Posted on 01/24/2007 9:58:01 PM PST by MinorityRepublican
Like him or not, Ronald ("Tear Down This Wall") Reagan spoke in a clean, clear prose that almost always left listeners with a sense that he stood for something.
It may thus be no accident that Jim Webb, Virginia's new Democratic senator, was once a Reaganite.
In his reply to President Bush's State of the Union speech on Tuesday night, Webb defined the two central moral issues that animate most of the Democratic Party's rank and file: the mess in Iraq and the fact that the fruits of a growing economy are not being shared by all Americans.
Then Webb did something rather astonishing: He didn't fudge on his language or try to take the hard edge off his impatience with the status quo.
Giving the speech in response to a president's State of the Union address may be the hardest assignment in politics. Even the best of the genre reek of focus-grouped and poll-tested sentences. You have the feeling the words are dictated by some party pooh-bah who believes the speech will fail if it does not touch all the issues on every strategist's list.
Gee, say the consultants to the poor politician who has to carry the party's torch, you just have to mention health care and child care and the environment and union rights and stem cell research -- and every other issue that energizes some base voter in some corner of the party.
And, oh yes, Mr. Politician, don't forget that your real targets are those critical moderate independent swing voters in the Midwestern and Rocky Mountain states, and here's a list of key phrases we've polled to death that they respond to. You have to throw them in somewhere.
Ever wonder why politicians are so often accused of offering mush?
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Hate? From now on, just don't even pay attention to the name Paige. This is the most childish stuff I've seen in a long time. My four year old granddaughter does not act as childish. Dear word.
....well I'm the one who was attacked first....I made one simple comment that was also made by other great conservatives, 2 of whom I mentioned and was jumped on. I stand by my initial statement and feel comfy in the fact that other well known conservatives have said same
I'm convinced he was fired and the Reagan administration had the good grace to allow him to quit.
He is Senator Ass and if he wants to play politics, he doesn't get to hide behind his military record. Thanks to Kerry, Cunningham and Murtha, I have tired of that tactic.
Didn't say that, or at least didn't mean that. Obviously Webb is a liberal, and I'm grumpy that he won - and tipped the balance in the Senate to the Democrats. He's still a Marine hero, though. I wish he weren't in the Senate, but he's still a Marine hero.
Senator Jim Webb is just as much a traitor as Kerry, Hitlery, Schumer, and the rest of the rats are. He no more deserves to be a senator than Hitlery does to be president.
Webb is perhaps the most dangerous figure of all the Democrats to both the GOP and the Dems. The reason is he is white southern populist. He has the bonafides to address the NASCAR folks and his message is a tough one for the GOP...You were lied to. Equally as dangerous to Dems he can derail the entire liberal agenda by bringing the Nascar crowd with him and the Dems have to shift decidedly center from their very lefty Hillary- Obama Agenda.
Webb proved to be Jack the Giant Killer in Virginia when no one though he had a chance. He took enough of the Southern Virginia Hill vote to win while making sure not to alienate the N. VA vote. Granted Allen walked around stomping on land mines but it was Webb who planted them.
Give the devil his due....Webb is one tough operator and both the RNC and DNC discount him at their peril.
You got it wrong...Webb is the most dangerous thing of all. Neither liberal or conservative Webb is a populist. The odd creature of US Politics and perhaps the most dangerous and not just to the GOP.
It was a stunning moment. Allen's problem was he got flustered easy in the latter stages of the race. Curiously, he lost that Virginia gentleman image that is so necessary to get elected in Virginia. He began to look hard edged and crude and the Macaca moment only reinforced that perception. Then when he lied about it he began to have credibility problems.
Analysts will be disecting the Allen-Webb race for decades.
Yes, sir, your own responses in this thread reveal you to be a troll. You shift the issue away with every response to others on the individual in question and offer the excuse "he was a Marine." Congratulations, sir, so was Lee Harvey Oswald and John Murtha. Does being a Marine (or having served in any military capacity) exempt one from criticism, especially in the face of disgusting or criminal character flaws ? I guess then, by your estimation, we must respect Adolf Hitler on his heroic service in the trenches of World War I. My respect for politicians, or others, stops at the first sign of dishonor. Webb crossed that threshold a LONG time ago, sir. If you are not a troll on this thread, sir, you are a fool.
It used to be a joke to ask how one knew a democrat was lying (his lips are moving)...it's now become fact and is no longer funny.
To compare Webb in the same description to Generals Grant and Lee disrespects both men in the most profound way. You should be ashamed of yourself, sir.
Well I got dimples on my behind.... He is a fraud, I don't care if he was second coming of Christ.. He is a a**clown.. Plain and simple....
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