Barack Obama and James Webb

[Zomby Woof]

Someone is already at work with the graphics. Nice work!

[napi21]

1. That would be a great ticket. My only problem is that we would lose TWO SENATORS!

We're NEVER going to get a super majority in the Senate that way!

[Zomby Woof]

2. That's the best objection yet

I have to admit you have a very good point. I am all about strategy, and Webb's senate seat is of the utmost importance. Especially as Warner retires next year, making Webb the senior senator. Damn.

Still, I hunger for McCain's defeat at the hands of this ticket. But Webb's senate seat would be tough to replace in VA.

[DesertFlower]

5. isn't mark warner running to replace

john warner? i'm pretty sure he'll win. he was virginia's governor and turned the state around. he's liked by both democrats and republicans.

[cbc5g]

16. He's very popular in Virginia...honestly I'm rooting for Webb, hes a great guy and a strong speaker

[livingmadness]

35. And interestingly, Obama is in Virginia at present building up some familiarity!!

[Phillycat]

8. They rarely do a two-senator ticket, do they?

And has one ever won?

[Zomby Woof]

12. JFK and LBJ

But that was long ago.

In fact, what is rare about this race is that the 3 final candidates were all sitting senators (Clinton, Obama, McCain).

Anything can happen the way this year has gone. (Good evening! :hi: )

[Phillycat]

13. No shit.

I'm sort of scared about the convention - I almost expect a brawl.

(I should be in bed! :hi: )

[Zomby Woof]

19. It's going to be raucous

Like you, I am motivated by DEFEATING McCAIN. That may be enough to keep the brawling in check. Maybe.

Kinda.

Sorta.

I am already looking past the convention, trying to anticipate just what kind of strategy McCain honestly thinks will give him a chance. He has no credibility with rank-and-file conservatives, no credibility down the middle with Iraq. He admits to having no economic know-how. He scolds the down-and-out borrowers about subprime mortgages, but has no solution which addresses the abuses of the LENDERS. He diddles and poots when it comes to energy policy. He has no vision, no agenda, and no plan. Yet I can't have absolute confidence in how this will play itself out. We have seen so many dirty tricks over the years - Atwater and Rove's legacy haunts every campaign. I want to believe this will be easy like '96 against Dole. But I fear another 2000/2004 or something similar in closeness of outcome.

What troubles me is that the media gives him the same kind of free ride they gave Reagan in the 80's. Like they are afraid of offending a dottering old man. Enough! Take his "straight talk" and "express" it up his wazoo!

(It's like rubbernecking a 100-car pile-up on the freeway in here, isn't it?)

[Phillycat]

33. McCain is such an evil little piece of shit weasel.

Besides, anyone who won't hold their nose and vote for Obama isn't a real Democrat. Shit, you and I have voted for worse crappy candidates than this! (I remember a quote from the London bombings a few years ago, an old guy who remembered the Blitz: "I've been blown up by a better class of bastards than you!") I feel really damned fortunate in the years that I get to vote for someone I actually LIKE. Wait till these young pups start learning about party loyalty...or maybe they never will, and we'll just keep fucking LOSING. Sorry I'll be waving at y'all from the other side of the pond when the shit goes down... :hi: :D

[napi21]

30. It's also nover happened that I know of when two Presidential

candidates were both US Senators! In fact the top THREE candidates up until tuesday night were ALL Senators! There are a lot of historical events being made this year!

[DesertFlower]

3. i like it too.

jim webb is a viet nam vet. wasn't he the guy whose son was in iraq a few years ago? i think he was a republican at one time too.

[Zomby Woof]

7. He was a Democrat first

He grew up in a household which worshipped FDR. He left the party in the aftermath of Vietnam.

Webb rejoined when he ran for Senate in 2006, because his economic populism is not at home in the GOP, and he wants to help our party reclaim its working class roots. I am all for that.

Then there is his sound opposition to the Iraq debacle. He was the one who told off Bush to his face when the asshole had the temerity to question how his son was doing over there.

He was highly decorated in Vietnam, with the Navy Cross, Silver Star, and three Purple Hearts. No swiftboating will be effective. Secretary of the Navy, Asst Sec'y of Defense, and bestselling novelist. Also has done pro bono work for the dispossessed in SE Asia, and is a card-carrying union member. He is the only statewide candidate in VA history to aid picketers in a strike.

In 1989, he helped the United Mine Workers prevail in a strike against the Pittston Mining Company in WV. He walks the walk, and the picket line.

[DesertFlower]

9. thank you. i thought he was the

one who told bush off.

i really like this ticket, but it's up to obama. he will chose the best person.

[saltpoint]

4. We are able now to begin thinking about the ticket and what it

represents.

This post brings us along that road, and thoughtfully, too.

Recommended.

[cliffordu]

6. NICE POST!! K&R

Nice to have a post that isn't all about the hatred.

I think they'd be unbeatable.

[redstate_democrat]

10. That looks very likely

:D

[IamyourTVandIownyou]

11. That's the ticket.

.

[riverwalker]

14. love it

I like Webb

[wvbygod]

15. I'm seeing double

[Catch2.2]

17. I like Webb

Reasons I like Webb:
Vietnam Vet
Son is/was in Iraq
Ex Republican
Secretary of the Navy during Reagan Administration
He's tough and might do a lot to change the idea of Democrats being "soft".
He's fairly new so it's hard to make the argument that he is part of the establishment.

[Thrill]

18. Webb hasn't even endorsed Obama. He doesn't deserve consideration

Even after Obama has the necessary delegates. This guy is still holding back.

Way to say thanks to Obama for campaigning for him in VA. Would he have received the necessary AA vote in VA, had it not been for Obama?

[karynnj]

20. Have you looked at his voting record?

It is good to have a Democratic Senator from VA and it gave us the majority - but he is often not on our side. In addition, his op-ed in 2004 lent gave undeserved credibility to the SBVT. And no - I do not care that John Kerry forgave him, endorsed him and raised much of the GOTV money for Webb in the primaries. I am not as good or forgiving a person.

[Zomby Woof]

23. His lack of orthodoxy rankles both sides

He freely admits he doesn't vote to appease interest groups or lobbyists. He knows liberals and conservatives are driven crazy by his votes. They both want things from him that project from his history. I strongly disagree with him on many of his votes myself. But I want to defeat McCain AND I want a fighter in our ranks. He has integrity and he isn't afraid of a scrap. He is extremely smart and has a long-term strategic vision. He could deliver on much of the 'change' that Obama has only alluded to in speeches.

He was the sponsor of the New GI Bill, by the way. The one McCain voted against. It is an effective illustration of which veteran actually supports veterans' rights.

His voting record is proof, if nothing else, he is the real maverick here. McCain's proves he is merely the poser we have always suspected he is.

I'll write in myself the next time I want a perfect voting record.

[karynnj]

37. what about his almost SBVT oped?

It was blatantly untrue and was harmful. He also is a loose cannon. It is also mystifying that he voted against the amendment to the water bill to insure that global warming is consider in designing new projects. The gist of the reason for it was that old guideline of building for a 50 year flood is now not sufficient in some areas.

I do know that he was a sponsor of the new GI bill which was great - but Webb is not the only veteran in the Senate to support veterans rights - just a few include Kerry, Lautenberg, Reed, Harken, Akaka etc.

I know Webb is a favorite, but I don't want him positioned to be President for many reasons.

[nebula]

21. I'm not too impressed with Webb's record

much too conservative for my taste.

[kwenu]

22. Is this an attempt to capture the redneck vote because I don't think it will work.

[Zomby Woof]

24. I am a redneck myself

I appreciate the bigotry. This is exactly the attitude which keeps the effete liberal stereotype alive. Way to get those Democratic votes for us!

[cbc5g]

26. And it's that bigotry which is exactly why Webb should be on the ticket

He understands Appalachia and isn't some pussy the RW can roll around like they did to Edwards with his 400 dollar haircut. He was tough as nails in the campaign for senate here.

[Zomby Woof]

32. He is also progressive on race

He conceived of, and led the fight for, the inclusion of an African American soldier for the statue at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in DC. His book details quite vividly the historical context of the African American experience in America. He gets it, as they say. He gets the class divisions that help perpetuate racism, he gets that there shuld be serious alarm bells for us because of the disproportionate numbers of African Americans behind bars.

Yes, he was tough in that campaign. They tried to Karl Rove him right out of it, but he fought back extremely hard, like I expect of real combat vets.

[kwenu]

36. How is what I said bigotry? I'm trying to figure out what Webb would bring to the ticket?

[Imagevision]

25. Webb has Viet nam experience, can at least be an adviser to Barack...

[Zomby Woof]

27. An ally in the Senate

When it comes to both economic and defense policy.

[karynnj]

38. Not from his vietnam experience

He is good on Iraq, but still is deluded to think both that the country still had a majority of people in support of the war when it ended (absolutely wrong) and that Vietnam was winnable. (MacNamara disagrees)

I can think of Vietnam Vets I would prefer Obama to listen to - including one who was the second Senator to endorse him. (Note that the bipartisan ISG came out far more influenced by his recommendations than anyone else's and that his 2006 position is pretty much the Democratic position.)_

[Eurobabe]

28. I wouldn't mind that at all

:patriot:

[eridani]

29. Bob Moser of The Nation is advocating this

Not online yet--latest issue in the mail. Says he's changed a bit from the guy that wrote that anti-women in combat article in 1979. Same issue has an article about how Lieberman first got elected as an antiwar candidate, and worked against the very hawkish Senator Thomas Dodd.

[cbc5g]

31. That graphic is a winner! n/t

[SusanaMontana41]

34. Jim Webb was my first thought for veep

He certainly could take McSame to the woodshed on military policy.