FASCINATING
Moore on Clark

The Wesley Clark Weblog posts some comments from Michael Moore:

"As I suggested to people at the press conference earlier, Dennis Kucinich is good, Al Sharpton is good, but there's a ... I would love to see this. There's a four-star general ... he used to be the commander of NATO. His name is Wesley Clark. He was a Rhodes scholar. He's a Democrat. He would repeal the Bush tax cut for the rich. He submitted a brief in support of affirmative action to the Supreme Court. He's pro-choice. I could go down the list, and he's actually quite good on all the issues -- and he's a general. I would just love to see the debate between the general and the deserter.(Applause.) So if the Democrats really wanted to win, they should run somebody who could win -- and that would be an interesting race."

This is really interesting. Through both his writings, and BFC, Moore has shown his large disdain for the NATO military operations in Kosovo, of which Clark served as commander. He's also a Green and a Nader voter. Of course, recent interviews seem to suggest that he is a somewhat remorseful Nader voter. But what's really interesting is that, much like many liberals and anybody-but-Bush types around the country I presume (myself included), Michael Moore has a fantasy: The idea of a four-star general--a liberal one at that--mopping the floor with Bush's ass in a debate. A handsome, TV-savvy military man throwing the straight, authoritative truth about Iraq, and the administration's attempts to cut military pay, all of it right in Bush's face, giving him no room to wiggle, squirm or make cries of "fuzzy math". Hell, I could see a genuine Bentsen-Quayle moment come out of this.

I really like Wesley Clark, and I think he'd be a strong candidate for president. At this stage, Dean is my guy, but Clark will have a chance to win me over should he throw his four stars into the ring. I am a bit nervous about Dean when it comes to foreign policy and national security, not because I think America wouldn't be as safe under his leadership (in fact, the opposite would be the case), but that Bush and the "liberal" media could fool middle America into thinking as much. My suggested preliminary plan for Howard Dean consists of two parts, 1) hit Bush with hard specifics come the general campaign and the debates, and 2) add the General to your ticket. (I know a lot of Clarkies think their man is overqualified to be VP, but he's never been elected to anything in his career, so I wouldn't go that far... and he'll certainly get his turn at the top job in the future)

BTW, this is as good a time as any to note that Bowling For Columbine comes out on DVD this tuesday, and you can also order it here.