XPost: alt.fan.julia-roberts, alt.politics, alt.politics.bush   
   XPost: alt.politics.democrats, alt.politics.greens, alt.politics.liberalism   
   XPost: alt.radio.talk   
   From: Citation-X-PIC@noMORONpilots.com   
      
   CONCORD, N.H. – "Democrat" Wesley Clark has largely cruised under the   
   political radar despite eyebrow-raising remarks that abortion should be   
   legal to the moment of birth, the Sept. 11 attacks were preventable and   
   lobbyists make America safer.   
   Far from the bickering candidates and media horde in Iowa, Clark has spent   
   much of his time campaigning in New Hampshire - he decided to bypass the   
   early caucuses - and his comments haven't drawn the same attention as his   
   presidential rivals.   
      
   Until now.   
      
   As the race tightens in Iowa and New Hampshire, the words of the retired   
   Army general are undergoing closer scrutiny and prompting criticism from his   
   foes and Republicans, who might fear the four-star general more than Howard   
   Dean in a general election contest against President Bush.   
      
   Democrats label Clark a closet Republican. Republicans call him   
   irresponsible.   
      
   Republican National Committee chairman Ed Gillespie traveled to Clark's home   
   state of Arkansas Thursday and criticized all of Bush's rivals but paid   
   particular attention to Clark, whom he said had made "increasingly careless   
   comments about the president."   
      
   Latest Proof of Waffling on Iraq   
      
   Focusing on Clark's past and present comments on Iraq, the RNC released a   
   transcript of his testimony in September 2002 to the House Armed Services   
   Committee in which he called Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein a clear threat and   
   said action could not be postponed indefinitely.   
      
   "The use of force must remain a U.S. option under active consideration,"   
   said Clark, who also expressed his support for the right of the United   
   States to act pre-emptively and said he believed Saddam possessed weapons of   
   mass destruction.   
      
   Campaigning this week, Clark said he opposed the Iraq war from the   
   beginning, argued that Bush was so preoccupied with Saddam that he let down   
   his guard on homeland security and called for a congressional probe into the   
   war.   
      
   Mo Elleithee, a Clark spokesman in New Hampshire, said nothing in Clark's   
   congressional testimony "is inconsistent with what he says now about the   
   war."   
      
   Lieberman: Clark Is Caught in His Own Lies   
      
   But rival Sen. Joe Lieberman said the comments show "it is no longer   
   credible for Wesley Clark to assert that he has always had only one position   
   on the war: being against it. His own testimony before Congress shows   
   otherwise."   
      
   Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., a member of the House Armed Services Committee,   
   said he was present for Clark's testimony.   
      
   "How can he possibly say now he was always against the war?" Wilson said.   
   "As far as I'm concerned, this whole matter raises some serious questions   
   about Wes Clark's ability to tell the truth."   
      
   In Manchester, N.H., Thursday, Clark told reporters the RNC's attack on him   
   showed his campaign was gaining traction. "It looks like they've finally   
   figured out that I'm George Bush's greatest threat," he said, blaming White   
   House political adviser Karl Rove for the RNC's action.   
      
   The latest tracking poll shows Clark drawing within 5 percentage points of   
   Dean, who once held a commanding lead of 25 percentage points over his   
   closest rival.   
      
   Clark's decision to skip Iowa has left him out of the main action in which   
   Dean and Dick Gephardt have exchanged barbs.   
      
   "It's as if it is almost a military maneuver on his part, a flanking   
   maneuver," said Fred Greenstein, a political science professor at Princeton   
   University. "Not only did he not have to make his way through the maze of   
   Iowa, but it allowed Dean to take all the flak."   
      
   But now that Clark is emerging as a formidable adversary, "everybody will   
   dump on him," Greenstein said. At least one rival, Sen. John Kerry, is   
   considering airing an ad that raises questions about Clark immediately after   
   Iowa's Monday caucuses. Kerry has slipped into third place in New Hampshire   
   polls, a victim of Clark's surge.   
      
   Who Is He to Oppose Infanticide?   
      
   In an interview last week with the Manchester Union Leader, Clark said he   
   opposed any restriction on abortion, even until the last day of a pregnancy.   
   That drew criticism from anti-abortion activists and prompted the campaign   
   to say later that Clark had not intended to get into a debate over the   
   timing of an abortion.   
      
   Superman   
      
   Clark also suggested that the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks could have   
   been prevented and told the Concord Monitor that if he were elected similar   
   attacks would not occur in the future.   
      
   We Corporate Lobbyists 'Make America Safe'   
      
   At a town-hall meeting in Hudson, N.H., Wednesday, Clark defended serving on   
   corporate boards after retiring from the military in 2000 and registering as   
   a lobbyist. "We were trying to make America safe. That's what lobbyists   
   mostly do," Clark said.   
      
   Clark has tried to set the record straight on the Iraq war.   
      
   He now says he would not have voted for the October 2002 congressional   
   resolution that authorized Bush to launch military strikes against Iraq,   
   even though he indicated support on several occasions, including during a   
   2002 visit to New Hampshire.   
      
   "I answered the question as best I could at the time, and I bobbled the   
   question," he told The Associated Press in a recent interview. "Even Rhodes   
   scholars make mistakes."   
      
   Dean has complained that Clark voted for Republican Presidents Richard Nixon   
   and Ronald Reagan, assertions Clark does not deny. But Clark also has said   
   he voted for Democrats Bill Clinton and Al Gore.   
      
   The Dean campaign is distributing fliers in New Hampshire proclaiming,   
   "Wesley Clark: Republican," and a man wearing a Reagan mask has shown up at   
   Clark appearances to taunt the candidate.   
      
      
      
   --   
   "Oh, be still my heart.   
      
   I'm falling in love with the guy all over again, while reading Hillary's   
   book.   
   Forget about her being the smartest woman in the world. She's the luckiest   
   woman!"   
      
   - America-Hating Racist "BONNIE" who cowardly changed her name to   
   RUAKOOK, (Yes, She Is) ruakook@aol.com, after being exposed as a liar and a   
   sycophant.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)