Dean would consider Clark for VP

[sfecap]

On CNN now...Blitzer asked him...

Full interview tonight on Aaron Brown (Blitzer sitting in for Brown).

[PROGRESSIVE1]

1. I was considering Dean or Edwards to be Clark's VP!!!

Clark 04' :dem:

[NewYorkerfromMass]

2. yeah but would Clark consider being his VP?

I doubt it.

[Noordam]

3. They talked early on before Clark came out

that he was running.

I think the answer is yes clark would....

[gristy]

5. I don't know what he's said in the past.

But my feeling is this: If Clark is a big enough man, he will accept. If he understands that this race next year is so much bigger than him and his ambitions. Indeed, bigger than Dean and his ambitions. If he understands this, he will accept if asked.

[Bread and Circus]

13. I bet you he would love to serve!

He understands what supporting the mission means.

[Skwmom]

18. Well if Dean understood that this election was bigger than

his ambitions than he would get out of the race and get behind the candidate who had the best chance of winning. The hypocrisy of this statement is unbelievable.

[MercutioATC]

20. And who might that candidate be?

Kerry, who's sliding in the polls?

Gephardt, who's not even getting the big union endorsements any more?

Edwards, who has trouble making it out of single digits anyplace but the South?

It's completely reasonable to attack Dean on his positions if you disagree, but face it - he's the Democratic front-runner. To suggest he drop out and support somebody with a better chance of winning is just silly.

[Ediacara]

21. hypocracy of his statement? best chance of winning?

LOL you're funny!

You wanna know why Dean has the best chance to win?

I'll give you a hint:

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[eissa]

4. Oh, yes! Please God let this happen!

Prayers answered, thoughts read, wishful thinking comes true! I know we CAN win in '04 with that ticket! Oh, please, please, please, whoever in the Dean or Clark camps that reads these things, please, please, please make this a reality!!

[Cha]

8. You are so sweet in your

fervency!

[MoonAndSun]

11. The more the merrier, right zidzi!!

:hi:

The Doctor Is In!!

[Cha]

16. Yes! MoonAndSun! And now we got

"CertainKindOfFool" on Board, too! :hi:

[kyrasdad]

6. And God and the Angels came down

and finally gave the Dems a real shot at not only blasting Dubyas ass back to Crawford... but anihilating him as well...

Please, please let it be so!!!

[Cha]

17. Hey! Kyrasdad! I just saw you are from

Johnstown, NY. My sister lives on Canada Lake and I am from Little Falls! Practically neighbors! :D :hi:

[gristy]

23. Canada Lake?????

Your sister lives on my beloved Canada Lake?

[Tim The Enchanter]

24. Fulton County's finest here in DU?

My family settled in Johnstown by 1853 (with some still there), I am a GHS grad who moved away 13 years ago, but I enjoy visiting for genealogical research (http://www.frontiernet.net/~egad/). The last time I was there I saw an anti-war protest, so it was good to know that there are still liberals marching among the ruins of tanneries and glove mills.

[vi5]

7. Why? I thought Clark was a Republican?

Wasn't that what was being said by the Dean camp? They are more than entitled to their opinion on that, but this looks like backtracking to me. I could understand Kerry or even any of the other Dem's that Dean has criticized because those criticisms were in the context of them still being democrats.

If Dean still believes what he said about Clark being a Republican until recently and if he really believes thats a negative then why would he choose him as his VP rather than someone who Dean felt was a true Democrat who had always been supportive of and true to the Democratic party?

[gristy]

12. You're right. Since Dean pointed out that Clark was a Republican

until recently, it is just terrible that he should consider him for VP. Just awful. Terrible. :eyes:

/sarcasm=off

[eissa]

14. Hee-hee, thanks zidzi!

And because Dean is realistic. Yeah, there are more candidates out there with better democratic credentials, but Clark does well where it's needed -- in areas that are pre-dominantly repug. You want to win in '04? I know I do, and if that means we have Clark as our VP, I'm all for it! :thumbsup:

[CertainKindOfFool]

15. Dean never said that

Howard Dean was asked the first question at the first debate with Wesley Clark in it. The question in essence was this:
Do you believe that General Clark is a true Democrat or that he is not a commited member of the party?

And Dean's response:
I think that is up to the voters to decide.

I am a Deaniac, and if at any time Dean had said that Clark was a Republican, I'm sure I would have heard about it. I don't think Clark is a repug, he's just not a brave or experience political leader like Dean. Not to say he's not brave on the battlefield, but thats a totally different thing. Clark's stregnth is in his resume, but thats not enough to get you to the White House. He is a political novice and that is becoming more evident as one watches his campaign. He would be eaten to shreds by the Bush/Rove machine regardless of his credentials because he doesn't have the skills to fight back.

However that being said, I think Clark would make the PERFECT VP TO DEAN!!! Dean/Clark '04!

THE TEA IS IN THE HARBOR

[Kathleen04]

25. Dean really did say..

that "Wesley Clark was a Republican until about 25 days ago.." when he first jumped into the race, I remember it specifically from the conference call Dean held where different house-parties could call Dean and ask questions. It used to be on the DeanTV on his website, but it's gone now..

And, I believe I also remember him saying it on the Today show.

Not that I wouldn't mind seeing a Dean/Clark ticket.. ;-)

[Skwmom]

19. Just another slimy attempt by Dean to try to derail Clark's

candidacy. There is no VP, even Clark, that can prop Dean up. They are going to paint him as unstable lunatic (god knows they have enough footage) and no one is going to want his hand on that button.

[Ediacara]

22. Funny....

So this unstable lunatic is leading in all national and state polls and has BY FAR out fund-raised all the others by getting in thousands upon thousands of small donations.

Something doesn't make sense.

Why is he an unstable lunatic?

[moz4prez]

31. Dean is "leading in all national and state polls"?

you sure about that?

[Ediacara]

33. yes

ie, national polls of the nomination, and state polls in NH and IA.

But thanks for ignoring the rest of the post.

[MercutioATC]

30. Actually, Dean said that he wasn't speculating on running mates.

When pressed as to whether he would consider Clark as a running mate, he said he would. Hardly a "slimy attempt" by Dean to do anything....

[Padraig18]

9. Excellent news!

Clark is my #2 choice. :thumbsup:

Please god, if your listening...

[Demobrat]

10. Of course he said

he would consider him. That's a far cry from saying he's at the top of the list.

[mitchum]

26. but...but...but all you Deanies just hate that nasty Clark...

this week

[Rowdyboy]

27. I would hope Dean would have enough common sense to offer

Clark the Vice Presidency. I would also hope Clark has enough savvy to offer the Vice Presidency to Dean should the opportunity arise. Either ticket would be formidible.

[AnnitaR]

28. Can someone please let Dr. Dean know that he is

NOT our nominee yet?? I like the guy. He's my #2 guy and all... but his arrogance lately is really getting to me.

Would be a huge mistake for him to discount Clark's campaign at this point. Huge!

[MercutioATC]

29. How is he being arrogant?

He said that he's in NO position to start speculating about running mates. When pressed if he'd consider Clark, he said he would. He then went on to state, again, that nobody had recieved a single vote in the primaries, so he had no place "selecting" a running mate.

[Larkspur]

32. Clark would have to be vetted just like any other VP candidate

Considering Clark for VP does not mean that Clark is a shoe-in for the slot.

Dean does not have to take a VP candidate from the also-ran Dem Prez contenders. Al Gore was not running for Prez in 1992 when Bill Clinton asked him to be his VP. Dean can do the same.

[Tom Rinaldo]

34. Or Graham, or Gore, or God

Come on folks, it's a standard ploy. Why the heck wouldn't he say he would consider Clark? The point is two fold; Message 1): "if you really like Clark, you should vote for me, good chance I'll put him on the ticket... (rather than us simply voting for Clark in the first place and getting who we really want)" Message: 2) "By the way, that Clark guy just might have what it takes to be a Number 2, not sure yet, but maybe. I of course have what it takes to be Number 1." When a candidate has actually secured a nomination, then it is time for the speculating about Vice President, not before. Before that it is always political gamesmenship.

By the way, Dean just took another shot at Clark today about Clark needing to "clarify" his position about the U.S. going to war agaisnt Iraq. This one day after Clark came to Dean's strong defence about whether Dean needed to clarify his past comments about Medicare. Clark has more class than Dean. He is helping all of us by keeping his attacks focused on Bush. Anything any Democrat says against another Democrat will be used by the Republicans against the eventual nominee.

By the way, I for one think Clark's opposition to Bush jumping into Iraq without evidence of a compelling threat and without international support has been rock solid steay since very early 2002. But you know what? It is a very minor issue for me even if it were not. I don't support Kerry but I could live with his position regarding Iraq (Which in a nutshell is: Bush betrayed us by misusing the resolution that Congress passed which was meant to both give Bush leverage to move the U.N. towrds aggressive inspections and to threaten Hussein into compliance. Bush committed to gaining strong international backing, into gathering evidence of an immenent threat, and then invaded without it.) Kerry's position isn't mine, but I am much more concerned over what the next President of the United States will do once he is in office than over rehashing that piece of the past. Anyone who doesn't recognize that Clark was right all along about Iraq is either dumb or disingenuous. I don't think Dean is dumb.

[DemCam]

35. Great big guffaw.