Wes Clark in Monroe County
The Press Conference

By mariawells
Crossposted with permission from
Eric Massa for Congress
August 3, 2006

I drove up to Rochester from NJ last night and met with most of Eric's staff at the Pittsford (outside of Rochester) office. We worked for a while, had dinner, worked for a while longer, then went to the bar in Pittsford (yes, apparently, there is only one--I was only there for one day, but this seems to be the only not-so-nice thing about Pittsford). Oh, and it seems the Buffalo Bills train in Pittsford. There were signs all over the place welcoming them, but I didn't see any football players. :( But, then, I don't suppose they'd be walking down State Street in their helmets and pads.

I talked a good game--like I was going to show up at the office at 7:30am this morning--NOT. I got there around 9. It wasn't my fault. The alarm clock in the Holiday Inn Express did not have a snooze button, so when it went off at 6:10, I turned it off and the next thing I knew, it was 7:30. And, no, that doesn't explain why I didn't get to the office til 9 either!

Anyway, when I got there, we learned that the biggest radio show in Rochester--oh I've forgotten the guy's name but it's "Brother Something or other" (Wease)--was going to have Eric on. We turned up the radio in the office and listened in. It was quite the good show. Really, I think it was the best show I've ever heard Eric on, not necessarily because of what he said, but more because of the atmosphere. It was just like a few guys talking around a coffee table about politics. And Brother ??? kept referring to Eric as "Brother Eric."

Well, then we heard the really neat news. General Clark was going to be on as well! Brother Wes??? Uh, well, he didn't actually ever refer to Wes that way, but it sure was funny to picture it. To tell you the truth, by the time Wes was on, I was completely stressed out about a tiff I was having with a service provider over a certain technical problem, so I didn't really hear much of what Wes said. But y'all will be glad to hear that he did, in fact, eat a donut. I know that everyone worries that Wes does not eat when he travels.

I'm not quite sure where Eric and Wes headed after that, but we were off to South & Comfort Streets in Rochester for a press conference outside the Veterans Center there and then a quick "tour" of the center itself. I drove over with two of Eric's very young staff--Sam and Goeff--well, I guess THEY don't think they're very young :). Anyway, it was HOT. It was about 11:00am. We were setting up signage, which was a story in itself. As a slight break to the absolute temperature, which I think was 452.7 deg F, there was a swift breeze. And that made displaying Eric's banners impossible. We tried, we really did. But when two people got smacked in the face and one of them nearly needed emergency medical care, the "safety-first" engineer in me kind of freaked out. Who needs banners when you have Wes Clark, anyway?

The press conference went well, but it was HOT. Had I mentioned that already? Everyone was soaked. Wes's hair was windblown and kind of falling down in his eyes. Wes talked about the lack of support this administration gives the troops and veterans. He told an incredibly sad story about a young man who'd returned from Iraq after having witnessed his best friend dying in battle. Wes said in Israel, they make sure combat troops are interviewed and then interviewed again by psychologists before they send them home. We don't do that. This young man committed suicide in front of his mother.

Wes was asked about Iraq. He said we needed to redeploy the troops. Reporters asked if that meant bring them home and he said something along the lines of "some of them." I wish I'd been taking notes for that part, because my memory is really failing me there. But, it really wasn't anything that I wouldn't have thought he'd say, except for the use of the word "redeployment." Apparently Rummy said last week that Iraqis would be able to hold their own by the end of this year. A reporter asked what Wes thought about that. He said, "I hope that's true. Every American should hope that's true." She then pushed him and said, "Do you think it's true?" And he said, "Hoping is not a strategy. The evidence doesn't indicate that it will happen that way."

Another reporter asked Wes about Israel. Wes's answer sounded very pro-Israel. A reporter said, "You sound like you're in agreement with the Bush administration." Wes said that the administration never should have let it get to this point. Just because you think Israel has a right to defend itself and Hezballah must disarm, doesn't mean that we have to be having all this innocent loss of life. There is another way. We should have been working the situation all along.

Sometimes I forget that and Wes always reminds me. There is always another way. You don't have to be for or against Israel. Believing that Hezballah is wrong doesn't mean that innocent people have to die. Americans don't believe that innocent people should be put in harms way -- no matter whose flag they live under.

Eric was his usual fiery self at the press conference. He echoed everything Wes said. It's amazing when they get together how in-tune they are with one another. Boy, I'm really blanking on what he said specifically. I think I may have been suffering from heat exhaustion by then! He gave specific examples of things that would get done if he had his way in Congress. And they were things about healthcare and vets. There was a VN Vet in the crowd, a real swiftboat veteran, who asked the last question. But it was more of a statement than a question. He said he'd come down to see if Eric was for real--and he was convinced that he was. That was a pretty touching moment.

Eric and Wes and some of the crowd then went over for a quick "tour" of the Vet Center. There wasn't time for that to last too long, but I think everyone was enjoying the A/C.

After that, we all headed over to Mario's for the fundraiser. I'll cover that in another entry.