WP: Allen, Webb Quarrel Over War in Iraq, Bush Policies

[cal04]

Comments on Race, Gender Resurface in TV Appearance
Virginia's U.S. Senate candidates clashed on national television yesterday over the war in Iraq and President Bush's leadership, offering the sharpest contrast yet in a campaign that has become central to the partisan struggle for control of Congress this fall.

Appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press," Republican Sen. George Allen and Democratic challenger James Webb also confronted issues of race and gender and debated the use of torture in the war on terror. But the exchange largely centered on a controversial war that has become the defining issue of the Nov. 7 midterm elections.

Webb, a decorated Marine and former Navy Secretary, called the Iraq war an "incredible strategic blunder of historic proportions" and said he has lost confidence in Bush's foreign policy. He repeatedly reminded viewers that neither Bush nor Allen, a former governor, had served in combat.

"Very few people who have brought us this war have served, and very, very few of the children of these people who have brought us this war have served," said Webb, whose Marine son began a tour in Iraq this month.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/17/AR2006091700348.html

[TheCowsCameHome]

1. Webb walked all over that racist idiot Allen.

I hope the voters of VA. see through Macaca Allen's smokescreen.

[Kagemusha]

2. The more I read about this stuff, the more I see it.

The Republicans aren't about being tough. They're about looking tough, and think that's better, and more politically advantageous.

[chieftain]

3. One more thing I hate about "journalists"

The media tends to trivialize important divisions between the parties as "quarrels" and "bickering". They feed the dangerous idea that permeates average Americans' thinking that robust political debate about issues is distasteful while personal attacks are ok. This trend is rife in the modern media and is a significant contributing factor in the continued alienation of citizens from the democratic form of government.

[wiggs]

4. I saw it. Webb was solid.

Not the most left-leaning guy out there, but I didn't get the impression that he would pussyfoot around a tough issue nor did I think that he would be a corporatist.