James Webb for Senate

James Webb won the primary to serve as the Democrat candidate for the Virginia Senate seat now held by incumbent Republican George Allen.

First let me explain my own position on this. Some time back, I decided I wanted to run George Allen out of office. When I wrote the man as one of his constituents, the replies I got back, if I even received a reply, just pissed me off. I made up my mind that if the Democrats nominated anyone reasonable to run against him, that person was going to get my vote.

Well look what happened. The Democrats nominated James Webb. James Webb served as Secretary of the Navy under Ronald Reagan. James Webb is probably the ONLY Secretary of the Navy I can remember serving under by name. His leadership was dynamic. This guy continued to serve as a junior officer (a pilot) in the Naval Reserve while he served as Secretary of the Navy. I never did figure out who saluted who when the "junior officer" who also happened to be Secretary of the Navy landed his jet on the aircraft carrier and happened to run into the Airwing Commander. I was only fairly sure that both of them grinned as they saluted.

Those were the days of the expansion of the Navy. Once again you could be proud to be wearing the uniform serving as a warrior for your nation and the US Navy had at its helm a young man by the name of James Webb. This followed the dark days immediately after the Vietnam War when those serving were spit upon.

Now James Webb wants to be a Senator. From my experience, he served as a fine Secretary of the Navy. He inspired those under him reaching down to the lowest ranking members of the Navy while he was still young. What might not be possible now that he has some of the wisdom that comes with age and experience?

Now I do not want to mislead anyone. If you are expecting James Webb to be a bleeding heart liberal only because he represents the Democrat Party you better think again. James Webb was (perhaps still is) a Reagan Republican. He endorsed George Allen in his successful race against incumbent Democrat Senator Chuck Robb. I have heard James split with the Republican Party due to his opposition to the Iraq War.

I am tempted to state that if you vote for James Webb, you are voting for George Allen "light". However, rather then comparing James Webb to his opponent, let us compare him to Virginia's other Senator John Warner. James Webb might more closely be compared to Republican Senator Warner. James Webb might be conservative, but he, like John Warner, is still willing to engage in civil discourse with the liberals. What do I base this conclusion on you ask? Conservative James Webb won the endorsement of John Kerry in the primary runup.

Now let me engage in some mudslinging. What did George Allen do to piss me off so bad I want to run him out of office? Well in my last letter to him (to which I did not receive a reply) I warned him that he was starting to sound like a cheer leader for the most right wing extremists of the Republican Party. He had/has Presidential aspirations, and he felt in order to win the Republican primary he had to swing far right. Well in his swing he may have hit a home run as far as the extremists are concerned, but in the viewpoint of this moderate he whiffed.

I wrote him time and again. Strike one I called as I read his reply. Then came strike two and finally strike three. Well, he has lost my vote. If he wants to pander to the extreme right wing of the national Republican Party instead of representing Virginia then I say let him do so, but let us throw him out the office where he is supposed to be representing the people of Virginia while he does it. If the national audience wants to vote for him, fine, let him serve as their President, however in my judgment he is not fit to represent the people of Virginia.

If James Webb is successful in his run for the Senate, I will advise him in advance to look towards the service of John Warner. John Warner might be a Republican, but he is an "old school" Republican. Perhaps the two of you working together can show that "old school" Republicans and "new school" Democrats can lead our nation. We have got to try something new. Our current course is leading to disaster.

Oh, by the way, any man who opposed the Iraq war BEFORE we got into it displayed... well what would you call it? I call it wisdom. We need some of that in Washington.