Not at all, I've made no pretense about the fact that I've been on the Allen Presidential bandwagon since 1993. Until Webb won the primary, and for a few weeks after that, you won't find a political pundit that would have said Webb could win.
Initially, the Democrats did not expect him to win. They wanted to mount a challenge to derail Allen for 2008. There's no denying that. And I can find you the posts on the Democrat blogs to verify that. As late as July they were crying about the horrible campaign Webb was running.
The "macaca" incident 1) should never have happend and 2) was misplayed horribly. There should have been one initial apology directly to Siddarth and then the Allen camp should have refused to talk about it. Even Senator Allen admits that.
But, that was the crack in the armor that allowed them to wedge in all of their other lies that they'd been building up to discredit him for 2008.
I have honestly never seen, not to mention experienced, the negative, hate-filled campaign that was waged against Allen. The "hate crimes" stories were all out lies. I know the behind the scenes stories and players and I know the facts.
Not to mention The Washington Post writing, at this point, in excess of 500 stories on "macaca" even though they admitted no one knew what the word meant.
If you think Virginia Republicans were complacent about this race, then you just weren't paying attention. I saw the ground game. I know what was going on.
But, let's face it. Sure, the campaign goobered some things up. But you have to couple that with the fact that the media was an adjunct campaign for Webb. His racial history, his history of his temper, his discrimination against women ALL got a pass in the MSM.
And combine that with the fact that Allen lost on a night when Republicans were losing everywhere.
The George Allen fanclub from outside Virigina also contributed to this mess, figuring he was invincible and they should concentrate on other Senate races.
Oh, I won't deny that. But the Virginians knew we had a fight on our hands. And it's also true to say that the "fanclubs" of the other GOP contenders (and some who will never be contenders) wasted no time in trying to discredit Senator Allen for 2008 not giving a rats @$$ how that was affecing our ground game here in Virginia for 2006.
And, I'm sorry, but it is the yankee influence into Northern Virginia that is changing our demographics. There's no denying that. Much of the rest of the state remains reliably Republican.
And, while I wouldn't consider 2001 and 2005 to be "flukes", those years were lost because of the weakness of the GOP campaign for Governor, not because of the strength of the 'RAT. And you have to note that Warner, Kaine and Webb ALL ran to the middle and shifted back to the left after election day.
With Allen, the reality is that back in 2005, he was the one Hillary was worried about (according to an article by Kathleen Parker, among others). And it was at that point the Rats set out to discredit him.
And yeah, this was a shock and a disppointment to a lot of us. For those of us who have believed in George Allen for years (and still do) and who had never seen him lose an election, it was like a death in the family.
Having, I've said on my blog (and maybe even on FR) that I think the campaign staff didn't take the challenge seriously enough, meaning that they didn't prepare their opposition research well enough. They miscalculated. I have theories on that which I won't express openly on the Internet, but there you have it.
And there you have the bottom line, at least for me. It's one thing to realistically assess what is/was going on in the campaign. Heck, I knew the internal numbers, I knew we weren't ahead and I knew how close it was. But was I going to reveal that on a public board that we know is read at least by the loonies at DU and Kos? Of course not.
The statements "Webb lacks substance," and that "Allen should coast to reelection" were quite true in June and they were exactly the kinds of things we should have been saying all along.
But you need look no further than last night's SOTU to understand how volatile politics are. President Bush currently has an approval rating in the 20s, when just six years ago he was in the 80s and sometimes 90s. Things change.
But, we all knew 2006 was an important race, and that we had to get through 2006 to even think about 2008. And to imply that we in Virginia were complacent, or more focused on 2008, is just wrong.
Admit it at your leisure.
I think you are right. I am from Long Island and I have seen it. Just look at south Florida.
http://www.virginiaisforrudy.com
Be careful of Rudy Giuliani. Don't misunderstand me. Rudy is excellent at law enforcement and his policies were the reson I could go out for lunch from New York Hospital at 3AM without getting shot or mugged.
His performance after 9/11 as an aggregator was very good, but he surely had a bias toward the police over the fire department. What is needed in the president position is someone (white, black, yellow it doesn't matter as long as they can do the job ) that can control the State Department. The State Department is a lib' bastion of appeasers. Therefore Rudy Giuliani would be excellent in an Attorney General post.
Again, I like Rudy, as AG.
And still you second-guess the voluntary decisions of your "children".
In the 1800s we saw the heartbreak of families torn asunder by war, brothers, even fathers and sons on different sides.
One need look no farther than the family of Senator Jim Webb to see the conflict that is tearing this nation apart played out again.
While the father wears his son's combat boots on the campaign trail and calls for the troops to come home, the son fought fiercely to get onto the field of battle and fight a war his father doesn't believe in:
"For me not to respond to the country's call, I'd be letting myself and the history of my family down," said Webb.
Watching the battle of Al Fallujah on TV from his campus, Webb decided he had seen too much of the war in Iraq from the safety of the United States.
Webb made his decision to leave the University in December of 2004, and began working with Marine Corps recruiters to find his way into the war.
"Watching the coverage of fighting in Fallujah showed me that I needed to be out there," said Webb. "Enlisting in the Marine Corps was the fastest way to Iraq."
Webb officially enlisted in January of 2005, graduating from boot camp at Parris Island, S.C., in May.
Shortly after arriving at the School of Infantry for advanced training, Webb was invited to take an indoctrination to become a reconnaissance Marine.
While attending the advanced schools of reconnaissance, however, Webb became ill and was forced to end his training.
Although the battalion was willing to keep him on board to later finish his training, Webb was faced with a difficult decision. Webb was proud of his chance to become a recon Marine, but his desire to deploy ultimately swayed his decision.
"I was looking for the fastest route to Iraq I could find, and the Recon battalion wasn't scheduled to leave when I would finish training," said Webb.
Webb was separated from the recon battalion and attached with the first deploying infantry unit available.
On January 9, 2006, Webb became a rifleman for 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, which was scheduled to deploy to Ar Ramadi, Iraq later in the year.
Now halfway through his deployment with 1/6, Webb has experienced much of what he watched in college and is content with his decision.
"I was relieved when I got to Ramadi," said Webb. "Now, I've done my part."