Reply #86: Clark has talked at length about why he voted for Nixon and Reagan [View All]

He said that when he got back from Vietnam there were hundreds of thousands of people marching on the Pentagon and pouring blood on the steps, and it was obvious that they wouldn't be voting Republican and it was obvious to career military guys that they didn't want to vote the same way as the protesters. The "Republicanization" of the military was a result of the Vietnam War and the cultural chasm it created, as anybody who grew up then and has a shred of historical memory knows. The fact that somebody who came from that background has shifted to the Democratic camp -- not suddenly and not just now; he started voting Democratic in 1992 -- is, you know, a *good thing.* Something that speaks well for the man.

As for the notion that he shouldn't be trusted until he *apologizes* for voting for Nixon and Reagan -- I hate sharing the label "Democrat" with people who sound like the ludicrous barking bullies at a Communist self-criticism session. Millions of people whose votes we need in 2004 voted for Nixon or Reagan or both. The contempt displayed for them here is emblematic of why Democrats lose and lose and lose.