Has anyone been attending Yearly Kos? If so did you see this dust-up?

[wndycty]

Clark leads vets in defending Iraq war critics
CONVENTION | Not unpatriotic, liberal bloggers told

August 4, 2007
BY ABDON M. PALLASCH Political Reporter/[e-mail]

Criticizing President Bush's war in Iraq does not make you unpatriotic, a panel of military veterans led by retired Gen. Wesley Clark told liberal bloggers at a convention Friday. And you don't have to be a veteran to comment on it, either, they said.

Clark, a once and possibly future Democratic candidate for president, said he is tired of hearing from Bush defenders that "when you criticize the war, you're not patriotic because you're criticizing the men and women in uniform."
-snip-

Soltz proclaimed the panel over, left the stage to approach Aguina and point him firmly toward the door. But Clark, still sitting on the dais, took the microphone and reopened the discussion with conciliatory remarks.

As a Chicago Sun-Times reporter and a few live-feed video bloggers moved toward Soltz and Aguina, Soltz said he wanted to talk to Aguina backstage, away from the media. Aguina argued for the conversation to be public, but he eventually yielded.
-snip-
http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/496911,CST-NWS-kos04.article

[Warpy]

1. It looks like Aquina was a plant

sent in full uniform to spout the party line.

Politely ejecting him was the sensible thing to do.

[Adelante]

2. I watched it somewhere yesterday

The guy may have been a plant, but at the same time, I think Soltz lost it, too. It's working out nicely for the Repugs in any case.

[Cameron27]

3. I didn't see it, but it's too bad that happened

since Clark could have easily answered him about the surge. From this print copy, it sounds as if Soltz was upset because he was wearing a uniform, not because of the question.

[Adelante]

4. Yeah, Wes talks to anybody about anything

It all seemed rather emotional to me, but it must be hard on these recent vets who are struggling to find a way, both sides, you know? It's all very highly charged.

[Solo_in_MD]

6. Soltz blew it big time and played right into the repukes hands

No matter what happens, the video is out there and all his back pedaling only makes things worse

[Adelante]

7. Yeah, I think so, too

Sad, though, because he's a good guy. He just didn't handle it this time.

[msongs]

5. Cl;ark made an excellent point during a TV interview at Kos ->

he said the democrats allow buscho to set the rules and frame of Iraq discussion as focusing on the "troops" instead of focusing on policy, goals and long term planning. Until the democrats quit framing the issue on buscho terms the democrats are going to keep losing on the issue.

I hope every DUer listened/watched the howard dean speech from Thursday to see how it is done.

Msongs
www.msongs.com/political-shirts.htm

[Adelante]

8. Maybe it was different in the room

I had only seen a clip, but this blogger gives a more detailed description, with a different conclusion.

Confrontation handled well at Yearly Kos

I've seen a lot of discussion today about an interesting exchange I saw on the video feed of today's programs at Yearly Kos. At the end of a panel discussion regarding progressives and the military, a uniformed soldier seems to have interrupted the discussion and proceeded to argue to the panelists that the surge is working.

The moderator, Captain Jon Soltz lets the disruptive uniformed soldier speak, but only after informing him that the soldier's precipitation while in uniform besmirches that uniform. A moment later, panelist General Wesley Clark had some wise thoughts in reaction.

Maybe there was attention on this because of the media buildup to this event and everyone looking for something to talk about. This incident was described inaccurately at the American Prospect and has subsequently made big waves on some conservative blogs. I went ahead and transcribed the actual incident and I was surprised to find how well everybody handled themselves. Starting with Soltz' closing remarks:

Soltz: "I just want to close out here. First, I want to thank the panel. I want to thank everyone who came, General Clark-"



Soltz: "Out of time-"

Other panelist: “Let him-“

Uniform: “No I’ll be fast.”

Soltz: “Listen, if you- let me make this really clear to you sergeant…Hoowel. You are in the uniform of our country. If you ask me a political question, Ima’ take you outside- Listen to me. –And we’re gonna have a captain- Listen to me. Hey so- hey- …Hey! You want me to come down there? Hold on a second sergeant. Let me come down here and talk to you real quick off-line. But I wanna let you know, If you say something political- If you say something political, If you use my uniform-our uniform-of our country to say something political, for or against, I will come down and talk to you.



Other panelist: “Look. Its not about the number-“

Soltz: “Stand down. …I just wanna thank- Look. Before we get into a real Army issue, I believe, that a great unit in the military has discipline. That we’ve got good units and bad units. For the sake of the Army, I wanna thank everybody who’s come here. I wanna thank the Kos panel. I wanna thank our panelists. For the sergeant, I will see you outside. I want the name of your commander and your first seargent. You will never, ever use my uniform again in the name of political purposes. Thank you.”





Female Panelist: “And come- Come to the-”

Clark: “Let me say something on this. Ther’r a lot of people here who love this country. And there are a lot of people who may have differing views one from another. And we support, as elements-members of this community, everyone’s right to speak. And so I think here, what we gotta be careful of, is we don’t get our military members and people who have military associations, mixed up in politics in a way that’s improper, for them. This one’s gonna have to be looked at. I don’t know what the right answer, to it is right now.

“I know that people who serve in Iraq, just like I did when I was in Viet Nam, have very strong feelings about what they’re doing. Most of ‘em believe in it, I hope. The polls show, I guess 30% really believe, 30% aren’t sure, and 30% believe it’s failing. At least that’s the most recent poll I’ve seen. But people say morale is good during the surge, I hope it is. And I’m proud of the men and women in uniform. But I do think it’s really important, that we keep our military institutions separate and out of the political questions.

“When general McCarther spoke at the military academy in 1962, he was very clear to the cadets then. He said “these great questions of state are not your concern.” They’re not yours. They’re not yours. You can study them in an academic sense. You don’t participate in them as a member of the armed forces. You participate as an individual.

“And that’s the issue which Jon is trying to discuss with the sergeant here this morning. It is an issue of propriety. It’s also an issue of legality. Thank you all for being here. I hope you bear with us as we work our way through this issue. Thank you.

http://www.kerrygutknecht.com/