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Politics : WHO IS RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT IN 2004 -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (4515)	9/1/2003 9:52:20 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 10965

Home Alone ________________________ By BOB HERBERT OP-ED COLUMNIST THE NEW YORK TIMES September 1, 2003 here was an interesting lead paragraph in an article on the front page of The Wall Street Journal last Thursday: "The blackout of 2003 offers a simple but powerful lesson: Markets are a great way to organize economic activity, but they need adult supervision." Gee. They've finally figured that out. The nuns I had in grammar school were onto this adult supervision notion decades ago. It seems to be just dawning on the power brokers of the 21st century. Maybe soon the voters will catch on. You need adults in charge. We barreled into Iraq with no real thought given to the consequences, and now we've got a tragic mess on our hands. California looks like something out of "Lord of the Flies," and yet the person getting the most attention as a candidate to clean up that insane situation is an actor with a history of immature behavior whose cartoonish roles appeal most strongly to children. Maybe he'll shoot the budget deficit. Hasta la vista, baby. Appalling behavior and appalling policies have become the norm among folks entrusted with the heaviest responsibilities in business and government. The federal budget deficit will approach half a trillion dollars next year. And that will be followed by huge additional deficits, year after irresponsible year, extending far off into the horizon. And, of course, the baby boomers, the least responsible generation in memory, will soon begin retiring and collecting their Social Security and federal health benefits, leaving the mountains of unpaid bills for the hapless generations behind them. What this nation needs is a timeout. Imagine if we had done some things differently. If, for example, instead of squandering such staggering amounts of federal money on tax cuts and an ill-advised war, we had invested wisely in some of the nation's pressing needs. What if we had begun to refurbish our antiquated electrical grid, or developed creative new ways to replenish the stock of affordable housing, or really tackled the job of rebuilding and rejuvenating the public schools? What if we had called in the best minds from coast to coast to begin a crash program, in good faith and with solid federal backing, to substantially reduce our dependence on foreign oil by changing our laws and habits, and developing safer, cleaner, less-expensive alternatives? This is exactly the kind of effort that the United States, with its can-do spirit and vast commercial, technological and intellectual resources, would be great at. Imagine if we had begun a program to rebuild our aging infrastructure — the highways, bridges, tunnels and dams, the water and sewage facilities, the airports and transit systems. Imagine on this Labor Day 2003 the number of good jobs that could be generated with that kind of long-term effort. All of these issues, if approached properly, are job creators, including the effort to reduce our energy dependence. The big hangup in the economic recovery we are supposed to be experiencing now is the continued joblessness and underemployment. A fellow I ran into recently in San Jose, Calif., Andy Fortuna, said: "I've got a college degree and I'm washing cars. I'm working, but I'd like a good job. If the idea is for business to employ as few people as possible and keep their pay as low as possible — well, how's that good for me? Who speaks for me?" Wise investments along these lines have dual payoffs — they help us take care of critical national needs and they help sustain the high levels of employment that are needed to keep the nation's high-powered consumer economy humming. One other critical need that is not getting enough attention is homeland security. A series of recent reports has shown that two years after the Sept. 11 attacks we remain dangerously unprepared for another terrorist strike inside the U.S. And one of the major reasons we remain unprepared is that so many of the agencies responsible for our domestic defenses against terror are undertrained, understaffed and underfinanced. We are at a stage now where mature, responsible leadership is more essential than ever. All of the problems that we have ignored until now remain with us. But the money that might have started us on the road to solutions is gone. We are mired in Iraq, and not properly prepared at home. We could use some adult supervision. nytimes.com

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (4515)	9/1/2003 10:13:44 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 10965

Message 19263640

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (4515)	12/30/2003 3:32:44 AM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 10965

Clark stresses values as he campaigns across South bayarea.com Associated Press Posted on Mon, Dec. 29, 2003 BATON ROUGE, La. - Democratic presidential hopeful Wesley Clark campaigned across the South on Monday, positioning himself as a candidate who shares the region's values of patriotism, faith and family. "It really all comes down to one thing: This election is going to be won by someone who understands Southern values," Clark said in remarks prepared for the Little Rock, Ark., kickoff of his eight-state, 10-city "True Grits" tour. At a rally on the tour's first stop in Jackson, Miss., the retired Army general and former NATO commander attacked President Bush's record on terrorism. "Our president, before 9-11, didn't do his job. He didn't do everything he could to keep our country safe from terrorism and then he sent our troops over to Iraq to distract us from the fact that he doesn't have Osama bin Laden yet," Clark told a crowd of about 100. He added that he never would have sent troops to Iraq, but now that Americans are there, "we're going to do the right thing, we're going to make it a success." Republican spokeswoman Lindsay Taylor responded that before the Iraq war Clark "was out front praising the President and his National Security team for their leadership. I think it's an example of political opportunism on his part." The Clark campaign said the ex-general's brief Southern swing is designed to show he has broad appeal in a region that went entirely to Bush in 2000 Monday, there was talk of values, but also remarks aimed at demonstrating the candidate's support for what he called "equal opportunity ... I lived that life in the U.S. Armed Forces." At a stop in Baton Rouge, Clark linked religious devotion, indirectly, to support for government assistance programs. "If you're going to live your faith you've got to take care of people," Clark said. "We're not just going to talk family values, we're going to help people live them." Clark also traveled through New Orleans before arriving at the historic 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, where he promised to do three things during his campaign and as president to ensure that every vote counts during the 2004 presidential election. He said he plans to identify "hot spots" where voting problems have been reported. He also intends to train volunteer workers to go to polls and make sure every vote is counted and to hire a legal team to monitor elections. He complained that little has been done to prevent a repeat of the 2000 election problems. "There's been a lot of hand wringing, but no real change," Clark said. The tour was to continue Monday with stops in Pensacola, Fla.; and Memphis, Tenn. He'll continue the trip Tuesday in Nashville, Tenn.; Savannah, Ga.; and Charleston, S.C.; where he will stay to prepare for the South Carolina primary. Clark was interrupted early in his Jackson speech by Jim Giles, a former congressional and gubernatorial candidate, who yelled: "Do you support the Confederate flag, being a Southerner?" Clark later held up an American flag and said: "I'm proud of what our country stands for. We stand for patriotism. We stand for that American flag - not the Confederate flag. This flag." That won loud applause from the diverse crowd of whites and blacks. Among them was Millsaps College history professor Robert McElvaine, who said he has supported Democrat Howard Dean "since long before it was fashionable," but he believes it's unlikely that Dean can win the presidency. "My first priority is making sure we defeat President Bush, who I think has had the most disastrous presidency in the history of the country," McElvaine said, adding that Clark's military background might give him an advantage. The tour began as Clark launched a new television ad that includes a clip of him and Bill Clinton. The clip is only a few seconds and shows Clinton walking from a podium at the White House to place the Presidential Medal of Freedom over Clark's head, honoring his fellow Arkansan for his work in Kosovo as NATO supreme allied commander. It is one of several scenes in the 30-second ad that was to start running Monday night in New Hampshire, where Clark is trailing Howard Dean and John Kerry in polls.