On Saturday, October 17, 2009 General Wesley Clark spoke to Kentucky Democrats at the annual Jefferson-Jackson DInner. The Hillbilly Report captured his speech.

Courtesy of the Hillbilly Report

Jack Brammer | Herald-Leader | Staff report | October 17, 1009

Retired U.S. Army Gen. Wesley Clark, who served as Supreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO from 1997 to 2000 and ran for president in 2004, came to Lexington Saturday to rally Kentucky Democrats.

Clark was the keynote speaker at the state Democratic Party Jefferson-Jackson Dinner at the Red Mile.

Herald-Leader political reporter Jack Brammer interviewed him.

Question: What is your primary message to Kentucky Democrats?

Answer: Stay on course. The American people last year said 'yes, we can,' to Barack Obama and said we want change and want to bring jobs and prosperity back to this country. The country finally is headed in that direction.

Q: How is the president doing?

A: I think he's doing great. I'm very much excited about what he is doing.

Q: Outside the urban areas, Obama appears to be a political liability for Democrats in Kentucky. Would you advise Kentucky Democratic candidates to distance themselves from him?

A: Absolutely not. As Democrats, we have to stand up for what we believe in. We believe in jobs, jobs, jobs. Of course, we have to have a strong national security. But it's really about the economy. And this economy is turning around. It's coming our way, thanks to the leadership of all our Democrats in Washington.

BY JOSEPH GERTH | COURIER-JOURNAL | OCTOBER 17, 2009

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Kentucky Democrats came together Saturday to rejuvenate themselves as national polls suggest uncertainty about the party’s policies on health care and the economy.

“We are on the right side of history,” U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Louisville, told a gathering at a Democratic picnic at The Red Mile race track in Lexington.

He acknowledged that Democrat’s in congress have seen their approval ratings fall in the past year “but we aren’t anywhere near as low as the Republicans in Congress and we’re not as low as (Republican U.S. Senator) Jim Bunning’s and were not anywhere near as low as (Senate Minority Leader) Mitch McConnell’s.”

The picnic preceded the party’s annual Jefferson-Jackson Dinner where Ret. Gen. Wesley Clark, who ran for president in 2004, was the event’s headliner.

At the picnic, Clark told the crowd to “Stand up for your values. … We know what we stand for as Democrats.”

He called on President Barack Obama to continue a new national defense policy where the idea is “not to just carry a big stick but to make more friends than enemies.”

More at the COURIER-JOURNAL

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