Clyburn talk to focus on troops
Denver Post
House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (far right) attends a Democratic National Convention event on Monday with (from left) author Tavis Smiley, former Virginia Gov. Douglas Wilder, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. and Cornel West. (Editor's note: earlier versions of this cutline misspelled Tavis Smiley's name. The Post and Courier regrets the error.)
Previous story
Clyburn: Obama has 50-50 shot; S.C. representative set to give key speech at convention, published 08/14/08
Audio clip
Rep. Jim Clyburn offers a preview of his DNC speech on national security-Courtesy ETV's "The Big Picture on the Radio"
Audio clip
Rep. Jim Clyburn responds to James Carville's convention critique-Courtesy ETV's "The Big Picture on the Radio"
When he takes the podium in Denver around 7 tonight, House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn plans to talk about how current soldiers can be an even greater generation.
Clyburn, South Carolina's 6th District representative, is scheduled to address the Democratic National Convention for about four minutes sometime between 7 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. While major news networks won't be covering the convention then, his remarks are expected to air live on C-SPAN.
"I'll be talking about our celebration of the greatest generation and the challenges that they met and what they did even after the war, World War II, to make our country what it is," Clyburn said. "I'll be talking about the fact that the next generation can be even greater in some of the challenges that we will need to meet."
Clyburn also told South Carolina ETV Radio that he would touch on the military service of both the grandfather of Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama and his wife's uncle, who served aboard the USS Arizona when Pearl Harbor was hit at the war's start.
The convention's theme this evening is national security, and former President Bill Clinton and current Sen. and vice presidential candidate Joe Biden also are scheduled to talk.
"I don't know why they've got me lumped in with all these heavyweights, but I'll try to say something to keep the people in South Carolina from being too embarrassed by my presence," Clyburn said.
He also said he admired Monday's speech by Obama's wife Michelle as well as those by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill., but he thought U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts — who is fighting brain cancer — stole the show with his speech.
He said he felt the convention is going well and isn't concerned that some of Sen. Hillary Clinton's supporters want to make a public show of their support for her. He recalled his first convention in 1972 and casting a vote for Shirley Chisolm, a black congresswoman from New York, not to thwart the ultimate Democratic nominee, George McGovern, but to be part of history.
He offered up that memory as evidence that while some supporters of Clinton want to vote for her in Denver, doing so doesn't necessarily mean that they won't unite behind Obama in the end. "I can understand them wanting to have a roll call (vote)," he said. "That doesn't mean we won't be coming together as a party when we leave here and do what we can to be successful in November."


Comments
mosinfan (anonymous) says...
More drivel from the folks that could care less about the military.
August 27, 2008 at 9:28 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
gneubeck (anonymous) says...
For an individual who aspires to be their Commander-In-Chief, how will Obama explain his Senate votes to force our military members into an ignominious defeat in Iraq; and, to deny funding for equipments essential to their survival for the young men and women whom they had "previously" voted to commit to lethal combat. A despicable breach of trust with those Military members laying their lives on the line in defense of our Nation. It's incredible how quick the left is to hoist the "white flag" when confronted with adversity. Sound familiar? How far are they willing to retreat from those who have a visceral hatred for our Western culture before we're finally cornered? How many more 9/11s is the Left prepared to endure before they would be willing to stand and fight? The neurosis of the liberal mindset defies rational explanation. Surely members of "The Greatest Generation" who demanded total victory over the Fascists of WW II, must hang their heads in shame when they witness the American Left of today cowering before the modern day threat of Islamofacism! Obama is our "home-grown" version of Hugo Chavez. His comments that he would use U.S. Military Forces against Pakistan, a Nation with a sizable nuclear arsenal, and an ally in the war on terror, even without President Musharraf's permission; a Nation that he mistakenly believed to be Arab; his indecision/confusion as to whether Iran poses a serious regional threat; while in other commentary, stating that he would halt the U.S. military's development of advanced weapons systems demonstrates a profound ignorance of the geopolitical threat environment confronting America. His long-term subversive associations, and his immersion in seditious anti-American diatribe have indeed revealed Obama as the real-life Manchurian Candidate. Obama would most certainly follow the disastrous Foreign Policy examples of Jimmy Carter in pursuing relations with our avowed enemies, only much worse. Political charlatan, Obama, has convinced his robotic cult followers that he can meet with Ahmejinedad without precondition; and, that the Iranian Islamofacist will experience a now infamous Obama epiphany and conversion to righteousness; and, "There Will Be Peace In Our Time". This is the very same Neville Obama who, because he frequently babbles incoherently when attempting to speak without a prepared text, is terrified of being exposed by meeting John McCain in a simple Town-Hall Forum. God help us if the majority of Americans are beguiled by this novice circus comic, who has never before performed under the "Big Tent"; and, the peddling of his "Magic Elixir " that Obama has claimed will "Heal The Planet". Greg Neubeck
August 27, 2008 at 2:28 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
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