The Case for Jim Webb

[woolldog]

"The political considerations first: the Democrats have no other plausible candidate with anything like Webb's military experience. <.....>in addition to the Navy Cross, Silver Star, two Bronze Stars and two Purple Hearts he won in Vietnam he served as Secretary of the Navy in the Reagan administration. He also, and vitally from a Democratic point of view, opposed the Iraq War for reasons that, alas, look more cogent than ever.

That he resigned from Reagan's Pentagon on a point of principle (opposing cuts to the Navy) also a) stamps him as a man the US military ought not to be afraid of and b) marks him as a man cut from different cloth to that customarily worn by politicians today. Clearly, however, his presence on the Presidential ticket would go some way towards reassuring some voters that Obama's national security team is not going to be wet behind the ears and that there'll be no repeat of the drift and squandered opportunities of the Clinton years. Webb won't be learning on the job

<snip>

But really Webb's appeal as a running-mate is greater than that and greater too than the prospect of his being able to compensate, to some extent anyway, for John McCain's appeal to working-class white men. It's not hard to imagine Webb helping the ticket in virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky, to say nothing of the benefits his populism could potentially have in states such as Pennsylvania and Ohio. He may, in fact, be just the sort of culturally conservative and genuine Democrat Obama needs to balance his ticket.

<snip>

Unlike McCain, Webb is a creature of the white working class. He believes his people - the Scots-Irish of Appalachia - remain misunderstood, under-appreciated and disparaged by America's elites. If Obama is a "wine track" candidate, Jim Webb is definitely "beer track". He's quite happy - proud in fact - of his "redneck" stock."

http://debatableland.typepad.com/the_debatable_land/2008/04/i-mentioned-som.html

[Lakerstan]

1. I like him a lot too, but...

I'm concerned that the controversy over certain provacative scenes in his novels could cause issues. Other than that, the guy is golden...

[nebula]

7. 'Provocative' would be an understatement

sick and perverted would be more like it, I'm afraid.

[woolldog]

8. He was describing what he had witnessed as a soldier in

SE Asia. A lot of it wasn't pretty.

I think most people can understand the difference between describing terrible things you've witnessed during war and endorsing those behaviors.

[nebula]

9. I don't know what pedophilic sexual acts with young boys has to do with a war?

the association is odd to say the least.

[Norrin Radd]

10. " Outrageous smear by Drudge against Jim Webb -- DEBUNKED!"

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/Skinner/130

[nebula]

13. Never heard of anything like that

I know several Vietnam vets personally, including members of my family who used to tell their war stories. If any of them had known of this practice while there, I'm sure I would have heard about it by now. I also read a great deal of books on the Vietnam war and Vietnam culture, but nothing like that was ever mentioned.

[woolldog]

15. well that settles it then.

since nebula has never heard of it, then it must not exist.

[nebula]

16. I think Webb is making it up to tell you the truth

and his imagination seems pretty perverted. either that or he took part in it himself, and is trying dismiss it as some sort of bizarre 'custom' no one there has ever heard about. but he isn't fooling anyone, or at least not me.

[woolldog]

17. you're too much

:spank:

[woolldog]

2. Another interesting link from the Atlantic

Via Andrew. The purple swathe represents areas where Hillary earned more than 65 percent of the vote. It runs across states like Pennsylvania and Michigan, Ohio and Missouri, all of which we can expect to be battlegrounds this fall. And if you overlaid this map with an ethnographic map showing the concentration of Webb's beloved Scots-Irish, I suspect that it would probably be a pretty close match. (I hear Webb's Virginia might be a battleground, too ...)

http://rossdouthat.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/05/the_case_for_obamawebb_again.php

[dkf]

3. I find it amazing that people are touting Hillary as VP to win those votes

when Jim Webb would be 500x better at that.

Its ridiculous.

[Beregond2]

4. As a gay man,

your phrase "socially conservative" concerns me. What does that mean, in his case? The last thing we need is another military man near the top who will want to keep throwing gays out of the service.

[knixphan]

5. and any description with the word 'conservative' in it scares me.

[woolldog]

6. honestly, I don't know his record on gay rights.

However it's not the province of the VP to set policy on issues like that.

[krispos42]

11. Except we lose the Senate seat

Wes Clark has comparable military experience (Supreme Allied Commander of Europe is not chump change), and has a boatload of medals, including some of the highest honors we have.

And he's usually right.

And we don't lose the Senate seat.

[JCMach1]

12. I really like him too: However, I want him to earn his DEM stripes

just a little longer... Besides, VA needs him!

[Mist]

14. I think Webb is the type who likes to see things through--I don't think he'd

quit his Senate seat to be VP. Clark is a good idea, if he'd consider it.