly to college like most people instead of going to the military first, it only makes sense for him to, like most politicians, receive advice from someone...HE KNOWS...like Shelton, who does have military experience!

That's all it is. A friend, and fellow North Carolinian, giving advice to someone he knows. Someone trying to help. HE DOESN'T WORK FOR EDWARDS!!!

There is nothing underminded about this. It is good politics, and it doesn't matter whether Shelton is a Republican, or a Democrat, or a newly decided Democrat like Clark, Shelton knows military matters and strategy, AFTER ALL, HE WAS CLARK'S SUPERIOR and he served on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and that is why Clark's people are now lashing out against Edwards about getting advice from Shelton. It has nothing to do with receiving a little advice from Shelton, a friend and fellow North Carolinian, and it has everything to do with losing an advantage that Clark feels like he has.

Shelton knows more than Clark does and his advice will be a great help to Edwards, and Clark doesn't like it...

[mbali]

50. Amen!

[KittyWampus]

51. Shelton Plays For The Neo Cons

And since he's been advising Edwards for a while... maybe that's why Shelton originally smeared Clark in such an unsavory manner... Then again maybe not.

[tjdee]

55. THANK YOU!

Frankly, all of these candidates are starting to piss me off.

I could not care less if Edwards is getting military advice from Shelton, or, honestly, if Shelton's "mudslinging" or whatever. Opinions are like assholes, and Shelton can run his mouth like everyone else.

Clark is obviously, OBVIOUSLY, making big crap over this because Edwards is doing well in SC. So be it. We're down to brass tacks in this thing and the gloves are coming off, and all those cliches.

But the pile on in this thread is just charming, really it is.

[KittyWampus]

60. Clark Is Ahead Of Edwards In SC At This Point

Just Saying :)

Clark is also being ignored by the mass media... and Shelton's smear HAD to be addressed in some way.

[andym]

52. Edward's response

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGAC7G4MWMD.html

"Whatever your personal views of Gen. Shelton, I'm sure you agree that he is a respected military leader who served our country with distinction," Edwards wrote. "Although Gen. Shelton has not endorsed me or any other candidate, I value his advice as one of our nation's top military leaders.

Edwards noted that Shelton is a fellow North Carolinian who has been a friend and adviser for many years.

[sendero]

53. Edwards who?

Honestly, I do not know why folks like Edwards bother. He'd have 0.000001% chance of getting the nomination if Dean had a heart attack tomorrow.

He just has nothing special to offer. Nothing.

[AP]

56. future President of the US of A Edwards, that's who.

Anyone who thinks even slighlty historically, and has paid close attention to the last decade of politics, and knows anything about the twentieth century and the late 19th century, has got to realize that the stars are aligning for this guy.

[tjdee]

59. In fact, I hope this is the BIGGEST DEAL of all times!

At least Edwards is getting some press out of it.

[mbali]

58. You're right

The press, the pundits, and the polls have all decided who should be in and who should be out, so isn't that all that matters? In fact, let's just dispense of the primary elections altogether. After all, why should the voters have any say in this?