General Wesley Clark on the Stephanie Miller Show

November 20, 2007
Transcript by Reg NYC

Stephanie Miller: This is a time when people really needed real leaders and not fake photo-op leaders like President Bush. If only there was someone that knew how to lead that could call now.

(phone Rings)

Stephanie Miller: YES! Chris, who is it?

Chris: It's the author of A Time To Lead, General Wesley Clark.

(phone rings again)

Stephanie Miller: Oh, what are the chances.

(trumpets blare)

Stephanie Miller: Good morning, General Clark.

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Good morning, Stephanie. How are you doing?

Stephanie Miller: I am fine, Sir. How are you this morning?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Just fine, thank you.

Stephanie Miller: What position will you have in the Clinton administration?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: (laughs)

Chris: Ah.

Stephanie Miller: See where I just opened with it. Right? Just started shock and awe. I took you off guard.

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: I think it's, you know, I think the Democratic Party's got to come together. They've got to pick the nominee.

Stephanie Miller: (laughs)

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: And, and I, I , I've endorsed Hillary Clinton. I think she's the right person to be President, but it's a long way from now 'til then.

Stephanie Miller: Well, you know, as you know, General Clark, we've had a, a, the new Washington Post/ABC News poll shows Obama pulling ahead in, in Iowa. I guess we got us a race still. Don't we?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, I think there's a race. I, you know, I saw the debate. I was in Philadelphia. I watched the, the press make a big thing about Hillary's answer, but I didn't see any different answer from John Edwards and Barak Obama in the last debate. I know the press wants a horserace on this thing.

Stephanie Miller: Mm hm.

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: I just believe that Hillary Clinton is the candidate with the most experience. She's got the most character. She's got the greatest policy depth on these issues. I think she's the right person to lead.

Stephanie Miller: Well, you know, i-it's interesting. What do you make of this whole Robert Novak's non-story? It seems to me like this is what's going to happen. This is already what's happened, is, you know, they'll put something out, this like, 'There's something damaging about Obama. We can't tell you what it is, but it comes from the Clinton camp.' So, that's a way they can get something bad out about both frontrunners. Don't you think? They can say, 'Oh, there's something about Obama and the Clintons are behind it.'

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: It sounds like that. I don't know what it is. I don't understand it but then I don't think it's very important. I the think people have to look at what they see. They have to look at the candidates as they speak, look at their issues, look at their records and make their decision.

Stephanie Miller: Yeah, it's a, I mean, it is a tough- You know, we were saying like people always, you know, when, when they make a criticism, they say, you know, that Hillary triangulates and is so careful. But, you know, I've often said, General, we have this, this, you know, YouTube, gotcha environment now that, that, you know, people have- politicians have to be careful. Don't they?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Absolutely.

Stephanie Miller: You, you, you know, you create an environment where we can't

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: E-

Stephanie Miller: -really have anything else.

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Everything is, everything that someone says comes back to haunt them. I've learned it the hard way. I was the, a commentator on CNN, and people are, you know, constantly quoting something I said on the air with Aaron Brown in a passing phrase about the war as some deep position I took. And so, I think Hillary's right to be concerned about what she says, but I don't find that Barak or John Edwards are any less conscious.

Stephanie Miller: Mm hm.

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: I see them triangulating the same way.

Stephanie Miller: Mm hm. Mm hm. Well what, I mean, I, I think the latest w-was the whatever, the town hall, there was of course an anti-war protester there that got into it with Hillary. I mean, that, Iraq is the issue of our day. Don't you think? And-

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: I think Iraq's going to go away as an issue, because the truth is that after hundreds of thousands of Iraqi casualties and 4,000 American dead and 800 billion dollars, the conflict has played itself out for now. The Iranians are basically controlling the, the, the, the sense of conflict there. They want a quiet spell. They're working to get their nuclear weapons in place o-or developed. And so, it's going to look like a victory, and I think the President's going to declare a victory and try to have a parade and try to take this issue off the table for 2008.

Stephanie Miller: Mmm. How, wha- I mean, how is he going to do that though? I mean how are we ge- We're not going to get out, r-right, if it's up to President?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, I think, first of all, you can see a decline in the number of casualties i- by May, if it, if it stays like it is today. Keep the number of casualties down. You announce a hundred thousand-man pullback, but you implement it ten thousand troops at a time. And you have a parade in Washington, bring them down Constitution Avenue. And hey, I mean, it'll fade off. It's already faded off the front pages of most of the newspapers.

Stephanie Miller: Well, what do you, what about the latest funding, the Iraq war funding fight? What do you make of that and what you think the Democrats should do now?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: I think the Democrats always should've attacked the policy as being wrong strategically. Instead of arguing about troop strength, argue about the strategy and argue about the effectiveness. They should be looking at the tremendous waste and fraud and abuse-

Stephanie Miller: Mm hm.

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: -that's gone on.

Stephanie Miller: Well, and General Clark, I still don't understand what the strategy is. W-what do we do now? It's like yeah, of course if you send a zillion more troops in like we've done, violence goes down temporarily, but what now? Well so, what now?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: I think the real issue is that we-

Stephanie Miller: I-if we're not going to change, if we're not really going to do anything different diplomatically or, they've made no political progress in Iraq, which is what this was supposed to be for, w-w-what's the strategy?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, I think the truth is that they've, they've fought for four and a half years, and Iran is stronger and we're weaker. It's a pretty bad strategy, but that's the strategy that the Bush administration stuck, and they stuck it to the Democrats, who have never really spoken up against the strategy. Instead, they've argued about trying to get troops out. It's been a mistake.

Stephanie Miller: But General-

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: I said for, for two years-

Stephanie Miller: Mm hm.

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: -we've got to talk about strategy and policy, not about troops and tactics-

Stephanie Miller: But General-

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: -but they fell right into the Republican trap.

Stephanie Miller: Well, that's what I mean, but that is their strategy, isn't it, is to basically dump this in, in Senator Clinton's lap or whoever's the next President and then say, 'Oh see, she lost the war, now. It was all going great-'

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, that was-

Stephanie Miller: '-(laughs) when George Bush left.'

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: That's the fallback strategy. If they can convince the American people it's a victory before that, then they're even better off.

Chris: Mm hm.

Stephanie Miller: Ugh. God. General, what, before you go, what do you think of this, the selling arms to the Saudis? (laughs) This is a, you know, we, we've got a plan to sell sophisticated satellite-guided bombs to Saudi Arabia.

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: I saw that. I, I think, you know, the Saudis have tried to help us. They're trying to help us now by keeping the investments up in the dollar. They've had some problems with terrorism at home. I think, you know, we should be looking for many, many other ways to influence and build relationships with countries beyond selling them sophisticated weaponry.

Stephanie Miller: Yes, particularly when most of the hijackers were from there, and they seem to be causing a lot of the, the, the trouble in Iraq, you know. And of course, the Bush administration will never mention that, right?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Actually, the Saudis have been encouraging the Sunnis to come together and throw out Al Qaeda. So, the Bush administration has a lot to be grateful to the Saudis for.

Stephanie Miller: Mm. Alright, General Clark, thank you for taking time for us as always. The book is A Time To Lead.

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Thank you, Stephanie.

Stephanie Miller: (laughs) And the man is General Wesley Clark. Thank you, General.

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Thank you.

Stephanie Miller: Alright, there he goes, General Clark.

(applause)

Stephanie Miller: He's going to, he'll get his friend Hillary to call one of these days. I'm sure of it.

Chris: I really like him. He makes so much sense.

Stephanie Miller: Alright 42 minutes after the hour, right back on the S-

unidentified: You want that in a President, a gut who makes sense? Okay, whatever.

Chris: Ha, ha, yeah. I'll be such a switch from what we've had.