Unfortunately, they failed to tell the story of how Webb went from refusing to shake Kerry's hand to asking for and getting his endorsement, fundraising dollars, and a campaign appearance.
That is a remarkable story, and quite frankly, I want to hear more. Why did Webb have a change of heart? If you read in the New Yorker, he HATED Ivy League "aristrocrat" types he went to school with at Georgetown. Kerry, of course, went to Vietnam, yet Webb seemed to reserve his largest contempt for Kerry. What changed? Was it just political expediency? Quite frankly, I doubt it. Webb is not a phony -- he can't fake things. So if he still was pissed at Kerry, I think he wouldn't have bothered courting his support. So what gives? SOMEBODY needs to tell that story. A real pity the New Yorker has stuck with the rest of the press in deciding Kerry is dead (they only mentioned that Webb wouldn't shake his hand, no follow up of what happened after), when they could have made a good story even more dramatic.
I already grilled Webb blogger Lowell when it happened; he didn't have any details.
Edited to add, this is the article I'm talking about:
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/061030fa_factWhen Webb, debilitated by shrapnel wounds received in an action that earned him the Navy Cross, was forced to retire from the military, he enrolled at the Georgetown University Law Center, and stepped directly into the culture divide. He hated his time at Georgetown, largely because of his encounter with an attitude that caught him wholly unaware. It seemed to him that many of his classmates had been untouched by Vietnam (except for a gain in self-regard, accrued from opposition to what they deemed an immoral war). Webb concluded that they not only had figured out ways to avoid the risk and sacrifice of military service but had convinced themselves, as they proceeded along their education and career tracks, that theirs was the true heroism of the time. Inspired by his rage, he decided to write “Fields of Fire,” which included a series of withering cameo portrayals of Ivy League graduates who worked the system to avoid service. “Some day he will write speeches for great politicians,” he wrote of one character. “Tim Forbes will confess his boondoggle, and we will admire his honesty. He only did what everybody else was doing.” Webb could recite the minuscule number of men killed in Vietnam who, by his count, had matriculated at the élite colleges (Harvard, twelve; Princeton, six; M.I.T., two) compared with the vast numbers from public schools.
Come to think of it, some of these "elites" sound like neocons, aka, chickenhawks. I think chickenhawks are FAR worse than chickendoves (if you will), who are at least principled in their avoidance of service to being opposed to the war.
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