So what did Webb say?

For reasons similar to Michael Ledeen, I watched neither speech last night. I pretty much knew what each side would say. So since I missed the whole thing, I can’t comment on it much. But I can comment on what Washington Post’s Michael Shear said about Jim Webb’s rebuttal of the President’s State of the Union Address (full text without coddling commentary at the Washington Times).

According to Shear, Webb began by stating the obviously false;

Webb accused the president of taking the country into Iraq “recklessly” and forcing it to endure “a mismanaged war for nearly four years.”

“Many, including myself, warned even before the war began that it was unnecessary; that it would take our energy and attention away from the larger war against terrorism; and that invading and occupying Iraq would leave us strategically vulnerable,” Webb said.

What is larger than Iraq in the War Against Terror? Jihadists from around the world have been pouring into Iraq from Iran and Syria to sacrifice themselves in the name of Allah. I think that’s a good thing – at least they’re not pouring into Europe and the United States to sacrifice themselves. And contrary to what Webb said, that makes us strategically stronger since we’ve chosen the battlefield – like every victorious military leader in history.

Then Webb makes a completely intellectually dishonest statement;

We need a new direction,” said Webb, a decorated Marine veteran of the Vietnam War. “Not one step back from the war against international terrorism, not a precipitous withdrawal that ignores the possibility of further chaos, but an immediate shift toward strong, regionally based diplomacy.”

How do we step back from Iraq, like Webb demands, without that being a step-back from the War Against Terror? The Democrats are so steeped in their own propaganda and rhetoric that they’re beginning to believe it. Just like their “worst economy in 60 years” manure in 2004.

But then Shear goes on to lick Webb’s feet;

Democrats owe their newfound control of the Senate to Webb’s slim and improbable victory over former Virginia senator George Allen. Webb — who served as secretary of the Navy under Ronald Reagan — also embodies his party’s central message: a determination to oppose the Iraq war while supporting the troops who are there.

Webb has become a folk hero among liberals and Democratic bloggers for brusquely telling Bush at a White House event that questions from the president about Webb’s son are “between me and my boy.”

So after just three weeks as a U.S. senator, Webb became the choice of the Democratic leadership in the Senate and House of Representatives to carry their blunt warning about Bush’s new war strategy.

Mindless drivel spoken at the altar of lies. Now Webb is a folk-hero for being an impetuous child in the White House. The Kos Kids must have been peeing themselves with excitement last night. Webb is a vacant imbecile who changes parties when it’s politically expedient and he can fool voters ONE MORE TIME. With Dingy Harry Reid carrying his water;

“He represents to me what the new America is all about,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.) as he faced about 40 reporters with Webb and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.). “Someone who understands what it means to go to war, what it means to have peace, what it means to work on a bipartisan basis. I think he’s the perfect person to answer the president.”

Yeah, they thought John Kerry was the perfect person to answer the President in 2004 – until a couple of thousand veterans showed up at the Capitol on a sunny September afternoon and declared “Kerry lied while good men died”.

Webb should have remembered where his “brothers” fall on this issue before he gets the same treatment.

Category: Politics