And we have one in General Wes Clark.

This next election in 2008 is going to be about a lot of things like Health Care, Education, Economic Fairness, and many other issues.

However, the biggest issue of our lifetime right now is Iraq.

Only one candidate right now has seen the eye of war, has been wounded by the enemy, has led a force in battle. That person is Wes Clark.

He can change America, he has already changed America.

As Wes Clark makes the final steps before he enters the 2008 Presidential Race here shortly I again ask all of you who hold General Clark in a high regard to take a second look at him.

Bottom line, We need a warrior in the Democratic Party and for America.

Today is President's Day.

Today, I think about all of those Leaders in our history as a nation and what they did for our country.

We have had military leaders like George Washington, Andrew Jackson, Ulysses Grant, and Ike Eisenhower.

We have also has non-military leaders govern our country during war. Leaders like Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, & Franklin D. Roosevelt.

I believe in a time of great domestic and international crisis we turn to a leader once again who is experienced in matters of war, peace, and diplomacy.

That person is Wes Clark. And I will explain why.

Hello everyone, I was curious to know this morning how many Kossacks have served or are serving in the military.

We all know how Republicans try to paint our liberals, progressives, and Democrats as ant-military and anti-war.

But, we have shown and hope to show we can both be anti-war and support our troops.

Even our leader here Kos is a Veteran of the U.S. Army. We have many leaders who ran for Congress in 2006 dubbed "Fighting Dems".

Although few of them won, it was great to see so many Veterans run (99% as Democrats) to offer not just a different view of matters of War and Peace, but to prove to so many on the other side that we are not a party who is weak on National Security.

Kos recently wrote about recruiting for Senate races in 2008. Well, yesterday on the Virgina blog, Raising Kaine I proposed just that.

I am starting a draft to encourage Gov. Mark Warner to run for U.S. Senate.

Recently, with good reason there has been a lot of speculation on what exactly Governor Mark Warner will do in 2008 or 2009.

A few weeks ago most of the press picked up the story that something was floating around about Mark Warner jumping back in the Presidential race.

Of course that story was just hearsay. Again here recently on Raising Kaine I read Vivian Paige wrote that Mark Warner wont be a candidate for U.S. Senate in 2008.

Although he won't remember, in the final GOTV rally he and Governor Tim Kaine held for Jim Webb before the election I asked him if he was thinking about running for Senate in 2008.

My apologies to everyone.

Yesterday, I wrote about quitting. I can't.

I apologize to everyone here for being offensive and wrong in the past.

No matter how we disagree on the issues, on the candidates, on each other. We need each other, we need this party to grow.

I have spent a great while making a campaign against Edwards, and he doesn't deserve that. Yes, Edwards and all the other Democrats who voted for the war deserve scrutiny but they deserve our open mind and hearts.

We should give every candidate who's running or thinking of running for President in 2008 a chance to tell us why they deserve our vote and our support in their campaign.

I have had enough. Enough of the arguing, enough of the bullshit, enough of the crap.

I quit, I am done being a blogger.

No one cares, no one listens. Everyone comes on blogs and throws flames at each other back and forth. I dedicated my life over the past few years with the blogosphere and what have I accomplished?

Apparently nothing right? At least that's what those of you who dislike me on here. The worst part about the blogosphere, is that we are hypocrites.. all of us.

We say or scold someone about something one minute, and do the same later on. We bitch and whine about people "getting back to work" and yet I see the same people comment and complain all day.

 Several weeks back, I wrote a diary on what I think is the truth about the real John Edwards.

I'll admit, as I wrote the post I was angry and upset still about Edwards support early on while he was in the Senate for the Iraq War.

As a Iraq Veteran as I have stated before this issue is a very close and personal issue to me. It also happens to be the most defining issue of our lifetime. Whether your a Veteran or not, this war affects all of us.

I finally met John Edwards at the DNC Winter Meeting here in Washington DC last weekend. As he left following his speech I approached him and finally asked him the question I have been upset about for a long time as many of you know.

"Senator Edwards, why did you not only vote for the war but why did you co-sponsor the bill"

This time they are warning against war with Iran.

In September 2002 both private citizens Jim Webb and Wesley Clark both warned against military action in Iraq. Webb in his Washington Post Op-Ed piece "Heading for trouble" and Wesley Clark in 2002 warning against the consequences of attacking Iraq unilaterally in his testimony to Congress.

Well this week, they are at it again.

Both Jim Webb and Wesley Clark this week are warning against any buildup to invade Iran. Not many people paid attention to either of them in 2002 when they made it clear that Iraq would not solve our fight to win the war on terror.

Now, again.. they offer another warning in hope we listen this time.

*UPDATE: What a coincidence, lead story today: Iran’s leader warns U.S. against attack

Thank god I saved my one diary today. I just can't stand to let this pass,  McJoan a front pager is out criticizing Senator Jim Webb for not being outspoken enough in regards to Iraq.

Well, in case you have been asleep McJoan you would have missed the past 4 years since he wrote the Washington Post Op-Ed Piece "Heading For Trouble" in September 2002.

Just because Senator Webb has decided to support the bi-partisan Warner/Levin resolution doesn't mean his commitment to bring an end to the war in Iraq has changed at all.

What I have an even MORE problem with is the fact you impugned he character of him by saying he doesn't have his son in mind by cutting off the funds for the war.

From his/her Diary:

Senator Webb, it's time to show the way. Your son deserved and deserves better leadership from his Commander in Chief. He did not get it, and he will not get it. He also deserves better leadership from our Congress. Unlike the President, you have shown realistic, intelligent, and hard-headed leadership on this issue. Your son, all of the men and women serving in Iraq, and the American people deserve nothing less.

Okay, I am a Clarkie. I am supporting Wes Clark in 2008.

However, kos today has done two different virtual primaries between candidates and then a second between the leading two front-runners Edwards and Obama with Clark 3rd. But what about Gore?

For, all the Gore lovers out there this diary is for you.

Chris Guy from Virginia Blog Raising Kaine has pointed out today another week of more Gore rumors.

He says the former Vice President called a very high profile Democrat from NH who is still uncommitted as to who they'll support for President.

I am not going to put them head to head on this diary, we all know where they stand what stands out to me most (other than environmental issues) is where they stand and have stood on the War in Iraq.

If the primary were held today between only these two candidates...who would you choose?

Well actually, I spent a day and a half at the DNC Winter Meeting.

Recently as most know I have decided to support General Wes Clark in 2008. I also have deep admiration for Senator Obama, and former Vice President Gore.

I think anyone who stood up before the Iraq War began, and was against it is more of a leader to me than anyone running today. Not saying that the others aren't great Democrats, they are. But in time of critical judgment, they failed to stand up and let the other party lead them into this war.

So Friday, I attended the DNC Winter Meeting.

Tonight, I met with Clark supporters in DC (Dupont Circle) who will be representing WESPAC in tomorrow's DNC Winter Meeting.  I will be in attendance supporting Clark (WESPAC) but with California Democratic Party Chair Art Torres. I will see what the General, and others have to say.

From MSNBC/National Journal Rankings 2/1/07

8. Wesley Clark

Retired general  Last Ranking: 10
Clark will be a candidate within 10 days. He'll have few institutional donors but a reservoir of netroots support.

General Clark is scheduled to speak tomorrow at 10:21 am EST. It will be covered on CSPAN & MSNBC. Apparently Clark will not be on MSBNC according to to sources but will be on Fox News Friday. That irks me, does Fox got him by the nads until he's officially a candidate?

From an SecuringAmerica PAC email:

General Clark will be on Fox News, Friday, 2/2/07
2:30 PM EST | 1:30 PM CST | 12:30 PM MST | 11:00 AM PST
All times of scheduled programs on Fox are subject to change. We recommend tuning in a little early.

I will update diary soon. I just got off the phone, with a "Platinum source"

UPDATE: I just got off the phone with a "Platinum source" that has confirmed and I quote the Clark 2008 Presidential Campaign's "Engine is turning". So, I was wrong. Clark is running.

After Clark speaks to the DNC in Washington DC this Friday morning he will appear on Hardball with Chris Matthews. Um, Clark is a FOXnews analyst. Odd eh?

Expect an announcement soon at some point.

General Clark will be on Hardball with Chris Matthews (MSNBC) 5PM ET / 4PM CT on Friday 2/2/07

5:00 PM EST | 4:00 PM CST | 3:00 PM MST | 2:00 PM PST

All times of scheduled programs are subject to change. We recommend tuning in a little early.

UPDATE #2: (My thoughts, source not clear on time) A Clark announcement on Thursday/Friday would should dominate the news coverage through the weekend. It appears Clark is the best at strategy waiting until everyone announces, and before Obama's big splash on 2/10.

Okay. If you have read the majority of my diaries you can see that I have been a very consistent supporter of General Wesley Clark. After asking him if he would run for President in November and seeing his reaction I wasn't sure he would run.

Then, after meeting with John Hlinko who was at a Draft Barack Obama event as a leader I started to doubt even more. Hlinko made it clear that although he has deep admiration for Clark, he didn't think he would run.

Finally, a good friend of mine who ran a state for his campaign in the west coast who decided to officially support Obama said they had also had ruled out any support for his 2008 campaign.

So then I decided, I would support Barack Obama. Even though I think that Barack Obama would be a great candidate and a great president I am inclined to continue to support Clark due to loyalty and belief that he is the best candidate to be the President of the United States. If I had to choose the best candidate to win, I would stay with Obama.

That's the chatter I heard today from a close staff in the Secretary of the Navy's office. We also got a mutual friend at the Pentagon in the Defense Secretary's office.

My friend, a Democrat is a Civil Service employee for the Department of Defense. The other friend is a Independent (who I convinced to vote for Webb) is a Bush appointee who is a senior staff for the Defense Secretary.

My friend in the Navy Secretary's office told me that there is real serious discussions that Chuck Robb is interested in working in the next administration at the Pentagon.

Apparently he's hinted so strongly there's even talk that he could be the next Secretary of the Navy or Secretary of Defense if a Democrat should win in 2008.

So, everyone may have thought Obamania would die down by now.

It seems to me it's just getting stronger.

Over this past week we have heard about the false allegations of Obama attending a Islamic fundamentalist elementary school as a child being raised in Indonesia. We heard it finally debunked by the "liberal media" after being reported as truth for over 24hours.

Then Al Gore get's a Oscar nomination and who does the Associated Press seek for comment, none other than you guessed it Barack Obama.

Or shortly thereafter. There's been a lot of chatter here on Kos about Al Gore in the past day or two. If you haven't been under a rock then you would know about or have read the recent article by Rolling Stone on why Al Gore should run, and how he'd win.

I think Al Gore brings a lot to the table. A few months ago I didn't even think he was running. A week or two ago I was sure of it. But now that Al Gore's Documentary is up for an Oscar and now publicly people from all areas are urging him to run (including Jimmy Carter).

Senator Webb's office has issued the following press release.

January 24, 2007

Senator Webb Supports Biden-Hagel-Levin Resolution on Iraq War

Washington, D.C. – Senator Jim Webb of Virginia today announced his support of the bi-partisan Senate Resolution sponsored by Senators Joseph Biden (D-DE), Chuck Hagel (R-NE) and Carl Levin (D-MI), which calls for a change of direction in the Iraq war.