[andy58-in-nh]

Obama could do worse than Jim Webb - a lot worse. (And he likely will). But it would be a fairly shrewd choice as compared with many others he could make. Fields of Fire is still the best book ever written about Vietnam from the point of view of the infantry soldier. Wherever Webb has gone politically since his days in the Reagan Administration, he deserves credit for telling that story.

[CharlesWayneCT]

Thanks for confirming my point — Allen’s campaign attacked Webb for his writing, but too many people have read and appreciated Webb’s books, even with the offensive scenes and words — so it was like Allen was attacking them personally.

When you claim, as others have here, that a book is pornographic, you aren’t just attacking the author, you are saying that the people who read that book read pornography.

His books were read by a lot of military people who vote Republican, and who probably didn’t want someone like Allen, who never served, criticizing their book choices.