Posted on 11/30/2006 8:39:48 AM PST by AnnGora
WASHINGTON -- When Ronald Reagan's former secretary of the navy, James Webb, eked out victory against the Republican Senator George Allen in Virginia, what did the Democrats gain? To be sure they gained control of the Senate. That has been widely noted. Less widely noted is the fact that they gained something infinitely more subtle, but delightfully more amusing as will become apparent in the months ahead. In Webb they gained yet another very unpleasant person as a conspicuous member of the party hierarchy. He will not be easily obscured. Webb now takes his place with Hillary Rodham Clinton, Dr. Howard Dean, Al Gore, Jean-Francois Kerry, and so many other Democratic notables as a rebarbative blowhard with whom you would not want to share a gondola.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanprowler.com ...
I'm just here with my own tagline, don't mind me.
You can add Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.) to the list, too.
I think Webb went to that dinner with hopes of winning brownie points in the media for dissing President Bush. Sometimes things don't go as planned.
I don't know about the rest of you, but I am getting tired of the rudeness and lack of civility in Washington. Nasty people, just plain rude and nasty.
He was quite an up-and-comer back then. Annapolis, Vietnam, and Secretary of the Navy. The American Spectator did review his novels in 1981 and 1984. The prospect of a writer who was both a veteran and at the time a conservative must have been appealing to them. I seem to remember something by him in one of their issues, maybe Christmas book recommendations, though perhaps I'm wrong: it could have been John Lehman. Unfortunately, the Spectator's old articles aren't online and most libraries only keep a few years issues on hand. Maybe Lexis/Nexis has more.
Webb's book Born Fighting did get a very good review in National Review, and he had an article published in the Weekly Standard. If they want to attack him now, fine. He switched sides, not them. But Tyrrell's account looks like a cheap shot. Tyrrell wouldn't have brought up Webb's past conduct if Webb hadn't switched parties, so it would probably have been better to have left it out. As it is, it looks like a kiss-and-tell David Brock move on Tyrrell's part. George Will says pretty much the same thing as Tyrrell does but doesn't claim to have known it all along.
As for your opinion that the article is a cheap shot, well, this is Bob Tyrrell, whose magazine regularly had the "Enemies List," one of my favorite regular features along with "Current Wisdom." And TAS did print the troopergate stories which led to the Paula Jones lawsuit, which in turn led to so much aggravation and misery for Slick. Perhaps Tyrrell does throw the low blow sometimes, but at least he always fights.
Absolutely agree with you. Newt's got nowhere to go as far as I'm concerned. And comments like the above puts him in a class of Republicans (and unfortunately, there's a lot of them) who are working against the U.S. military mission instead of for it and I will not actively support him in any elected capacity. I used to love him in '94, even own his video tapes. So that should tell you how low regard I hold those democrats because I don't think Newt is low enough to join them.
I agree with you 100%!
LLS
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