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Friday, December 01, 2006
Rich Galen :: Townhall.com Columnist
Dreadful Democratic manners
by Rich Galen
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While the President of the United States was in the Middle East doing the business of the free world, the Washington Post ran a front page article about how the next Senator from Virginia, Jim Webb, exhibited the kind of manner which would have gotten him beaten up and thrown into the street if he'd done it anywhere but the White House.

Webb, a Democrat, beat incumbent Republican Senator George Allen by a little over 9,000 votes out of 2.3 MILLION votes cast in the Commonwealth of Virigina.

According to the Washington Post, the Senator-elect from Virginia went to a reception for newly elected Senators and Congressmen at the White House.

Keep in mind, Webb didn't have to go to the White House. He went of his own free will. The Post's account:

Virginia's newest senator tried to avoid President Bush. Democrat James Webb declined to stand in a presidential receiving line or to have his picture taken with the man he had often criticized on the stump this fall. But it wasn't long before Bush found him.

"I'd like to get them out of Iraq, Mr. President," Webb responded, echoing a campaign theme.

"That's not what I asked you," Bush said. "How's your boy?"

"That's between me and my boy, Mr. President," Webb said coldly, ending the conversation on the State Floor of the East Wing of the White House.

Keep in mind, Webb's SON didn't have to go to Iraq. He joined the Marines of his own free will.

If Webb wants to start a fight with someone, go over to Rep. Charlie Rangle's (D-NY) office. He insists he will introduce legislation to reinstitute a draft. If Webb's son had been drafted, he would have had no choice as to a career path.

The first question you have to ask yourself is: Why did Senator-elect Webb go to the White House to start with? If he didn't want to be in the same place at the same time as the President … stay home.

Also, we only know from the Post account that the President responded as it is written. No sense of whether there was a smile, or a hand-on-shoulder, or dad-to-dad eye-contact.

I am drawn to this story because the Mullings Director of Standards & Practices and I were invited to the White House for a holiday reception last night. Continued...
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About The Author

Rich Galen has been a press secretary to Dan Quayle and Newt Gingrich. Rich Galen currently works as a journalist and writes at Mullings.com

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(33 comments so Far)
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Reply # 1
Date: Dec 3, 2006 - 11:07 PM EST
Webb's the One Who Understands Duty
A couple of posters lecture Webb about duty and honor, and Toomuchsense says he has "darkness that oozes from him." Not sure what that last one meant, but I think there is a darkness to Webb, not the kind Toomuch talks about, but the kind that says he understands too deeply the destructive power of war on its participants. He doesn't take it lightly. It's not about waving flags and plastering yellow magnets on cars to him. He believes very strongly in duty, and raised his son to believe in duty and volunteering to fight when our country is at war. But he is not mindless about it. He is angry at those who view war casually and risk our military's lives while giving no sacrifice of their own.

In 1990 Webb gave a speech at the dedication of the Richmond Cemetary for the Confederate War Dead. In closing he had this advice for our leaders: "You hold our soldiers' lives in sacred trust. When a citizen has sworn to obey you, and follow your judgment, and walk onto a battlefield to defend the interests you define as worthy of his blood, do not abuse that awesome power through careless policy, unclear objectives, or inflexible leadership." He hasn't sold out. Instead, he and this country have been sold out by a privileged cabal of chickenhawks and ideologues who brought on a war carelessly, with unclear objectives, and through inflexible leadership. The wonder isn't that he's so angry; it's that the posters to this forum are not themselves angry at the waste of lives by this Administration.
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Reply # 2
Date: Dec 3, 2006 - 3:21 PM EST
Webb has sold his soul.
If you watch and follow Webb. You'll see that he's got that darkness, that oozes from him.

It's more than bad taste.
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