Clark Challenges Kerry on '92 Affirmative Action Remarks
By EDWARD WYATT
OLUMBIA, S.C., Jan. 30 — Gen. Wesley K. Clark attacked Senator John Kerry today for statements that the Massachusetts senator made in 1992 about affirmative action, and the retired general also said that Mr. Kerry failed take responsibility for those statements during a debate among the Democratic candidates in South Carolina on Thursday.
The remarks by General Clark come as he is struggling to move up in opinion polls in the seven states holding presidential primaries or caucuses on Tuesday. He finished a distant third in New Hampshire, behind Mr. Kerry and Howard Dean, the former Vermont governor.
General Clark had vowed not to attack his Democratic rivals and recently took them to task for critical comments some had made about Dr. Dean. When fellow candidates assailed Dr. Dean for statements he made regarding Medicare in the mid-1990's, General Clark said that he did not think such history was relevant to the current race for president.
But today, General Clark, who made two appearances here before largely African-American audiences, at Benedict College and at a candidates' forum sponsored by an African-American advocacy group, offered unprompted references to comments about affirmative action made by Mr. Kerry in a speech at Yale University 12 years ago.
"Back in 1992, Senator Kerry wrote it was `inherently limited and divisive' and `fostered a culture of dependency,' " General Clark told journalists after the candidates' forum. "Affirmative action's a very important program to me," adding: "If people want to question it, that's their right. But if they do, they ought to admit it, because we're not going to beat George Bush with old style fudge-it-up politics."
At the Democratic candidate debate on Thursday in Greenville, Tom Brokaw of NBC News asked Mr. Kerry about his remarks on affirmative action, saying that he had "expressed some reservations about affirmative action as it's currently constituted" and that it "represented a culture of dependency."
But Mr. Kerry replied his remarks were being mischaracterized.
"Actually, Tom, that's not what I said," Mr. Kerry said. "What I described was what the critics were saying about it and about the growing questions about it."
He added: "There were a great many questions in the country about how it was being implemented. We wanted to keep it. I've always supported it. In the very speech in which I raised what those perceptions were, I said at the beginning, `I support affirmative action.' I said at the end, `I support affirmative action.' "
Today, Mr. Kerry continued his defense of his record on affirmative action and said his comments 12 years ago had been misquoted and misinterpreted. In an interview on CNN after a rally here, he asserted that he had not said that affirmative action was divisive but rather that his stance had been "mend it, don't end it."
"I have always voted for it, I have always supported it, I've never ever been different," he added.
Representative James Clyburn of South Carolina, an influential African-American congressman who endorsed Mr. Kerry this week, issued a statement today saying that he was "sorry that General Clark is launching negative attacks."
"The truth is that John Kerry has stood strong all his life to defend affirmative action," Mr. Clyburn said. "John Kerry, President Clinton, myself and many other supporters of affirmative action fought together to overcome adverse judicial decisions and to ensure the survival of affirmative action."
Mr. Kerry, in the comments on CNN, added, "Jim Clyburn wouldn't be supporting me if it were otherwise so let's not have any politics here, let's speak the truth."
In four of the seven states that will hold caucuses or primaries on Tuesday, Mr. Kerry is near or at the top of opinion polls.
He has opened up big leads in Missouri and Arizona, and is running a close second to Senator John Edwards in South Carolina, and second to General Clark in Oklahoma.
In Missouri, opinion polls showed Mr. Edwards running a distant second to Mr. Kerry, with Howard Dean, the former governor of Vermont, slightly behind in third.
In Arizona, the polls showed General Clark in a distant second place, behind Mr. Kerry, with Dr. Dean in third.
In South Carolina, Mr. Edwards and Mr. Kerry were in close contention, with Dr. Dean slipping into a distant third.
In Oklahoma, General Clark appeared to have a commanding lead in opinion polls, with Mr. Kerry and Mr. Edwards well back, though in close contention with each other for second.
David M. Halbfinger contributed reporting from Columbia, S.C., for this article. |
