Moe Lane

Oh, wait: was I supposed to be impressed that Senator Webb’s trash-talking the President’s Obamacare strategy now?

“I’ll be real frank here,” Webb said at a Bloomberg News breakfast, according to The Washington Post. “I think that the manner in which the health-care reform issue was put in front of the Congress, the way that the issue was dealt with by the White House, cost Obama a lot of credibility as a leader.”

Well, if we’re going to “be real frank here” then just let me pipe up: like Senator Webb I knew that the way that Obamacare was shoved down our collective throats was grotesque.  In fact, like Senator Webb I knew it at the time.  But it’s not my name listed among the Yea votes on Obamacare; it’s Senator Webb’s.  That’s because he’s the junior Senator from Virginia and I am not.  And one reason why I’m not the junior Democratic Senator from Virginia and Senator Webb is is because Senator Webb was willing and ready to pander to liberal Democrats – the same kind of people who spit on his troops in the Vietnam era – in order to get that Senate seat.  (more…)

Just couldn’t handle the thought of running again for VA-SEN, apparently – although I’m sure that the lack of money didn’t help much there, either.  Or the fact that Webb was practically guaranteed a messy primary, thanks to his race-related thoughtcrime last year.  What ever it was, this isn’t a surprise, of course: it was obvious last week that Webb didn’t have the right stuff to run again in a year where things weren’t guaranteed to go his way.  I wonder whether enabling the extremist agenda of the exact same people who spit on his troops was worth it to the man?

…Actually, no, I really could care less whether it did or not.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

PS: Please run Tim Kaine for VA-SEN, Democrats. Please, please, please, please, please, please run Tim Kaine.

[UPDATE] Welcome, Instapundit readers.  I may not be entirely objective regarding this Webb fellow, and I’m not entirely certain why.

Oh, Jimmy.

Forty years ago, as the United States experienced the civil rights movement, the supposed monolith of White Anglo-Saxon Protestant dominance served as the whipping post for almost every debate about power and status in America. After a full generation of such debate, WASP elites have fallen by the wayside and a plethora of government-enforced diversity policies have marginalized many white workers. The time has come to cease the false arguments and allow every American the benefit of a fair chance at the future.

I have dedicated my political career to bringing fairness to America’s economic system and to our work force, regardless of what people look like or where they may worship. Unfortunately, present-day diversity programs work against that notion, having expanded so far beyond their original purpose that they now favor anyone who does not happen to be white.

I wonder if the above was the Senatorial equivalent of a mid-life crisis? – Although that’s not nearly self-destructive enough to be a true analogy.  Senator Webb seems to have forgotten that he has a ‘D’ after his name these days, which effectively means that this entire article is thoughtcrime that will pretty much guarantee him a messy primary in 2012.  Progressives do not appreciate thoughtcrime, particularly in their converts: they bought Jimmy Webb in 2006, and they expect their purchases to perform as expected. (more…)

Just a random thought: in the process of apparently losing a state Senate special election in Virginia, Democratic candidate Dave Marsden (who is apparently doing his level best to appear ‘bipartisan’) put this letter to the editor up as part of his attempt to win.  Please note this sentence:

Virginia benefits most from the reasonable expression of many viewpoints, but we are in danger of becoming a one-party state.

Oh.  Oh, how quickly the tide rolls back out, too…

Moe Lane

PS: Speaking of which: Senator Webb.  James.  I know that there have been harsh words written about you.  I know that I have personally (and regretfully) written harsh words about you.  Unfortunate things are often said and written in the tension of close election campaigns.  But you will have another one of those in two years – and trends in Virginia are going against your adopted (and ill-fitting, really) party.  The target of your revenge has gone on to a dignified retirement.  The issue that triggered your defection has passed.

So have you really thought about where you see yourself being in 2013?

Crossposted to Moe Lane.

You have the right to neither surprise, nor a sense of betrayal.

[UPDATE] Welcome, Hot Air readers.

Oh, Webb is saying that he’s merely against the timetable, but that’s just political-speak for ‘I need to start laying down the groundwork for my retreat on this issue.’ By this time next year he’ll be telling everybody how he’s fully satisfied that Obama’s ‘reform’ of Gitmo addresses the issues brought up during the campaign, etc, etc, etc. Amazing how quickly some of these guys catch Washington Establishment Disease, huh? (more…)