Reply #46: I'm researching Webb on Kos now, and found some interesting info

[beachmom]

Webb was really a Democrat traditionally. Here is what turned him toward Republicans (hint: Vietnam, Vietnam, Vietnam):

Carter's amnesty turned him toward Repubs (3.75 / 4)

I've been reading Robert Timberg'sThe Nightingale's Song, which is about Webb, McFarland, Poindexter, North, and McCain. The basic premise of this book is that Vietnam Vets share a deep bond that goes beyond party lines.

According to Timberg, it was candidate Jimmy Carter's proposed amnesty program that sent Webb toward the Republicans. Timberg says "His performance caught the eye of President Ford's political handlers. Webb, a lifelong if lukewarm Democrat, was soon installed as cochairman of a group called Vietnam Veterans for Ford."

Timberg says that Webb was recruited by the Carter campaign team, and that he seriously considered joining that campaign. After researching Carter's background and positions, however, he concluded "Carter stood for nothing.........Carter's subsequent endorsement of pardons for draft resisters was too much, the twisting of the knife. Adrift politically, Webb washed ashore a Republican."

After Carter was elected, however, Webb was offered and accepted a position on the House Veterans Affairs committee. So, even at that time his political "conversion" was incomplete.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/2/15/95018/3060

What this tells us is that Webb didn't say what he said about the SBVT because he's a Republican; he did so because this is how he feels and has always felt. It's why he left the Democratic party. And now we see that he worked for the Carter administration as well as the Reagan administration. We're talking about a disagreement on one issue and one issue only -- the Vietnam War.