Reagan Navy Secretary Enters Race to Challenge Sen. Allen

[Judi Lynn]

Reagan Navy Secretary Enters Race to Challenge Sen. Allen

By Chris L. Jenkins
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 8, 2006; Page B04

RICHMOND, March 7 -- James Webb, a Navy secretary under President Ronald Reagan, formally announced Tuesday that he will seek the Democratic nomination to run against U.S. Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) in November.

Webb, 60, a decorated Marine and novelist, said he will focus his campaign on national defense, and he sharply criticized the U.S. occupation of Iraq.

"The foreign policy of this administration has been taken over by people who would do something we've never done in our history, and that is to attempt to export our ideology at the point of a gun," he said in a news conference at the Virginia Capitol.

He also said he wants to solve basic problems confronting middle-class Americans and declared that the Republican Party has been consumed by an "extreme" social agenda. "In my lifetime, the answers are going to be in the Democratic Party," said Webb, a former Republican.
(snip/...)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/07/AR2006030701503.html

[wakeme2008]

1. Good news and it is time to

:popcorn:

[fedupinBushcountry]

2. Sorry

I won't be voting for him. Anyone who sided with the Swift Boat LIARS does not deserve a Dem vote.

Vote Miller.

[keta11]

7. Did he really do that? n/t

[Catchawave]

8. Link ?

A lot about that has been taken out of context on DU recently, and feeding right into the RW talking points :silly:

[karynnj]

11. RW talking points???

The RW is accusing Democrats of passing RW smears - hasn't happened. The links were to articles he wrote in MSM and links on his web site. They were printed in their entirity.

Apparently the former officer who opposes the Iraq war STILL considers anyone who spoke out againt the Vietnam War to have been unAmerican and unpatriotic. (Kerry was a moderate as far as 60s/70s protesting goes - if you don't believe me go to the library. Find books on Vietnam protests. Take any written before in the 70s or early 80s. Look in the index to see what they say about Kerry.(the typical description of Kerry included words like polite, respectful. In one he was described as the type of young man any parent would be proud of. From the books written by the radicals - Kerry is dismissed as not part of the revolution.) I did this in the summer of 2004, because I was wasting time in college libraries. My daughter insisted on visiting the library on every campus visit.

Since the Reagan years, the Vietnam War has been rehabilitated through things like Rambo. The idea that the RW pushes now, that if we only hit harder we would have won is not true. In the last years of the war a frustrated Nixon dropped ever increasing amount of bombs on North Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and even areas of South Vietnam. Agent orange defoliated large areas - it was a jungle and fighting a guerrilla war in a jungle was not feasible. Look up the tonage of bombs dropped.

People like McNamara who led the war now acknowledge that it was a costly error.

Vote Miller!

[Virginian]

13. I'm undecided for the primary. Can you tell me about

Miller's background with the voting machine companies. I hesitate to support a former Pub, but we do need verified voting. Where does he stand?

I will support the Dem candidate against Allen regardless of who gets the nomination. You could run a calico cat against Allen and I would vote for the cat. I know the cat couldn't represent us less than Allen, that Bush brown noser.

[brentspeak]

15. Apparantly?

Do you have any links that can show Webb considers Kerry to have been "un-American and unpatriotic"? If not, I can only assume that Webb never considered that of Kerry.

[Catchawave]

27. Do you live in Virginia ?

:shrug:

[fedupinBushcountry]

19. I don't do RW talking points

Read it for yourself. All I did was google his name to do some research on him, I don't jump on someone's bandwagon just because.




Veterans face conundrum: Kerry or Bush?
By James Webb


To be sure, Kerry deserves condemnation for his activities as the leader of Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW). In the early 1970s, this small organization ? never more than 7,000 veterans out of a potential pool of 9 million ? became the darling of the anti-war movement and the liberal media. Its activities went far beyond simply criticizing the politics of the war to repeatedly and dishonestly misrepresenting the service of Vietnam veterans and the positive feelings most felt after serving.

Kerry and his VVAW compatriots portrayed their fellow veterans as unwilling soldiers, morally debased and haunted by their service. While this might have fit a small minority, the most accurate survey, done by the Harris Poll in 1980, showed that 91% of those who went to Vietnam were "glad they served their country," 74% "enjoyed their time in the military" and 89% agreed with the statement that "our troops were asked to fight in a war which our political leaders in Washington would not let them win."

Kerry's own comments were filled with hyperbolic exaggerations that sought to make egregious acts seem commonplace. During a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing in 1971, he testified that fellow veterans had routinely "raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan." With those words, he defamed a generation of honorable men. No matter how he spins it today, at a minimum, he owes them a full and complete apology.




more>

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2004-02...

It's not only Kerry he disses on, here is him on Clinton.

TAE: Speaking of the top, what do you think of Bill Clinton?

MR. WEBB: I cannot conjure up an ounce of respect for Bill Clinton when it comes to the military. Every time I see him salute a Marine, it infuriates me. I don't think Bill Clinton cares one iota about what happens in a military unit.

http://www.jameswebb.com/articles/variouspubs/aeitradit ...

We do not need two republican parties. I could list much more but go and do the research for yourself.

[Catchawave]

29. Do you live in Virginia ?

:shrug:

[fedupinBushcountry]

43. Yes I do

Virginia Beach.

[Catchawave]

51. Then you know Webb

has great crossover appeal here, it's a very red and heavily populated military community. And he's certainly getting more ink than Miller.

We need to get rid of Thelma Drake too. I'm almost afraid to ask you about Phil Kellam :)

[fedupinBushcountry]

58. Drake has got to go

I know it is a military community what do you think brought me here. My husband is retired Navy.

I wish David Ashe had stayed in, I worked on his campaign in '04, he is a great person. As for Kellam no one is running against him as of yet, so he is the only choice for now.

[brentspeak]

16. No need to be sorry -- if you can back up that assertion

But if you can't...you got a lot to be sorry for.

[fedupinBushcountry]

20. I just got home

links are in post above. No, I'm not one bit sorry.

[brentspeak]

21. You said that Webb was part of the swift-boating of Kerry

He wrote the article bashing Kerry's anti-war activities (and Bush's non-service) in Feb, 2004, before the Swift Vets showed up. Here's what Webb had to say about the Swift Vets:

"After all, in recent years extremist Republican operatives have inverted a longstanding principle: that our combat veterans be accorded a place of honor in political circles. This trend began with the ugly insinuations leveled at Senator John McCain during the 2000 Republican primaries and continued with the slurs against Senators Max Cleland and John Kerry, and now Mr. Murtha."

and,

"John Kerry's voluntary combat duty was systematically diminished by the well-financed Swift Boat Veterans for Truth in a highly successful effort to insulate a president who avoided having to go to war."

So...you're wrong.

http://www.jameswebb.com/articles/nytimes/purpleheartbreakers.htm

(p.s. Both the links you posted are dead links)

[fedupinBushcountry]

23. They weren't dead links

when I posted them. So that is fishy. Of course it was written by Webb himself, must know people are finding this stuff.

By the way are you in Virginia? What do you have against the other candidate?

[brentspeak]

25. What do I have against the other candidate??????????

:crazy: :crazy: :crazy:

Since when did I say anything against the other Democratic candidate?

(No, I'm not in Virginia. But, needless to say, I don't like it when our own Democrats are pounced upon for no good reason.)

[fedupinBushcountry]

26. Well I am

and I will vote for a real Dem, not one who supported Allen and one who disses or in your words pounces on good Dems.

[karynnj]

50. Maybe we see good reasons

The guy supported Allen, a VERY CONSERVATIVE Republican in 2000, he has taken anti-feminist stances, and he actively worked against us in 2004. If you believe that 2004 was the most important election of our lives, that he weighed 35 year old comments as more important than all the differences we would have had with a President Kerry vs Bush, should be troubling.

[brentspeak]

61. How did he "actively work against" the Democrats in 2004?

Waiting...

Waiting...

[karynnj]

49. Too little too late - The NYT was in 2006!

This was political - you could hardly have an article against swiftboating without mentioning Senator Kerry. This wasn't an effort to defend Kerry in 2004. In 2004, he wrote many articles that blasted John Kerry.

He wrote the article you quote this year AS HE PREPARED TO RUN as a Democrat. Note even here that he can't bring himself to say that Kerry was a very highly decorated veteran - he does describe Bob Kerrey and Murtha crediting their medals.

[sandnsea]

33. JamesWebb.com Articles

Would people PLEASE find out about candidates before jumping on their bandwagons.

http://www.jameswebb.com/about.htm

[Rowdyboy]

3. Probably the best news of this cycle was Webb's decision to run against

Allen. Thanks for at least giving us a CHJANCE to defeat the obnoxious, preppy, prettyboy, asshole Allen.

[karynnj]

52. What was Webb's role or position on gays in the military?

Given your icon and hobbies - this might be worth looking into. I don't know the answer, but his animousity towards Clinton and his being against women in combat suggest it might be worth looking at.

[zbdent]

4. Is Jean Schit, er, Schmidt going to say that the Marines

don't "cut and run" on this guy?

[karynnj]

12. Sure, why not

How is he different than Murtha.

[SquireJons]

5. Holy Sheep Ship, Batman

This is the same Webb who wanted a 600 ship navy (and got it) under Reagan. I never thought he'd switch over. It just goes to emphasize the split in the Republican Party. The msm won't talk about it, but there seems to be a huge rift between the past republican administrations and the current one. If you're not already on the inside, it seems more likely that you're an opponent. Very interesting...

[JPZenger]

9. He Replaced Lehman as Navy Secretary

I just read a book that says that Lehman was the guy who pushed for the 600 ship navy. The book accused Lehman of screwing up the Navy in many different ways, and says that Webb was key as Lehman's replacement. The book is very favorable to Webb for cleaning things up afterwards.

[Judi Lynn]

10. It has been a joy the few times I've heard Reagan's son (the intelligent

one, not the rightwingding) referring to the _Bushes on tv over the years. You can tell they REALLY could barely stand them.

I hope something will move more of them to start getting vocal about _Bush in order to preserve what possible honor is left in their party, such as it is.

[karynnj]

53. But a split in the Republican party

doesn't make the out of power faction Democrats - let him run as an Independent.

[LibDemAlways]

6. I hope VA Dems will unite behind whoever

becomes the nominee and work hard to defeat racist scum Allen. Of all the lowlife repukes in the Senate, he's among the lowest.

[Catchawave]

30. I agree !

We're hashing it out in the Virginia Forum, heavily leaning towards Webb :hi:

[oasis]

14. Allen's a dunce. Webb should clean his clock in any debate. (n/t)

[Bridget Burke]

17. Get to know James Webb....

www.jameswebb.com/articles/variouspubs/aeimainpage.htm

Not that he fully agreed with the Swiftboaters, but:

By contrast, Kerry's leadership of Vietnam Veterans Against the War is not only fair game; it speaks to legitimate issues of loyalty, and his actions at that time are the true core of this dispute. For most veterans it was not that Kerry was against the war, but that he used his military credentials to denigrate the service of a whole generation of veterans. The Vietnam Veterans Against the War was a very small, highly radical organization. Their stories of atrocious conduct, repeated in lurid detail by Kerry before the Congress, represented not the typical experience of the American soldier, but its ugly extreme. That the articulate, urbane Kerry would validate such allegations helped to make life hell for many Vietnam veterans, for a very long time.

www.jameswebb.com/articles/NPR/npr8%2024%2004.htm

Another speech on the site indicated he was not sure whether to vote for Bush or Kerry in 2004. But, hey, he's a Democrat NOW!

[brentspeak]

22. Not that he fully agreed with the Swiftboaters?

Webb despised the Swiftboaters:

"John Kerry's voluntary combat duty was systematically diminished by the well-financed Swift Boat Veterans for Truth in a highly successful effort to insulate a president who avoided having to go to war."

http://www.jameswebb.com/articles/nytimes/purpleheartbreakers.htm

[karynnj]

54. So he says in 2006

Even here note, he lists Murtha's medals and Kerrey's medals - but simply describes Kerry's as "voluntary". This article was a political issue for him for 2006, it would be hard to come out against swiftboating without mentioning Kerry.

If he would have written this in fall of 2004, I would agree with you - but he didn't.

[WhiteTara]

41. straight from their play book

usurp the other party and then be just who you are anyway.

[dolstein]

48. Frankly, I think Webb has a point

The Vietnam Veterans Against the War was NOT representative of Vietnam Veterans as a whole, much less veterans generally.

[karynnj]

55. Kerry led a moderate faction of VVAW

He ended up going with Bobby Mueller and others to form VVA, a far more moderate organization about 7 months after speaking to the Senate. Kerry spent most of the time he was in VVAW fighting with the radical leaders - some of whom felt Kerry was pulling people away from their agenda. Bobby Mueller, in "Going Up river" speaks of Kerry's role in this. Read Kerry's whole statement or watch "going up River" - Webb was using quilt by association. Kerry scared the Nixon administration because he was a polite, articulate leader who could reach moderate people. He was not a radical, not a hippie, not part of the counter culture.

[bobthedrummer]

18. Just what somebody ordered, another IT warrior with ties to the BFEE.

Another DINO, like that ACXIOM fella, imo-it's part of C3W here in Homeland.

[brentspeak]

24. The who? The what?

Did you bother to take the time to read up on James Webb before labeling him a "DINO"?

"Q.What is your take on the wisdom of our strategy in Iraq and the competence of its execution?

I was an early voice saying we shouldn't go in, that it was not connected to the war against international terrorism, that it was not among the highest national security concerns that we should be considering. My warning before we went in was basically that it was a strategic mousetrap on three different levels. One is that it would involve the nation's focus and attention and resources beyond military resources to the detriment of other interests. Second was that if you're going to decapitate a government, you would be draining your force structure. And thirdly, in the sense that we have focused so strongly on the Sunnis while the Shiites have been in a win-win since day one, and as a result we're empowering Iran.

Has that view changed any now?

No.

You don't buy the argument that it didn't used to be about terrorism and al-Qaeda but that now it is?

I think the tragedy in my view of Iraq is that it has created a lot more terrorists than would have existed if we hadn't gone in. I don't think it's a plus that Iraq is filled with terrorists right now. This isn't a zero-sum game like there's only X number of terrorists in the world and as a result we're going to draw them to the flytrap and kill them off."

http://www.jameswebb.com/articles/variouspubs/sandiegotrib.htm

And: "After all, in recent years extremist Republican operatives have inverted a longstanding principle: that our combat veterans be accorded a place of honor in political circles. This trend began with the ugly insinuations leveled at Senator John McCain during the 2000 Republican primaries and continued with the slurs against Senators Max Cleland and John Kerry, and now Mr. Murtha."

http://www.jameswebb.com/articles/nytimes/purpleheartbreakers.htm


Some "DINO":eyes: :eyes: :eyes:

[TankLV]

47. YES A DINO!

Look at what BridgetBurke posted FROM HIS OWN WEBSITE!

He's WORSE that a DINO - he's a repuke mole - out to make another repuke party out of the Democratic Party!

Open your eyes man and smell the coffee!

Never, ever trust a repuke - especially on ONE THING that he says!

What he has said in the past sounds like repuke spew to anybody with half a brain.

That he's a Johnny-Come-Lately sounds a little too convenient to us!

Repuke lie and steal and cheat to get what they want.

This guy is DIRT!

This guy is TROUBLE!

Don't be fooled by his sudden "conversion".

Glad he's now supporting Dems - he can STAY that way - just not as a CANDIDATE or god forbid a representative of us!

[Laelth]

28. Rock on! This is great news.

K&R

:headbang:

-Laelth

[Catchawave]

31. Webb is on Stephen Colbert's Report tonight !

On Comedy Central, 11:30pm EST.

[sandnsea]

32. JamesWebb.com Articles

Good god. What is wrong with anybody of any political leaning that they just leap to support anybody, without doing the very basic research.

Webb is AWFUL. And not just because of the Kerry stuff. Read some of this shit.

http://www.jameswebb.com/about.htm

[Catchawave]

34. I like where he stands on the issues...

I’m running for Senate because I think we need more people in Congress who aren’t career politicians, who haven’t forgotten who sent them there and why.
The fact is, when I look at what’s happening to our country – from our foreign policy, to our domestic crises – I’m deeply troubled.
Our government isn’t working for our people. It’s working for the political machines and lobbyists that feed on corruption. And who pays the price of that corruption? Our families – they are the ones suffering the consequences.
Look at our foreign policy and national defense. We need to get our foreign policy and defense policy back on track – to making the right kind of strategic decisions. We need to be fighting terrorism, protecting our ports and borders, and keeping America safe. Instead, we’re spreading our troops thin, we’re not giving them enough of the armor, armaments, or the support they need. And worst of all, we don’t have a plan to bring them home. When you don’t have the leadership that’s asking the right questions, the consequences are deadly.
We also need to get our country back on track. Root out corruption, restore competence and rebuild the infrastructure that is so necessary to keep us safe and secure. Katrina is just a microcosm of how things have gone wrong. They had no plan before the hurricane, no plan during the hurricane, and no plan now. We’ve got people who are still homeless. This was a natural disaster and we had days of warning in advance. This speaks terribly of our homeland security. And again, it’s our families who are suffering the consequences.
Look at our economy – we’re breaking into a three-tiered class system. We’re losing our middle class: we’re shipping more jobs overseas, we’re not doing enough to make sure our working families have the health care they need, or the education they need to move ahead. And at the other end of the spectrum, we’re giving tax cuts to millionaires. They’re doing just fine – it’s our families who are paying the price.
We need to stop the gross abuse of power of presidential power that has occurred since 9/11. It’s time we had leaders who aren’t afraid to stand up and speak truth to power.
We need leadership in Washington that’s got the backbone to say enough is enough. Leaders who are independent and who will stand up for people, not blindly follow their party leaders. The type of leadership that can change the way Washington works.
I think Virginia wants a Senator who is going to do what they think is right, who is going to have the courage to stand up and say so. And that’s why I’m running.

http://www.webbforsenate.com/issues/

[sandnsea]

35. So that's it for you

You base support of a candidate on one article? You don't look to the history of the person, what makes them tick, what they're all about? This is a guy who thinks the Vietnam War protesters were wrong. That doesn't matter to you? He supports continued military conquests in order to shape the world. A candidate is not their current campaign, they're a compiled history that is on record and more important than anything they have to say today.

http://www.jameswebb.com/articles/wallstjrnl/main.htm

[Catchawave]

36. That was from his campaign website

and I like him better than Miller.

I think you're overreacting a bit, "continued military conquests" ? He was against invading Iraq !

[sandnsea]

37. Okay, don't read his articles

Can't force you. Yes, he was against Iraq, but he was against Bosnia too, mostly because he didn't like Clinton.

He has also said "If we are to retain our rightful place as a Pacific power", in regards to China and doesn't support improved economic relations with them as a means to changing global dynamics. He supports an increased role for Japan and India to offset Chinese power. He acts as if our military might is an answer to the global changes we're facing, and it just isn't.

[Catchawave]

38. I've read his articles, I still like him. n/t

[Renew Deal]

39. I don't live in VA.

And I haven't read up on this guy. In my view, someone that doesn't agree with me, but caucuses with the Dems is better than someone that doesn't agree and caucases with the pukes.

[sandnsea]

40. There's others running in the primary

I wish people would consider everything a particular candidate stands for. Some don't seem to be doing that, or even willing to do that, that's all. I would agree that I'd sooner have Webb, just for the D, then Allen.

[SteelBird]

42. We do have another candidate

Though I thikn some people here won't be enamored with Harris Miller because of his business background and his more conservative views on some social isuses like abortion and crime, though I understand his stance on crime, I read a bio of him in a local paper and his mother was mugged. I would like to know more about his economic and foreign policy views because he is a self made guy. Don't like what I hear about Webb so far, may be giving my vote in the dem primary to Miller.

[brentspeak]

44. Hmm. Vietnam War.

That ended about 32 years ago, didn't it?

[karynnj]

56. yeah - and he still hasn't forgiven anyone against it

but sees no contradiction with his being against the Iraq war.

[TankLV]

46. Aparently, they severely lack reading and comprehension skills.

Webb sounds like a repuke mole to me - straight out of the repuke playbook if it wasn't so creepy.

What he SAYS on HIS WEBSITE about Kerry speaks VOLUMES, no matter what he NOW says of bunkerboy's WAR.

ONCE A REPUKE, ALWAYS A REPUKE.

Glad he's now become a dem. He can VOTE for another DEM.

Just don't trust him to do the right thing if elected as a Dem.

[WhiteTara]

45. I saw him on the Colbert Report tonight

he said that more and more people should become democrats. Says he was a democrat before he worked with Reagan and that he had not changed but the parties had. That's when he said there should be more democrats. Intersting man

[karynnj]

57. His stand on equality of women in the military may interest you.

[WhiteTara]

60. It would. What is it?

that was tantalizing. Is he a good guy, or just another white guy?

[karynnj]

64. Claudia Kennedy endorsed Miller

because he was very against women in combat.

[WhiteTara]

65. selfishly, I'm not for women in combat

either. I hate anyone in combat actually. But I understand what you are saying here. I've always believed, once a repuke, always a repuke, even it is a reformed repuke.

[dogfacedboy]

63. The Parties have changed.

Both major Parties have changed. The Republicans have become radically right-wing, and the Democrats have fallen into a bit of disarray. Always keep in mind that MOST people in America hover near the center, whether it's slightly to the Left, or to the right.

[VirginiaDem]

59. I support him with reservations

He's got his good points and bad points. First of all, he's not George Allen and this is Virginia. Virginia's turning less red but it's not quite purple yet. Webb is decidedly less conservative than Allen and he's a Dem. Sorry, that makes a big difference to me.

As for his conservatism, yeah the anti-Kerry stuff is bad but the more recent anti-swift boaters helps assuage that. Yeah, he's a gung-ho yahoo but he was and has remained consistently anti-Iraq war and make no mistake, Webb will be running on the war. And anyone who tries to swiftboat Webb is going to get a heavy boot up their ass. This helps to nationalize the election, which helps everybody.

We need to take six seats and hold ours (or 7 and lose 1--I don't see us taking 8 under any circumstances). Santorum, DeWine, Talent, Chafee, and Burns are the five most vulnerable R seats. Under the right circumstances, we could sweep that group. Tennessee and Arizona were the longer shots and Virginia and Nevada were seen as almost impossible. Now Virginia moves into that second tier, making the chances of grabbing one or two second tier races much higher. And with the recent polls showing Ford losing to all potential challengers in Tennessee, we need Virginia to be in play.

[Catchawave]

62. I started a poll in GD-P here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2502571&mesg_id=2502571

Please continue your discussions there ! I'm sure this isn't LBN snymore ?