At a rally in Pembroke, NH, on January 17, 2004, as he introduced the candidate, filmmaker Michael Moore noted that retired General Wesley Clark was a champion debater. "I know what you're thinking. I want to see that debate" between Clark and Bush -- "the general versus the deserter." The remarks would probably have been dismissed for what they were -- campaign rhetoric -- had not Peter Jennings brought the matter up at a debate among the Democratic candidates in New Hampshire in late January. Jennings challenged Clark to repudiate Moore's line, calling it a "reckless charge, not supported by the facts...." Clark sidestepped the question, and his son later told an online Washington Post discussion, "... from what I understand Bush has an honorable discharge which means legally he can't be described as a deserter - because of that discharge. Frankly it is up to the press to thoroughly investigate the allegations of George W Bush being AWOL."
