Wes at the Cedar Rapids Hillary campaign office
Submitted by Ruth on December 5, 2007 - 11:43am.
Wes was scheduled to appear at Hillary’s campaign office in Cedar Rapids at 7:45 last night. My daughter and I arrived just a few minutes before that. There were about a dozen workers and volunteers busily making calls to folks in Marion to let them know General Clark would be speaking on behalf of Hillary.
We were asked if we wanted to help make calls until the General arrived. “Sure.” We were each given 4 pages of lists of committed Hillary supporters. They had the standard stuff: name, phone number, address and age. I think more than half were over 70 years old and most were concerned about the weather. Most of the others had to work at that time of day. We didn’t get a lot of yeses. I think we affirmed fifteen to twenty between the two of us out of about 160 names.
One of my daughter’s calls was to a “hard core Republican” and he wanted to know why she was calling him but that “when General Clark speaks my ears are open.”
One of the calls I had was to a woman who said she rode an elevator with the General and nearly fainted. “He is the most incredibly handsome man. I just love him!” She got no argument from me. ;)
Wes walked in about 8:30, wearing a trench coat with his tie (blue) loosened and his shirt collar unbuttoned and was holding an A&W cup. As Wes stepped forward to speak I jumped up and started a round of applause. Everyone joined in and Wes pointed to me and my daughter and said, “I see a couple of my soldiers here. Thank you for coming.”
He spoke for less than five minutes about Hillary. The same as he’s been saying all along. He said something about him knowing her for 24 years and while she was working on behalf of the country Obama was playing basketball. One difference I noticed was he targeted “The governor of Arkansas” as the one who would kick up their heels in the White House and at the thought of his own private plane.
After he spoke he came up to me first and shook my hand. He asked how I was. I asked him to sign two books and he seemed happy to do it. He asked if I knew Mary Lee who was accompanying him and I said, “Yes, I do.” I said hi to her and reminded her I met her in Chicago at O’Malley’s. She remembered.
Wes shook a few more hands and said he was going to eat his A&W chicken sandwich in the back office and would be out shortly to make some calls. He came out about 9:00 and shook another few hands, posed for a picture and left.
I think it is outstanding that you answered the call, especially when it seems (I am assuming) that your heart may lay elsewhere. Really really good of you to do it. Really good. Thanks.
It's heartening to know Wes has Huckabee in his sights, that is crucial.
disclaimer: lightheartedness ahead
As for the basketball crack, insulting the opposition within reason is kind of a part of it, the way the military humor insulting the other service goes. I guess Wes is going to hold Hillary's opponent's relative youth & inexperience against him, ha. Hey, Obama is probably hanging out insulting Goldwater Girls to rally his volunteers, if that is any comfort.
p.s. I loved the response you got on behalf of Wes on the phone! Thanks for taking the time to blog it.
The "basketball crack". There is alot of mockery over the "kindergarten" bit. But watch for more discussion about "experience" over the coming weeks. The press doesn't seem to be interested in discussing it....so someone needs to, I guess. ;)
I'd actually prefer the use of the word credentials rather than experience. "Experience" just seems easier to fudge on a job application.
Just sayin.
Thanks for the report, Ruth.
Re: basketball
I have a concern over the basketball reference. Mom told me last night, when I called her to ask if she wanted to go see General Clark with me, she thinks that the basketball comments sound racist. She told me she asked my sister if she thought so, too. She didn't think so. "Not necessarily."
If even one person thinks it sounds that way it's one too many. I would hope General Clark stops using that particular example.
"Some of them put on their cowboy boots and put their feet up on the desk." -Wes Clark
I would have to agree. It probably doesn't hurt Obama anymore than the 'assault' on his kindergarten essay.
But it just might hurt Wes Clark.
Great FHA Ruth! And I gotta say, ((( you are ))) the gold-star-standard when it comes to the practice of Dem Party Unity!
"The citizen who sees his society's democratic clothes being worn out and does not cry out is not a patriot but a traitor." -- Mark Twain
Huh. Never occurred to me it sounded racist. Just a reference to what this person has been doing in his life to gain the credentials for the job.
If one must be this careful then....it does say an awful lot in itself, tho, of where this country is, it seems.
And I agree with you, if someone has to be that careful... :/
Ruth, thank you so much for the FHA! You're a real trooper for going -- as Wes said -- one of "his" soldiers! ;)
Once in a while you get shown the light, In the strangest of places if you look at it right.
I think I'd go with "playing video games" instead of b-ball. It's funnier anyway. There's a lot more material there if you want to expand on it.
But, I'd probably shy away from saying anything about BO at all. I'd push specifically on the things she did and let the deafening silence on the other side speak for itself. I mean, really, if she's going to take credit for everything that happened during Bill's administration, then she ought to be able to rattle off accomplishments so fast that it'll leave people's heads spinning. Then let BO's team come back and have to argue that she doesn't deserve credit for that. I think she wins if it gets that far.
We learn. We change. That's progress. If we don't do that, well, we're GWB.
I'm not sure how many video games were available in those days. My how time changes and goes by so quickly. Sigh.
He's only a few years older than me and I was very young when Pong came out, so I think it would get the point across well enough. But I still think it would be better if team Hillary just stuck to talking about her accomplishments and let BO's lack thereof speak for itself.
We learn. We change. That's progress. If we don't do that, well, we're GWB.
I was honored to make calls for Clark. As much as I hate calling it never occurred to me not to. The more people who hear General Clark speak the better off this country is. My daughter is a pro on the phone. She used to telemarket and her skills were obvious. She didn't stick to the script at all. Here she is telling people what a dynamic speaker General Clark is and how much they will enjoy hearing him. She was so comfortable chatting and talking him up. Somebody should hire her.
I forgot one thing in the report. Wes said he would be back in the state again. At that point I told him I wrote on the blog he should be here or in NH three days a week. I'm sure he appreciated my opinion on that. HA! He said he can't be here that much. That he has business to attend to. He added he is going to Italy shortly. "What are you doing in Italy?" Like it's really any of my business. :p
"Some of them put on their cowboy boots and put their feet up on the desk." -Wes Clark
He just said it was a business trip.
"Some of them put on their cowboy boots and put their feet up on the desk." -Wes Clark
I'm glad you got to go.
Yup...When Clark speaks, my ears are open, too.
I probably shouldn't comment on his handsomeness. I'll leave that to the distaff side. Besides, the Blog Police may be somewhere nearby.
Stan Davis
Lakewood, CO
Wes Clark -- Don't settle for less.
Make America All It Can Be!
Ellen and I rode with him in an elevator once. He was so preoccupied with his blackberry that he tripped over the threshold and Ellen nearly had to catch him.
Thanks for writing it up Ruth!
We learn. We change. That's progress. If we don't do that, well, we're GWB.
I just can't figure out what FHA stands for. Help please, anyone.
I don't think the basketball comment should be considered racist. By the way legend has it that basketball's "fast-brake" was invented at my lily white agricultural orientated Alma Mater to take advantage of the support pillars that were part of the playing court.
My knowledge of subjects is quite limited but basketball is something I know about since I attended my first college game 57 years ago -- and I watch 10 games a week now!
Any race-based interpretation requires quite a stretch.
Anyone's concern is not to be taken lightly, but I'd say it is a non-starter.
Clinton Camp Admits Iowa County Chair Passed Along Obama Muslim Smear Email
Talking Points Memo | Greg Sargent | December 5, 2007 01:46 PM
"A day after the Hillary campaign hit the Obama camp for bullying voters in nasty phone calls, the Hillary crew has just acknowledged that an Iowa county chair volunteering for the campaign passed along the now-notorious email that smears Obama as a Muslim by repeating the false claim that he attended a madrassa as a child.
The Hillary campaign confirms that they are asking the county chair to step down from the campaign." (Gs: The right thing to do. Good for Hillary).
Anyone spreading those emails and those smears should step down from their position. Shameful behavior, and only helps perpetrate the Bush admin smear campaign against Muslims in the end.
It's totally inexcusable. This one really gets my hackles up (--what is a hackle anyway?) every time I see it.
Where else would I be able to expand my knowledge and understanding of words.
Ms in la offers the word "hackle" to express her frustration.
Nelsons offers a link to a dictionary definition of "hackle" and I learn it has something to do with "erectile hairs."
She can't control everyone who works on her campaign. The campaign has disavowed involvement -- and I believe them.
It was sad to see her subjected to abuse over this matter.
I'll bet President Clinton likes this definition of hackle: filaments of cock feather projecting from the head of an artifical fly.
Maddy posted the official response. It's very good.
http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/14040#comment-258788
We learn. We change. That's progress. If we don't do that, well, we're GWB.
I love how Wes remembers everybody:)
She rode an elevator with the General and nearly fainted. “He is the most incredibly handsome man."
ME TOO!!!!
Some people are better off taking the escalator. ;)
"Some of them put on their cowboy boots and put their feet up on the desk." -Wes Clark
...oh, never mind. What happens in Reno stays in Reno.
Stan Davis
Lakewood, CO
Wes Clark -- Don't settle for less.
Make America All It Can Be!
great encounter! you are intrepid :-)
synthetic environment Golden Mean