Draft Clark Website Rebels Against Candidate

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Dreadsox

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[Q]An Open Letter to the Clark Movement
By the time you read these words, the bell will be tolling for Wesley Clark's candidacy. It will be clear across the country that the campaign of Wesley Clark is nothing more than the Gore campaign with a better candidate - this will mean that activists, the people who can create a field organization that can win Iowa and New Hampshire, will know that this campaign is nothing more than a media creation.

This is the defining moment for the Clark Campaign. Either he will show he can take charge, or he will be forever branded a tool of insiders, unable to understand the enormity of the task. A man who cannot fill a campaign, cannot fill a cabinet. A man who cannot run a campaign, cannot run the government. A man who cannot obey the law, cannot uphold the law.

Donnie Fowler - respected campaigner, son of legendary Don Fowler - has been forced out. He was forced out because people would not come forward and tell the truth, and instead cowered and waited, even though they knew what was going on to be wrong. We were not there for him, and he is now no longer there for us.

It is crisis that makes men into statesmen, and separates leaders from followers. What must be done now is swift and dramatic action: it must be made clear that Clark is not a follower of the old politics and can step forward and staunch the bleeding. This is because the resignation makes all of the small irregularities and missteps of the campaign count as problems, and they will be brought forward. People here who think that this is the end of Clark's problems are deceving themselves. Now that the recall is over, and the spy flame has died down - a new news cycle has started, and Clark is on the menu. If he does not meet this head on, he will be swamped by every single error made. The man who runs as Mr. Clean, must, in fact be clean. Clark must prove he can run his campaign, the way he runs his mouth.

This is not going to be easy. Many people intimately connected with the draft movement failed Clark. They failed him by inflating their accomplishments, and working to fragment the movement, so that they could get jobs in the campaign. Unfortunately, this has proven, as it always was, to be a mistake. The flaw was this: by lying about their accomplishments, it undercut the very credibility of the people who were fighting for the Draft Movement. As a result the insiders prevailed, and now the Draft movement is on the outside looking in - with its most vocal supporter resigning from the campaign, and the positions of others left in doubt - and its most eloquent spokespeople cut out of the process entirely.

What must be done now?

First - Clark must come forward and be seen to be taking command himself. Without this there is nothing. He must say "I have seen the corruption of the Bush executive, and that is why I oppose them. I have now seen how the electoral process is also broken. I vow to fix it here and now, and as president, I vow to pass legislation which will give the election process back to the people." He must return any questionable sums of money, and then pay fair market costs for any services rendered.

Second - Clark must hire a new campaign manger, or rehire Fowler.

He must appoint a competent political operative to go through the campaign and correct any detail in the campaign staff itself which could cause scandal.

He must remove any individuals currently in the campaign which are required to make this happen. He must also remove any individual who violated FEC regulations or the relevant sections of 2 USC which apply to elections, including, but not limited to: individuals who gave instructions from the campaign with out proper authorization, individuals who put forward material from the campaign with out properly attributing it to the campaign, individuals who attempted to obscure or disguise materials from the campaign, individuals who harrassed or threatened activists with being "out" if they did not cooperate, individuals who have even the appearance of impropriety. He must require individuals who have paid themselves excessive sums of money from the campaign to return all or part of those monies.

Third - He must bring in the intellectual elements of the Clark movement which, so far, have been left out - and even attacked and censored - on board. There is no longer the excuse of being "too busy". It is these individuals who can sink the campaign beyond repair if they are not brought on board. It is only these individuals who can provide the credibility for a turnaround of the campaign. It is these individuals who can say in an unforced manner "there were problems, they are being fixed now". He must implement open source politics, and "get religion". Without this, there will be a feeding frenzy of attacks. As it is irrevocable damage has been done: Clark could have vaulted to 40% and walked to the nomination. Now it will be a nasty hard ground war, with much heartache and blood.

Fourth - He must take direct control of the organization, removing intermediaries who have clouded the message - and put in place a leadership program which will bring all activists in the campaign up to a minimum level of competence.

Fifth - As the saying goes, first confess your sin, then repent of your sin - and then you must go forth and sin no more - Clark must understand the new politics, and understand that as it made him, it is about to set about unmaking him if he does not accept the standard of it. He must, without delay, hold a press conference, make a full disclosure of those irregularities which are known, and state that he has appointed people to sweep the campaign clean.

If he fails to do this, then there will be a continued stream of revelations of wrong doing in the campaign - revelations which will sink his candidacy, and his place in public life.

To the members of the draft movement - I must warn you bluntly, that further attempts to hide or censor the process of fixing the problems of the campaign will only increase the disaster. This is because once, when the cancer was small, it would have been easy to repair, and Clark could have disowned anything that had been done that was wrong. Now, with a campaign, he is legally responsible for what is done in his name. Twice before there have been attempts to cleanse the campaign of wrong doing - in both cases, well meaning, but misguided individuals, shouted down these attempts. The result is disaster. If this attempt to end the irregularities of the campaign is shouted down, the result will be catastrophe, and an end to the Clark candidacy. Clark is campaigning on the idea of a New American Patriotism - speaking out being essential to Democracy. The Clark movement must now show that it can follow the precepts that it preaches, and support - rather than thwart - attempts to bring out into the light the problems the campaign has and repair them.[/Q]http://www.draftclark.com/archives/004484.shtml#004484
 
It doesn't sound so much like they are rebelling against the canidate as much as they are the people around him. Granted they are saying he needs to take a little more control. If what this person says is true then Clark better do something fast.

But it could just be a Fowler supporter who's pissed off. Time will tell.
 
There's an article in USA Today about a "mole" in the Clark campaign. A friend of mine who's supporting Clark told me that he's gotten some personal e-mails from this mole. I hate moles. I think they're sorry creatures. I don't doubt that there's some discord going on in any political campaign--and I guess I shouldn't be surprised at any moles. I have also heard rumors about moles in the Dean campaign.
 
It is inevitable that Clark will change as he is drawn further into the political arena. The things that were appealing initially may disappear.
 
nbcrusader said:
It is inevitable that Clark will change as he is drawn further into the political arena. The things that were appealing initially may disappear.

Of course he'll change, everything will change. But, for the record, the Draft Clark page is old news. I just looked at it to try to find this letter and nothing has been added since the official Clark site went up after he declared his candidacy. This is bizarre. I've been in several campaigns, all general election campaigns. It's naive to assume that there's no discord in a political campaign, and that's truer of a primary campaign because in a general campaign you've already got the nomination. This is a fight between ten candidates for votes in key states and such. No discord in a Democratic primary campaign? Dream on.
 
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