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July 1, 2008 10:23 PM

McCain on Clark to Obama: "Cut Him Loose"

Posted by John Bentley
(CBS)

From CBS News’ John Bentley:

ABOARD THE STRAIGHT TALK EXPRESS – “Cut him loose,” was John McCain’s advice today to Barack Obama after Gen. Wesley Clark refused to back down from comments critical of McCain’s leadership. “I think it’s up to Sen. Obama now to not only repudiate him, but to cut him loose.”

Gen. Clark said yesterday that McCain getting shot down over Vietnam wasn’t “a qualification to be president.” Clark reiterated today that he respected McCain’s service, but that it wouldn’t make him a good commander-in-chief. “He not only supported going into a war we didn't have to fight in Iraq, but has time and again undervalued other, non-military elements of national power that must be used effectively to protect America,” Clark said. “As an American and former military officer, I will not back down if I believe someone doesn't have sound judgment when it comes to our nation's most critical issues."

McCain made the comments in the inaugural press conference aboard his new flying Straight Talk Express on the way to Cartagena, Colombia, in support of the Colombian Free Trade Agreement. Obama has opposed the agreement, citing labor and environmental issues in Colombia. In addition to the advice about Clark, McCain also offered a history lesson to his opponent. “He’s a protectionist and anti-free trade,” McCain said about Obama. “The overwhelming majority of historians will tell you that protectionism and isolationism were a major factor in one of the greatest depressions in the modern history of this country.”
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Add a Comment See all 17 Comments
by goodsense82 July 3, 2008 7:23 PM EDT
Wesley Clark should be remembered chiefly for his close friendship and association with Albanian terrorists. You know, the murderous thugs and monsters of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) that currently rule the rogue state of Kosovo? The guys like Hashim Thaci and Agim Ceku who systematically deceived Westerners into fighting their anti-Serb, anti-Christian jihad for them? Yeah,the Clinton administration was real friendly with these folks, and Clark was the all-too-happy liaison of this match made in hell.

I wish someone would shut him up, because I''m tired of hearing his "I was a general, so you can trust me" bullsh** The man should be in jail for coordinating and ordering the bombardment of Serb civilians and their churches and homes while protecting Albanian guerillas ("freedom fighters") and the violent looting mobs that followed them.

I spit on Clark and his supposedly "honorable" military record!

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by christinawes July 2, 2008 8:23 PM EDT
John McCain''s trade policies with Colombia are already working - as he noted in television interviews this morning, the price of Colombian cocaine is up, a sure sign of a strengthening trade-based economic relationship with this important swing state. Go McCain!

http://www.womenforjohnmccain.com/
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by mattcat25 July 2, 2008 7:48 PM EDT
John McCain is a War Monger, and the Republicans want nothing more then to have perpetual war, and war funding.
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by rgrxx175 July 2, 2008 4:09 PM EDT
gen. clark out ranks mccain, mccain be a man and suck it up....
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by DCropp July 2, 2008 2:45 PM EDT
A recent John McCain fundraiser was hosted by someone who repeatedly provided funds for a terrorist group.

How on earth can John McCain talk about security and anti-terrorism when he takes in millions from a fund-raiser held by a sponsor of terrorism?

Instead of the Straight Talk Express, they should call it the Terrorist Express.
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by mattcat25 July 2, 2008 12:39 PM EDT
John McCain surrendered to the Communist North Vietnamese, and divulged sensitive military information to an enemy combatant. John McCain has provided fodder to the overly violent Republican Base with his War Mongering stance. Republicans have an obscured and possibly sick view when it comes to War and Violence. McCain is a War Monger, if elected could lead the US into never ending War and a perpetual Wartime Economy.
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by cjbrix July 2, 2008 12:16 PM EDT
There was nothing wrong with Clark''s comments. He didn''t attack McCain''s service in any way; he challenged the premise that McCain''s service qualifies as executive experience.

What kind of questions are voters allowed to ask about McCain''s qualifications? If McCain wants to claim that his time as a POW makes him a concert pianist or a brain surgeon, are any of us allowed to disagree without being eviserated by the media for "attacking his service"?
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by rowdywicca July 2, 2008 8:20 AM EDT
Wesley Clark missed learning a very important lesson in his over glorified life...when you criticize someone else, or try to minimize the importance of their service...yours has to be squeaky clean, or you open yourself and a ton of krap is going to rain down on you. Especially when you''ve been FIRED from your command for unethical orders!

Bad judgment, really bad bad judgment.
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by dhhd4 July 2, 2008 3:03 AM EDT
General Clark is anything but a kook. I wish he were President. He speaks the truth more intelligently
than anyone else out there. Wes Clark has served his country for over 40 years without ever getting involved in get rich scheme''s like the Keating 5. Give me a break!!
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by edisun July 2, 2008 2:50 AM EDT
It''s so typical of Dem''s to find one or 2 angles or talking points to push and just push them until they bleed. McCain did a hell of alot more than just get captured and no that doesn''t qualify him alone. But the guy was there and he endured it. He''s also a graduate of the Naval War College and has been a senator well before Obama was ever spouting his or his petite like a flower wife''s racist garbage. But everyone just wants to say he''s not qualified because he''s a former POW, well of course not. He''s qualified for a ton of other reasons, ya talking head pieces of ***. Use your heads, and remember Obama and Mich, let their children sit through how many years of that hate spewing racist faux-minister??
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by lightnin001 July 2, 2008 2:43 AM EDT
Is the patriotism, or lack of it, or condoning of anti-American activities by continuing to associate with, and the failure to repudiate people, who have been convicted of it, and yet only 3-4 years ago said they only wish they had done more of it, by a Presidential candidate, a "critical issue" for this nation? Clark is a disgrace to the uniform, and I expect that most of our brave citizens who are wearing this country''s uniform now consider him a disgrace. He should resign, and decline further payments from his pension. On behalf of the patriotic and proud citizens of this country, I apologize to them, and particularly if they ever had to serve under Clark''s command. Having had to serve under him does not disgrace them, we''re still proud of them, they had little choice. Obama himself is a disgrace, unfit for his Senate post, much less the Presidency. I hope McCain CRUSHES him!
(End of part 2.)
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by lightnin001 July 2, 2008 2:42 AM EDT
"Clark said. %u201CAs an American and former military officer, I will not back down if I believe someone doesn''t have sound judgment when it comes to our nation''s most critical issues."" (End of Part one.)
It would seem logical, therefore, to assume that Clark believes that obama''s long and close associations with William Ayers, Bernadine Dohrne, and "Rev." Wright indicate sound judgment, or that he does not consider anti-American activity, repeated bombings of American government buildings by Ayers and Dohrne, or the lying, racist, anti-American, anti-white diatribes obama and his wife (and young daughters) sat in the pews and listened to for many years at "Rev." Wright''s "church", (which, by the way, somehow received $15 million in US taxpayer money over the past 15 years while Wright has been spewing his bile), were not "our nation''s most critical issues"!
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by jeteyenite July 2, 2008 2:34 AM EDT
Another failed attempt by flip/flop McCain to derail a true comment that being a POW doesn''t make a President.My only complaint is that neither has the guts to resign present position of which neither is now fulfilling to the needs of the states they are from .
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by patriot12436 July 2, 2008 2:31 AM EDT
Clark has a nerve talking about anyone, he was fired for incompetence, now joins the oppositioin to get a political position. I have no respect for him. I respect McCains war record and his service to his coutry.
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by DerbyDaddy July 2, 2008 2:14 AM EDT
Obama - come out from under the surrogates. If you want to practice sleeze politics, do it like a man and quit hiding under the skirts of a kook like Clark. And, by the way, do you have the guts to even get in the same building with McCain?
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by olderdaze July 2, 2008 2:13 AM EDT
Clark has an opinion about what makes a good leader. The point he is making is fair. Being a pilot and POW should not be taken to mean he would be a good leader, would understand foreign policy in an of themselves. That he has served his country is clear. That he is patriotic is clear.
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by dnsallday July 2, 2008 1:36 AM EDT
Is McCain having another hissy fit or is it just one extended fit that lasts forever.
The man has no business running for President. He behaves like a spoiled juvenile delinquent.
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