Webb has become so enamored of his Scots-Irish mythology, I think he believes it gives him license to be a loud, obnoxious boor,
^^^^^^
This is my impression, also. When I heard him on the radio tour promoting that book, he came across as a very bigoted guy, who had admiration for some of the qualities of his subject people, but a lot of contempt at the same time. His actions at the White House are not what any Naval Academy graduate would be expected to do, no matter what were their ancestral roots.
One irony of the whole incident is that Cindy Sheehan began her fifteen months of fame by camping out at Crawford demanding to speak to President Bush about her son. Jim Webb gets an invitation to meet President Bush and takes umbrage at the idea that the C-in-C would ask him about his son.
Good point. Bush can't win no matter what he does.