General Wesley Clark's Keynote Speech at Yearly Kos 2007

On August 3, 2007, General Clark delivered the keynote address at the YearlyKos convention in Chicago, IL.

Play MP3 We encourage you to listen to the speech.


Watch the Gen. Wesley Clark Keynote, Courtesy UStream.tv

Play MP3Read more at Taylor Marsh and The Washington Note

Additional interviews are available from TalkingPointsMemo and UStream.tv.

General Wesley Clark's Keynote Speech at Yearly Kos 2007

August 3, 2007
transcript by Reg NYC

"We are not questioning the generals. Mr. President, we are questioning you! Stop hiding behind Dave Petraeus." - Wesley Clark

Jon Soltz: ...an Iraq war veteran.

(applause)

(laughs) I find that so funny, because whenever you go to a Republican event, they don't seem to cheer for the troops. So, I (laughs) I, I thank you guys for that applause. I'm also the Chairman of VoteVets.org a group that (cheering) y'all have been so supportive of that without, without the support of the Kos community we would never've been where we are today. We obviously penetrated the political system from the outside much like everybody in this room, and for your support I, I thank you.

It's obviously an honor to be here. I'm here this morning to introduce General Wesley Clark who, who sits on the board of, of VoteVets.

(applause and cheering)

Click here for Jon Soltz's complete introduction

Ladies and gentlemen, please give a round of applause for General Wesley Clark.

(enthusiastic cheering and applause)


GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you.

(more cheering and applause)
Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you.
(more cheering and applause)
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
(persistent cheering and applause)
Thank you very much
Etc., etc.

Thank you. It makes me feel good and I haven't even announced yet.
(laughter and cheering)

That was a joke.
(laughter)

I'm, I'm really happy to be here, and I'm really happy to see all of you here. This community's made a huge difference in American politics. This is the centerpiece of a new politics, and you can feel it. You can feel it in the energy. You can feel it in the ideas. You can feel it in the enthusiasm and the commitment and the, the, the selflessness that you all have brought into the business of politics. You didn't work your way up to get positions. You weren't after a claim. All you wanted was an opportunity to have your ideas heard and to be able to resonate with others who have the same concerns and the same love for America that you have. And you built a community that's incredibly powerful, and I want to thank you for that, and I want to thank you for what you did for helping Democrats take over the House and the Senate in 2006. You're wonderful.

(applause)

And I want to, I want to also recognize we've got a lot of people here who are working in this community now, you've got a lot of people here, you may not have met them, but who are candidates for elective office in the 2008 cycle. And could I ask all the candidates in 2008, if you're here, would you stand up and let this community get a look at you, because they want to meet you?

(applause)

I'm real proud of those people who are running, because it takes a lot of courage to go out there and run for office. It's not the kind of courage that you might get a Silver Star for in the military. It's the kind of courage where you really think about it, where you worry about your family. You worry about what the impact is. You worry about what it's going to do to your life and whether you actually are pursuing a, a dream that's got some chance of becoming real. It takes true, deep courage to make those kinds of commitments. So, I salute the candidates, and I'm really proud of you. I hope every one of you win.

(applause)

8/3/07 - Keynote: Yearly Kos Convention @ 8AM CDT, Chicago, IL

Aug 3 2007 - 8:00am

From the release :


On Friday (Aug 3, 2007), Gen. Wesley Clark, the retired four-star General and a vocal critic of the Bush administration's handling of the Iraq war, will speak to conference attendees as the morning's keynote speaker.


"Over the last few decades, Gen. Clark has distinguished himself as a both a scholar and a statesman," Cooper said. "We're pleased he's a part of our movement, and we're excited to have him once again join us at the YearlyKos Convention."


Friday's gathering will begin at 8 a.m.
For more information, go to http://www.yearlykosconvention.org/

McCormick Place Convention Center, Chicago, IL
( see all | )

6/9/06 - General Wes Clark on the Young Turks

General Wesley Clark Takes on President Bush on Iraq and 9/11

June 9, 2006
Huffington Post | Young Turks

transcript by Reg NYC




To stream the video
To download the video (38MB)



The Young Turks are broadcasting live from The Yearly Kos convention in Las Vegas. We interviewed General Wesley Clark this morning. He spoke very frankly (must run in the family) about the failures of the Bush administration in Iraq. He also talked about the neo-conservative plan to invade Iraq going back to more than a decade.


Finally, he discussed the failures that led up to 9/11, which was refreshing because the neglect the Bush administration showed to addressing Al Qaeda before 9/11 is almost never mentioned.

6/9/06 - General Wesley Clark at Yearly Kos: Science Panel

General Wesley Clark at Yearly Kos: Science Panel
June 9, 2006
transcript by Reg NYC

Click here to listen General Clark's remarks

I'm really happy to be talking about science this morning, because it's one of the things that's near and dear to my heart. It, it's- I just want to talk for a couple of minutes and take any questions you might have.

You know, science is the lifeblood of our civilization. It's what has made the modern world possible. It's why the planet supports six billion people and not several hundred million. it's what has distinguished this modern age. It has tremendous benefits, and that carries with it tremendous responsibilities and risks.

We in America are the- we're the prime beneficiaries and the real carriers of science and technology and the scientific method. We come by it naturally. We came here to this continent, a continent that, according to the latest research, was ravaged by diseases that, that our forbearers brought to this country that may have killed off 90% of the original inhabitants. But we came here and it was an open continent. It only needed the imagination of men and women and their courage and their skill and their hard work to develop it.

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