Last of the Southern Democrats?
RealClearPolitics - Jim Webb: Why Reagan Dems Still Matter:"I've been warning them," Webb says, sighing, resting his chin on his hand. "I've been having discussions with our leadership ever since I've been up here. I decided to run as a Democrat because I happen to strongly believe in Jeffersonian democracy. There needs to be one party that very clearly represents the interests of working people ... I'm very concerned about the transactional nature of the Democratic Party. Its evolved too strongly into interest groups rather than representing working people, including small business people."
I didn't vote for Jim Webb last time around, as I was still in Minnesota, but as a fan of his writing I followed the race pretty closely through the Internet. Didn't much care for what I saw. Webb may have been the last champion of the Scots-Irish Reagan Democrats annoyed by the Iraq War and convinced that the GOP had sold them out to the Wall Street moguls, but there was enough old-school anti-semitism in the primary, and vile New Left race-baiting in the general, to put me off him. I also had the gut feeling that he was going to be much less independent in office than advertised, and I am sorry to see that I was right. He's been a reliable foot soldier for Harry Reid, which is enough to damn any Senator in my eyes, and worse yet has been silent in the face of all the filth being spewed by his comrades in the Party.
I'd have a lot more respect for him if he'd been even half the pain in the ass to the Democrats that the Maine Sisters have been to the GOP, and if he'd been closer to Joe Lieberman in foreign policy...ah, what am I saying? There's no way Webb could have held those positions and won the primary, even in Virginia, and he very likely would have lost the NoVa & college lefties who make up most of the Democrats' base down here in the Commonwealth.
Still, he's got a couple of years left to change my mind before his time is up in 2012. If he starts acting more like Lieberman than the late Robert "Sheets" Byrd, I might not hit the trenches to help throw him out. On the other hand, if he continues to be just some Southern window-dressing for Reid, it'll be time to roll up my sleeves and help get another poser out of office.
I didn't vote for Jim Webb last time around, as I was still in Minnesota, but as a fan of his writing I followed the race pretty closely through the Internet. Didn't much care for what I saw. Webb may have been the last champion of the Scots-Irish Reagan Democrats annoyed by the Iraq War and convinced that the GOP had sold them out to the Wall Street moguls, but there was enough old-school anti-semitism in the primary, and vile New Left race-baiting in the general, to put me off him. I also had the gut feeling that he was going to be much less independent in office than advertised, and I am sorry to see that I was right. He's been a reliable foot soldier for Harry Reid, which is enough to damn any Senator in my eyes, and worse yet has been silent in the face of all the filth being spewed by his comrades in the Party.
I'd have a lot more respect for him if he'd been even half the pain in the ass to the Democrats that the Maine Sisters have been to the GOP, and if he'd been closer to Joe Lieberman in foreign policy...ah, what am I saying? There's no way Webb could have held those positions and won the primary, even in Virginia, and he very likely would have lost the NoVa & college lefties who make up most of the Democrats' base down here in the Commonwealth.
Still, he's got a couple of years left to change my mind before his time is up in 2012. If he starts acting more like Lieberman than the late Robert "Sheets" Byrd, I might not hit the trenches to help throw him out. On the other hand, if he continues to be just some Southern window-dressing for Reid, it'll be time to roll up my sleeves and help get another poser out of office.