Clark Slams Dean for Confederate Flag Remarks

[Feanorcurufinwe]

"I still want to be the candidate for guys with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks," Howard Dean said Friday in a telephone interview from New Hampshire.
(Des Moines Register, 11/1/03)

"The Confederate flag flies in the face of our most deeply-held American values - diversity, equality and inclusion. As someone who led men and women of all backgrounds in the United States military, I believe that the only flag we should fly is the one that brings us together - the stars and stripes - and that the Confederate flag should never, ever be flown on public buildings."
http://clark04.com/press/release/056/

[LuminousX]

1. Where did Dean say he wanted the flag flown on public buildings?

Geez, this is getting really absurd.

[Catch22Dem]

6. Where did Clark say that Dean said that?

[deutsey]

7. Innuendo, as Bush and the Iraq/911 thing show,

is a powerful thing.

Clark has just dropped a notch for me with this Bushesque statement.

[OKNancy]

11. Clark said this long before the current dust-up

THis has been on the website for quite some time

ON edit: at least I thought I had read this statement before....

[Feanorcurufinwe]

41. It says on Clark's website www.clark04.com : BREAKING NEWS:

BREAKING NEWS: Statement From General Wesley Clark on Howard Dean's Confederate Flag Statement Read the statement.

And that statement is what I posted. So it is definately Clark's response to Dean's statement.

[blm]

34. He said it's a states rights issue.

He didn't have much else to say on it.

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

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[killbotfactory]

3. I see no mention of Dean in that

Dean thinks it should come down as well.

[Padraig18]

5. Don't confuse them with the facts. n/t

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

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[billbuckhead]

9. Dean said the confederate flag issue was a states rights deal.

Just like Bush. Another reason not to vote for Dean under any circumstances.

[many a good man]

18. Dean said that?

Show your source, please.

[xultar]

8. There is no SLAM...where did u get that from

[phirili]

10. Clark is awesome on the attack, goes for the jugular

with precision and certainty.

Compare his criticism of Dean's statement to Edwards criticism, and you see the high class caliber of the General.

[annxburns]

12. Wait a friggin minute ...

...HOW is this a Dean slam? It sounds like someone asked him "What do you think of the confederate flag?". He didn't even mention Dean. He could of attacked Dean like Kerry and Gep did but he VERY OBVIOUSLY did not.

So how is this a Dean slam? Dean, I think, would probably agree with Clark's statement other than adding that it would be up to the people of South Carolina to decide how their flag should look.

[Padraig18]

13. Actually, this isn't a statement about Dean's remarks, people.

It's a statement about the Confederate flag *issue* from Clark's website. We have been LIED TO! :grr:

[phirili]

14. It's not "hey presto" and the statement appeared, it's a response to Dean

[Padraig18]

16. No, it's NOT a 'response to Dean'!

A response assumes Dean's statement was uttered FIRST! Nice 'nuancing' on the Kerry camp's part... :eyes:

[Feanorcurufinwe]

30. Follow the link, and you'll see it is a response.

:eyes:

[Padraig18]

31. No.

The statement was *originally made long before now*! :eyes: right back at you!

[snoochie]

33. Then why does the title of the page it's on (on the Clark website) say...

" Statement From General Wesley Clark on Howard Dean's Confederate Flag Statement "

Why would Clark's site put up an old statement and saying it's a statement from Clark on the Dean statement?

[killbotfactory]

15. Lied to by Dean-bashers? Say it ain't so!

They're not lying, just "nuancing".

:evilgrin:

[Cha]

19. Is "nuancing" the new

Euphemism for Lying?}(

[Padraig18]

21. Uh huh.

Waffle = bad. Nuancing = GOOD. See? :P

[Cha]

26. I forever will associate "nuancing" with

bad from now on! ;-) And "waffles" have always been my favorite!

[Padraig18]

29. Mine too!

:P

[phirili]

23. Expect a Dean apology within 24 hours. Starting with " If I

offended anyone I apologize" or some other retraction of the statement.

Mea culpa time.

[Cha]

32. We got a statement from Jesse Jackson Jr. backing

Dean up...

"Democrats were not competitive in the South in 2000, and we have struggled to thrive, and in some instances survive, since Richard Nixon and the Republican Party began using their race-based 'southern strategy' in 1968. The use of race, cultural and social issues have served to distract voters by keeping the focus off of economic issues has been the basic strategy of Bush and the Republicans in the South. That's why they make wedge issues out of prayer in school, the Ten Commandments on public buildings, civil unions, the false allegation that Democrats will take away hunters' gun rights, choice for women, the controversy of having the words 'under God' in the Pledge of Allegiance, and the Confederate Flag. Lest we forget, the Confederate Flag is the Democratic Party's historic contribution to the South, and current Democratic candidates have not been able to figure out how to come to grips with their own historic symbol."

"Normally, rather than directly confronting poor and working class white southerners with a strong economic agenda, Democrats have tried to imitate Republicans on many of these social issues. It is good that we have a candidate offering hope to the South with an economic agenda. It is Dr. Dean who is reminding us that the combination of poor and working class blacks and whites, north and south, united in coalition around a common economic agenda of jobs, health care, education and housing will constitute a winning strategy in 2004," concluded Cong. Jackson."

[robbedvoter]

40. Jr just pulled a Zell Miller on Blacks in the South (and all decent people

If he thinks that he can whitewash this and convince us that the mention of the confederate flag will unite the South. He reminds me of W who said that he admires Lincoln because he was a "uniter" (Faux interview)

[Feanorcurufinwe]

39. Padraig18 statement is totally false. Just follow the link.

http://www.clark04.com/press/release/056/

And you arrive at a page:

For Immediate Release

Date: November 1, 2003

Statement From General Wesley Clark on Howard Dean's Confederate Flag Statement

"I still want to be the candidate for guys with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks," Howard Dean said Friday in a telephone interview from New Hampshire.
(Des Moines Register, 11/1/03)

"The Confederate flag flies in the face of our most deeply-held American values - diversity, equality and inclusion. As someone who led men and women of all backgrounds in the United States military, I believe that the only flag we should fly is the one that brings us together - the stars and stripes - and that the Confederate flag should never, ever be flown on public buildings."
http://www.clark04.com/press/release/056/

Now why Padraig18 would say

"Actually, this isn't a statement about Dean's remarks, people."
Posted by Padraig18

It's a statement about the Confederate flag *issue* from Clark's website. We have been LIED TO!

well I just don't understand. But I will refrain from insults and namecalling in return. I'm sick of that. And this.

[Name removed]

17. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Sean Reynolds]

20. Yes it is.

Welcome to the world of Kerry-ites.

[Cha]

22. Thank you! I read an earlier post of your's

that said ..you were glad Clark didn't attack Dean on this and I had seen the thread, only cursorily, that said Clark did attack Dean and thought .."oh oh!"...Glad to see it's not true!

[Padraig18]

24. Welcome to the 'Kerry Zone'!

These people do not know how to NOT twist and distort anything that comes out of Dean's mouth.

[polpilot]

25. You must allow Kerry supporters to vent. They are 'grieving'. We must

not enable them but also understand that these are people who truly believe that others, after watching Kerry for 3 decades, don't UNDERSTAND his greatness and are puzzled as to why people aren't 'captivated' by him.

I never understand but know they are troubled by Kerry's demise and Dean's support.

Dean '04...

[many a good man]

28. Big Time Flame Trash...

I'm really disappointed in the original poster. Especially since I spent about an hour researching a response to another post about the Dean/Mondale allegory in thread http://democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=108&topic_id=64506

Now I know I shouldn't even have bothered. It troubles me that someone would be so irresponsible as to concoct a phony slam between two dem candidates. These tactics are Rovian.

[TreasonousBastard]

35. Not all DU'ers...

just a few shitstirrers here and there, occasionally abetted by the terminally confused.

Must be well 20,000 here with some sense. Most seem to have the good sense not to post at all.

[Name removed]

38. Deleted message

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[Tom Rinaldo]

27. South Carolina is having a primary, remember?

Do you think for an instant that all the Democratic Party candidates won't need to take a specific position regarding whether the State flag which incorporates the Confederate flag should continue to fly over the Sate House? And do you think for an instant that they don't need to have statements about that now, after Kerry and Gep jumped on Dean for the flag reference?

Clark's statement doesn't sound much different than the type of statements Dean is making right now. The "issue is up", got it? It wasn't Clark who made this all into a political hot potatoe. Now everyone, Dean included, has to make some statement showing they are opposed to what the Confederate flag stands for in the minds of many Americans, and specifically in South Carolina where it will be a campaign issue. Clark didn't duck the issue, he addresssed it. Dean either has or will do the same. Dean got slammed all right, but not by Clark.

[Ambassador Hope]

36. I am new, help me

I found this site by looking up an article and saw the room and said this looks interesting. However, what is all this about the conf. flag. As a dem, I do not understand why it is such a big issue in some states we yell and scream and when we have dems in charge in other states it is ok.

I am leaning towards dean and don't we want to get as many voters to vote for us?

[mikehiggins]

37. Looks like the Press Room is getting ahead of itself

Dean's remarks (which are being wildly misconstrued IMHO) appear to have been used by Clark's people as an opportunity to disclose Clark's view of the battle flag.

I agree that it is a familiar position and I'm pretty sure I came across it weeks ago. This probably seemed like a good time to roll it out again, and show just how "liberal" Clark actually is on many issues. Certainly, there was nothing in it specifically aimed at Dean EVEN though it was billed as a comment on what he said.

Somebody will probably get spoken to quite harshly over this one since NOT criticising other Democrats is the apparent policy of the Clark campaign. This does come close, though it really speaks to an entirely different issue than guys with the battle flag on their vehicles.

The issue of the Battle Flag has been around for a while, and I wouldn't be surprised to find that Clark's comments on the issue of flying the flag over public building hasn't been on record for some time.

And, of course, his position, IMHO, is the correct one. I once had to lay off a truck driver who insisted on mounting a battle flag on the company truck while making deliveries in NYC. I had previously warned him several times about it but things came to a head when the VP of the company saw him driving the company truck with the flag displayed.

Nothing I could do to save his job. Some people never learn.