[domenad]

Mr. Webb is a writer and was writing fiction. He served as a Marine in Vietnam and won the Navy Cross. Frigging George Allen got a student deferment. I'd say Webb has earned the right to write about whatever the hell he wants.

I am also a writer. I write about rape, murder, and depravity. I also write about God, how much I love my wife, and the interactions of Jesus in my personal spirituality. I do not deserve to be judged, and neither does Webb. THIS IS WRONG.

[Obadiah]

You are totally wrong. The whole electoral process is about JUDGING candidates. Mr. Webb writes about homosexual incest/ assault of a father and voters should not "judge"? That is ludicrous.

[stubernx98]

"Mr. Webb is a writer and was writing fiction. He served as a Marine in Vietnam and won the Navy Cross. Frigging George Allen got a student deferment. I'd say Webb has earned the right to write about whatever the hell he wants.

I am also a writer. I write about rape, murder, and depravity. I also write about God, how much I love my wife, and the interactions of Jesus in my personal spirituality. I do not deserve to be judged, and neither does Webb. THIS IS WRONG."

Your right of course, but all is fair in love, war and politics. It's kinda of like fighting the terrorists, the Geneva convention does not apply.

[sten]

sorry, the dems set the bar. if someone wants to run for public office in the US, then any writings they have published gives an insight into the character of the individual (dems even go after private writings). The vast majority of people would NEVER write anything like that, and it would never enter their mind to even start.

In the end it comes down to who better represents your point-of-view? personally, i don't associate with pedofiles or promote their works. Neither do I protect their ability to promote the ideas or make money from it. you should ask yourself, where do you stand?

[layman]

I'd say Webb has earned the right to write about whatever the hell he wants.

I haven't heard anyone say anything about his right to write whatever he pleases. I simply fail to see why it is dirty politics to give free publicity to his writings. He offered his novels to the public. Does he not want the public to know what he wrote?

[Rider on the Rain]

He deserves to be judged because he is running for political office. We don't all have low standards.

[DPMD]

Your point is well taken regarding Jim Webb as an author, to a point. But everything he does in the public realm is open to judgment. And Vietnam, the U.S. Marine Corps and the Navy Cross aside, his service doesn't ipso facto entitle him to a seat in the Senate. If it did, we'd have a military Senate. And if we don't judge, what do we do in the way of exercising our intellects? Everything we - and you - do is based on judgment. What he has earned is respect for his service. Not a seat in the Senate.

And, a small point, but he didn't win the Navy Cross. He received it. It's not a competition.

[Wild Irish Rogue]

" I'd say Webb has earned the right to write about whatever the hell he wants. "

Webb's Vietnam service and Navy Cross, however honorable, do not give him a lifetime pass to avoid scrutiny when he runs for public office.
When Webb entered the political arena, he should have known that his paper trail would be examined.
These are not private letters , but, published works.
If a producer of X Rated videos decides to run for office, should he expect a pass on his " art " because he served in Vietnam ?

[talleyman]

That's what is great about this country: you can defend this sicko, and I can call him the pervert that he is.

[ez]

I do not deserve to be judged, and neither does Webb.

You are not running for office. Webb has asked to be judged...

[eleni121]

This nation already experienced 8 lost and harmful years of Clinton and his pack and their lack of a moral compass.

We do not need and cannot afford another Clinton clone serving in the US Senate.

[Kath]

You know fully well when you run for public office everything you have written or done will be gone over with a fine toothed comb. People have a right to know what he has written fiction or not. It is then up to them to decide if they are offended by it enough to not want to vote for him. It should be left up to the people of Virginia if they want this man to represent them. It is not wrong. He wrote it, he will have to live with it.

[Mamzelle]

re: I do not deserve to be judged, and neither does Webb.))

I think it's called a "book review"--and this business about "judgementalism" is pretty silly. If you make prurient imaginings for the reading public--that's within the rights of publishing.

But it's hardly judgmentalism to hoot and guffaw at his chapter on banana splits or other throbbing prose he sees fit to put into print. It's already public. He obviously wanted people to READ it, didn't he?