While I encourage you to read the editorial, I will offer a few snippets and remarks.
The editorial begins with a focus on polling data, reminding readers of the Kilgore campaign ripping the Washington Post poll which showed Kaine leading Kilgore, something that turned out to be an accurate predictor of the results of the election. They then turn to the recent Zogby poll and the spat between the Allen campaign and the pollster.They come down on the side of Zogby.
Only then does the editorial pivot to the issue of the week.
With U.S. Senate Republicans doing a little "litmus test" demonstration project this week - they fell just short of passing a constitutional amendment aimed at banning flag-burning - Allen's folks apparently figure that if Webb didn't get in line, oh boy, they'd have him.Webb (to his credit) declined to amend the Bill of Rights for the first time in history and, so, Allen's folks took aim and fired, saying that Webb, a former Navy secretary in the Reagan administration and highly decorated veteran of the Vietnam War, "continues to demonstrate he is totally beholden to the liberal Washington senators who dragged him across the line in the Democratic primary."
At this point in the proceedings - such political defining being all-too-familiar - the Democrat candidate normally goes weak in the knees and starts hemming and hawing, saying, no, no, he loves his country, too, and so forth.
Not Webb. His campaign packed in double canister and unloaded right back, pretty much telling Allen and his people to go stuff it. "George Felix Allen Jr. and his bush-league lap dog, Dick Wadhams, have not earned the right to challenge Jim Webb's position on free speech and flag burning."
Ouch.
There is more, They repeat Jarding's about glass dude ranches. They note that previously attacks such as that Wadhams made against Webb on this subject went unanswered with unfortunate consequences for the Democrats in question, for example Kerry and Cleland, even though they had the military credentials lacking by the candidate of the campaign making the attacks.
Let me show how the editorial finishes:
Webb apparently doesn't want to make the same mistake of taking too much for granted and waiting too long to respond.Even more important, perhaps, is the level of confidence Webb brought to this exchange. He has now effectively reminded voters that Allen, who has long courted support from veterans, never got around to being one himself. Score one for Webb, then, and wait to see if Allen brings up the subject again.
If he doesn't, it will be a tacit admission that the GOP playbook, long successful in Virginia, may be slated for revision.
I would say that this editorial has awarded the round to Webb.
But you knew that.
Swift-boat this
Fourteen Senate Democrats got in line with the GOP and voted in favor of a constitutional amendment on flag burning this week. More Democrats, including Dick Durbin and Hillary Clinton, tried to kind of, sort of, get on board by backing a bill that would have outlawed some flag burning without amending the Constitution.
There is another way.
As we reported yesterday, the campaign for Republican Sen. George Allen of Virginia has gone on the attack against Democratic challenger Jim Webb for saying that he would have voted against the constitutional amendment. But rather than taking it quietly in the mode of John Kerry in 2004, Webb's campaign is giving Allen -- and a lot of timid Democrats -- a lesson in how you fight back.
The Allen campaign said that Webb's position on flag burning exposed him as "liberal" and put him in the same camp as "John Kerry, Ted Kennedy and Charles Schumer." Those are fighting words in the Commonwealth, and Webb isn't taking them sitting down. Returning fire, Webb's camp said Wednesday that "George Felix Allen Jr. and his bush-league lapdog, [campaign manager] Dick Wadhams, have not earned the right to challenge Jim Webb's position on free speech and flag burning." They noted that Webb, the secretary of the Navy under Ronald Reagan, served in Vietnam and "fought for our flag and what it stands for," while "George Felix Allen Jr. chose to cut and run."
Allen turned 18 in 1970, but he did not serve in Vietnam, staying in college and spending summers at what the Webb campaign calls a "dude ranch in Nevada."
"When he and his disrespectful campaign puppets attack Jim Webb they are attacking every man and woman who served," the Webb campaign press release continued. "Their comments are nothing more than weak-kneed attacks by cowards."
The Allen campaign responded by saying that it never meant to question Webb's patriotism.
Webb's approach was plainly designed to get under Allen's skin. Among other things, the senator is said to hate his middle name; apparently, "Felix" doesn't really fit the cowboy-boots-and-Confederate-flag style Allen has adopted for himself. But as the National Journal's Hotline explains, the blowback may have been a preemptive strike against further attacks on Webb's patriotism or military service. Allen strategist Chris Lacivita served as a media advisor for the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.
-- Tim Grieve