Reply #47: Bob Kerrey linked with Webb:

[beachmom]

Another comment on this Kos thread:

It IS important the Dems win this race, BUT... (3.50 / 2)

If Webb has a (D) after his name AND if he has a better chance of defeating Allen, he is probably the better choice for the nomination.

But as another "genuine progressive", I share S1NV's skepticism about Webb. Contrary to another's post, Webb has not "come over to our side". He is on his own side. He will NOT be a team player, and folks now singing his praises on this board will be cursing his votes and statements well before 2008.

VirginiaBelle, why should Bob Kerrey's support calm your concerns about Webb's ideology? Bob Kerrey was one of the very few Dems actively involved with the neoCon effort to get this country into war in Iraq, the so-called "Committee for the Liberation of Iraq," which was controlled by the Project for the New American Century.

Max Cleland had originally been appointed to the 911 Commission, but started asking troublesome questions and demanding that the White House turn over relevant documents to the Commission. The Bush gang removed him from the Commission by "kicking him upstairs" to another appointment and he was replaced by the more cooperative Bob Kerrey.

What was Kerrey's view of the 911 Commission's job:

"I believe this commission must try to provide a foundation for bipartisan agreement on what should be done in Iraq and the broader war against radical Islamists who use terror as a tactic to destroy our will."

If anything, Bob Kerrey's support for Webb should only increase our worries about Webb, not dispell them.

Back to Webb--
It has been posted that he will speak to crucial issues like race, and someone else said his "grunt" experience in Vietnam means that he will appeal to African Americans.

I have posted elsewhere my concerns about Webb's views on "race", a concern that didn't seem to register with many on this board. Do your research and you will find his views being spoken of very approvingly on "white nationalist" discussion boards. He speaks very well to the resentment of the "down-trodden" Southern white males with his lament for the fate of Scots-Irish. He opposes affirmative action programs. I expect he will get African American votes, but it will be because of the strategic need to win the seat for the Democrats, IMO, and NOT because Webb will speak of "race" in a manner that appeals to them.

Again, I do accept that it is probably necessary that Webb win the Democratic nomination as the best chance of the Dems winning the Senate seat, so I urge people to hold their noses and do it. Even if there WERE a Green candidate, there is too much at stake to allow ourselves the luxury of casting a "morally pure" Green vote in this case.

But those of us who are not DLC-style Democrats, or "Blue Dog" Democrats, will soon shed all illusions about Jim Webb, once he gets into office.

I urge you to avoid the rush and shed those illusions now.


by Shliapnikov on Wed Feb 15, 2006 at 02:16:55 PM PDT