Garling Gauge

Ohioans Display Idiocy About ‘08 Election

Residents of Findlay “Flag City” Ohio claim they can’t tell facts from rumors concerning presidential candidates.

Why the Border Fence is Wrong

Six compelling, clear cut reasons why building a literal wall on the south border of the U.S. is a terrible idea.

McCain Captor Denies Torture

The man in charge of Hoa Lo prison where McCain was a POW supports his presidential bid and denies harm.

Should McCain Learn About Computers?

POLL: Should the president of the United States be able to use and understand a computer?  Vote here.

Bush’s Top General Killed Torture Dissent

Gen. Myers shut down legal scrutiny of military torture.  What law hasn’t Bush’s Washington broken?

Obama Owes Clarence Thomas?

Sam Fullwood III thinks Obama owes Judge Thomas a big thank you.  Bah! All Thomas gave us was bad law.

Michelle Obama Says Her Life Uninteresting

Quote of the Day - Michelle Obama:  “Barack and I don’t have interesting lives, never did.”  Yeah, right.

Gasp! Bill Clinton to Talk to Obama

The media is freaking out because the ‘bitter’ and ‘angry’ former president will talk to the Dem nominee. LOL.

McCain’s Mom ‘Muzzled’ by Campaign

Sounds like Roberta McCain can’t say what she really wants to say.  How do you muzzle a 96 year old anyways?

Wesley Clark Wrongly Assaulted for Telling Truth on McCain

The ’straight talk express’ has a new engineer

Speaking on PBS Face the Nation, Obama supporter and retired general Wesley Clark made news by commenting that “Well I don’t think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president.”

Indeed, how could failing at a military mission amount to a presidential qualification?  But, Americans deem prisoners of war as heroes, and any remark about McCain’s military record appears to be off limits by the media given McCain’s POW experience.

In fact, it shouldn’t be.

The stir arose as those comments seemed to question John McCain’s heroism, which in fact, they did not.  Sen. McCain’s military record is certainly fair game since he is vying for the presidency, and his experience as a POW should in no way limit interpretations on the rest of his military resume’.  Sen. Obama immediately played politics by indirectly denouncing Clark’s statements.

“Anybody who says General Clark directly attacked Senator McCain with that line is either uninformed, lying, or both.”

Bob Schieffer:  How can you say that John McCain is untested and untried, General?

Retired General Wesley Clark:  Because in the matters of national security policy making: it’s a matter of understanding risk; it’s a matter of gauging your opponents; and it’s a matter of being held accountable.  John McCain has never done any of that in his official positions.

I certainly honor his service as a prisoner of war.  He was a hero to me and to hundreds of thousands and millions of others in the armed forces as a prisoner of war.  He has been a voice on the Senate Armed Services Committee and has traveled all over the world.

But he hasn’t held executive responsibility.  That large squadron in the Navy he commanded, it wasn’t a wartime squardon.  He hasn’t been there and ordered the bombs to fall.  He hasn’t seen what it is like when diplomats come in and say ‘I don’t know if we’re going to be able to get this point through or not’, ‘do you want to take the risk?’, ‘what about your reputation?’, ‘how do we handle it publically?.’  He hasn’t made those calls, Bob.

Schieffer: Well General, could I just interrupt you?

Clark: Sure.

Schieffer: I have to say Barack Obama has never had any of those experiences either.  Nor has he ridden in a fighter plane and gotten shot down, I mean…

Clark: Well I don’t think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president.

Schieffer: Really?

Clark: But Barack is not, he is not running on the fact that he has made these national security pronouncments, he’s running on his other strengths.  He’s running on the strengths of character, on the strengths of his communications skills, on the strengths of his judgement.  And those are qualities we seek in our national leadership.

In case you didn’t know, Wesley Clark is a retired General of the United States Army and valedictorian of his class at West Point.  He was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to the University of Oxford, and graduated from the Command and General Staff College with a master’s degree in military science. He spent 34 years in the Army and the Department of Defense, receiving many military decorations, several honorary knighthoods, and a Presidential Medal of Freedom.  He commanded Operation Allied Force in the Kosovo War during his term as the Supreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO from 1997 to 2000.

Find more military credentials than that.

This isn’t the first time that General Clark has questioned McCain’s military leadership experience.  As Bob Schieffer quoted in the previous video, Clark has noted that McCain is untested and untried.

Clark on MSNBC Morning Joe

“What does John McCain really believe?  Who is he?  Is he the sort of straight talk express maverick that people thought he was in the laste 90’s, or is he just a guy that wants to be president and he’ll say what’s necessary to get the job?”

Top half of McCain’s campaign logo 

A military-looking campaign logo and hard line on the Iraq war does not give McCain the military leadership experience he claims to have, which is not a qualification to be president anyway.  We want a president who will lead us through inspiration, who will take bold and rational steps in our interest, and who will do what is right.  Clark supports Sen. Obama for president for those very reasons.

As one commenter wrote on YouTube concerning the Morning Joe video:

John McCain’s class rank at the USNA: 894 out of 899.
Wesley Clark’s class rank at West Point: class valedictorian.
Case closed.

Image: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/56/Wesley_Clark_Feb_8,_2000.jpg/800px-Wesley_Clark_Feb_8,_2000.jpg