From the official Clark04.com Blog
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Last night, an over-flowing crowd of around 400 attended a "Conversation with Clark" in Bedford, NH. Clark discussed his success strategy for Iraq, his new tax plan for America, and other important issues facing our nation and the state of New Hampshire.
After giving Clark an enthusiastic standing ovation, attendees of the event found a flyer on their car with "Paid for by Dean for America" at the bottom.
The flyer attacked Clark for not being a "real" Democrat. The flyer took quotes from Clark out of context and made the implication that because Clark makes an effort to appeal to the independent voter, he is not a "real" Democrat.
The Democratic Party has always stood as the party of inclusion. If Democrats want to take back the White House in November, they must open the doors to all American voters, no matter what their party affiliation. That's why General Clark is running. He believes that the values and policies of the Democratic party appeal to all Americans, not just Democrats.
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Two things I'm starting to despise the most in this campaign, who is the 'real' Democrat, and who is 'unelectable'. Back in September http://www.dailykos.net/archives/004030.html#004030 , Kos used the phrase "... 'no shit'. Of course Clark is a Democrat ..." and like most of us, shared in the rejoice that a former NATO commander was running for the Democratic nomination so that the Republicans would have a more difficult time fitting us into their box of not being a patriot or 'real' American for those who opposed the war in Iraq. I really think this is a shot that is of poor tase by the Dean campaign, and a largely bad idea.
Why do I think this type of attack is a bad idea. Strictly speaking, those who back the idea that another candidate is not electable or is not the 'real' or 'true' Democrat likely already support that candidate making the claims. Thats why when other Democratic campaigns, including the Gephardt campaign whom I support, send out the message wheather directly or indirectly that a candidate is one of those things, they get really no traction with it. Now, the Dean campaign must realize this, so I'm wondering if they think this type of talk will really work or if they are worried about holding onto their current supporters. Thats one of the reasons I think other campaigns have come out on Dean this way, they don't want their supporters jumping ship obviously.
Anyhow, don't know about you, but I'm glad Clark is running. Having a four star general run for the nomination helps our party, regardless if he wins or looses. This type of is he a 'real' Democrat stuff is not welcome with me, and I hope many others out there. I back Gephardt for policy reasons, and I sure hope we elect a Democrat for policy reasons, not water cooler gossip.