Campaign 2004: Clark calls Bush policy 'all bully and no pulpit'
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He accuses president of taunting enemy, vows diplomacy
BLOOMBERG NEWS
Friday, December 5, 2003
seattlepi.nwsource.com
<<...NASHUA, N.H. -- Criticizing President Bush for challenging enemy forces to "bring 'em on" earlier in the Iraq occupation, Democratic presidential candidate Wesley Clark said yesterday only someone who has not witnessed combat "would ever say anything as fatuous" as the commander in chief's remark.
"You don't make policy by taunting the enemy," said Clark, a retired Army general who was wounded in the Vietnam War. Bush was a Texas Air National Guard pilot, but never flew in battle.
Clark told students and faculty at Daniel Webster College that Bush had played a game of bait-and-switch by suggesting Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was a national security threat after the Sept. 11 attacks.
Clark said the 2004 election would be decided on foreign policy. Democrats should avoid being labeled anti-war, he said, predicting that Republicans would question the patriotism of Democrats as they attacked his party over the war.
Offering himself as the best candidate to oppose Bush, Clark said Democrats need a candidate who understands how to balance force with diplomacy. He called the Bush administration "all bully and no pulpit."...>> |
