To Deliver Their Remarks, Democrats Opt to Put a Fresh Face Front and Center

[DeepModem Mom]

NYT: To Deliver Their Remarks, Democrats Opt to Put a Fresh Face Front and Center
By JEFF ZELENY
Published: January 24, 2007

WASHINGTON, Jan. 23 — When President Bush concluded his State of the Union address, Democrats did not turn to the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, or to the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, to deliver their response. They chose a different face for the party: a former Republican, an ex-marine and a secretary of the Navy in the Reagan administration.

That Democrat, Senator Jim Webb of Virginia, who won his seat at least in part through his tenacious opposition to the Iraq war, wore his son’s combat boots on the campaign trail last year. And on Tuesday evening, Mr. Webb invoked his own biography, and his family’s three generations of military service, as he declared that today’s soldiers could no longer trust the judgment of their commander in chief.

“The majority of the nation no longer supports the way this war is being fought, nor do the majority of our military, nor does a majority of our Congress,” Mr. Webb said. “We need a new direction.”

The choice of Mr. Webb was intended to provide a symbol, through his words and appearance, for the new majority in Congress. In a commanding voice, the senator chastised the administration for its economic and foreign policies, but said Democrats would try to work with Mr. Bush to change course.

“If he does not,” Mr. Webb said, “we will be showing him the way.”...

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/24/washington/24webb.html

[babylonsister]

1. I just listened to it again. Webb was awesome!

In a few minutes, he said so much!