I got this from Blogs for Bush, who got it from Andrew Sullivan -- but it is still so shocking that I had to consult the source to see if this was taken out of context. Unfortunately, it's not. General Wesley Clark stated on Hardball two weeks ago that if he were elected President, he would offer Europe a veto over our national security policies:

CLARK: Well, if I were president right now, I would be doing things that George Bush can’t do right now, because he’s already compromised those international bridges. I would go to Europe and I would build a new Atlantic charter. I would say to the Europeans, you know, we’ve had our differences over the years, but we need you. The real foundation for peace and stability in the world is the transatlantic alliance. And I would say to the Europeans, I pledge to you as the American president that we’ll consult with you first. You get the right of first refusal on the security concerns that we have. We’ll bring you in.

Let's just mull that over for a while. America was founded on the principle of self-determination, a concept still held to be valid today. We've fought wars to ensure our self-determination and to ensure that right for other peoples. Wesley Clark led an occupation to ensure that right for Kosovars and Bosnians. But now he proposes to eliminate 200 years of independence from Europe by allowing France, among others, the "right of refusal" over our national security policies. It's simply breathtaking, and it's even more so when you read the transcript and realize that Chris Matthews never followed up on this statement.

I'll put it to you this way: Would you feel secure knowing that our national security was in the hands of France? Germany? Russia? If so, vote Clark. If not, welcome to the real world, where France cannot act to protect its own security, let alone guarantee ours. The last time France guaranteed anyone else's security was Czechoslovakia in the 1930s, and look how well that turned out.

This really seems to indicate that Clark has completely gone off the rails. Too bad the mainstream media hasn't explored the issue in more depth.

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