Jim Webb's "Woman Problem"

By: demnan
Published On: 9/17/2006 7:07:52 PM

I know the bloggers at Raising Kane do not want to address this but Jim Webb does have a serious woman problem.  How do I know?  I use Jim's own way to scope out how people feel, I ask my family - and my 85-year-old mother has serious reservations about Jim Webb.  This was after I told her about "Born Fighting" - the book he wrote about her own heritage, the Scots-Irish.  Even after I told her that he had Hodges in his family (one of my Mom's family names) she didn't come around.  My mother doesn't like the stuff Webb wrote about women in the military.  His statements today during the debate were not quite enough to sway her. 
To give some background, my mother's family was from the mountains of Southern New York State and her parents came down to the DC area after WWI to make a living.  My Mom's family was poor people very similar to the Southern Appalachian people, and they lived in the Catskill town of Liberty, NY.  The women worked as seamstresses and the men with whatever trades they could get.  Later the Jewish community came to this area to establish tuberculosis sanatoriums, which was before the comedy clubs so popular there today. 

My grandfather's family was from Binghamton, NY.  He left home at 13 to join the circus, because from a family of 11 and being the eldest, he had to go out and fend for himself.  Eventually he went to plumbing school in NYC.  My grandfather was the first plumbing inspector for Alexandria, VA.  He also put in the plumbing for Fort Belvoir and was a Mason who had a hand in building the famous Masonic Temple in Alexandria that sits near where the King Street metro goes today.

When my father went off to war as an Army officer and spent 2 years on Guadalcanal as an Army Captain of a trucking company, my mother got a job in the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria, VA - the same as its called today, but it was actually a Torpedo Factory - my teenage mother helped make torpedoes there during WWII.  The women worked so hard in that factory that the men (those who didn't go off to war) complained that the women had increased production too much.  That good old Scots-Irish spirit to fight the war had invaded them too.  They were fighting along side their men as best they could.

So this is the background from which my Mother perceives - and so with all the things I've told her about how similar Jim Webb is to our own family's life in working our way up, she still has trepidations.  She needs Jim Webb to understand that when their men go off to war the women continue fighting, in what ever form they need to.  And I hope someone will send him this blog and he will read about my family as I have read about his and understand where we come from.

At the rally at Robinson Middle School I was happy to greet again the first woman to be elected to the US. Congress from Virginia, Leslie Byrne.  And I had worked on her campaign with a dozen Woodbridge housewives and schoolteachers in 1992 and we were rewarded not only with our Congresswoman but also with a wonderful articulate President who turned things around economically and actually helped me get a new career in IT and independence from my family.

So this is where I come from, Mr. Webb.  I esteem you but you have a problem with women, so you need to address this. Ask your good friend Leslie Byrne.  She'll guide you along the way.

Comments



Put it simply - Allen or Webb ? (teacherken - 9/17/2006 7:22:20 PM)
Given her problems with webb, does that mean she is willing, actively or tacitly, to support Allen?  A refusal to support Webb is a tacit endorsement of Allen, and thus also of Bush - Cheney - Rumsfeld and crew.


And she doesn't accept Webb's apology? (Lowell - 9/17/2006 7:27:01 PM)
I am completely comfortable with the roles of women in today's military, and I fully support the advancements that have taken place.  Over the past few years I have been privileged to visit numerous military units, and to accept the invitations of female officers for command visits in Japan, Hawaii, Washington, DC and Quantico.  I look forward to continuing to do so.

27 years ago I wrote a magazine article about the issue of women in combat and women at the Naval Academy.  I did not title the article.  In the article I made clear that I would support a woman candidate for President and would have voted for Margaret Thatcher and Golda Meir.  The article was written during a time of great emotional debate over a wide array of social issues in this country, and the tone of this article was no exception.  Many leading military figures, including the Commandant of the Marine Corps, shared my concerns in these areas.

I did not anticipate the widespread reaction to this magazine article, and to the extent that my writing subjected women at the Academy or the active Armed Forces to undue hardship, I remain profoundly sorry.  On the first occasion that I was invited back to the Academy in 1983, among my comments was a strong call for harmony among male and female midshipmen.

This issue was addressed during two Senate confirmation hearings, in 1984 and 1987, to the satisfaction of the Senate, which on both occasions unanimously supported my appointments in the Defense Department.  Further, when I was Secretary of the Navy, I strengthened policies against sexual harassment.  I also personally convened a Navy-wide task force of senior male and female officers and NCOs to examine roles of women in the Navy, and as a result tripled the number of operational assignments available to women.



It's strange I know but she doesn't buy it (demnan - 9/17/2006 7:40:03 PM)
Hey, I'm comfortable with Webb and I'm doing door-to-door canvassing and phone canvassing but there are two women in my immediate life who have a problem with Jim Webb, one is my mother and the other is involved in the campaign in a big way I won't mention - so I bring this to your attention.  I'm glad you read this, I want Leslie in there to address this.  That would rock, my friend.


COMMENT HIDDEN (Roger A. Jarrell - 9/17/2006 7:52:06 PM)


so... (hekebolos - 9/17/2006 7:28:37 PM)
So she's worried about Webb's position on women in the military--so she'll vote for Allen instead because the Republicans have done so much to protect women's rights in the general population?

Please.



COMMENT HIDDEN (Roger A. Jarrell - 9/17/2006 7:53:35 PM)


i'm a woman (chiefsjen - 9/17/2006 8:04:20 PM)
and have been called a crazy feminist before, i am 100% for women's rights in all things and *I* am not offended by Webb's statements 27 yrs ago.

again roger, you are missing the big picture and you're obviously a troll who comes here to post your ridiculous comments that nobody is interested in, and the point is -- women TO THIS DAY are not allowed by law to hold many frontline combat positions -- tell me WHERE IS YOUR OUTAGE ABOUT THAT -- where is your mothers?

i met webb 2 weeks ago, have you ever met him and addressed him personally about this issue?

and i'm so glad you show your true colors, you would rather support a racist that never served in the military than to support a man who held many military positions and actually ADDRESSED that very issue while he was Sec of Navy.



COMMENT HIDDEN (Roger A. Jarrell - 9/17/2006 8:12:44 PM)


My Mom will never vote for George Allen (demnan - 9/17/2006 7:30:23 PM)
Never did, never will.


Then Allen has a bigger "woman problem" (beachydem - 9/17/2006 10:55:34 PM)
As he was against women in foxholes, yet he NEVER served in the military !

My grandfather, mother, father and husband were all marines, and none of them wanted women in foxholes either! And I'm talking WW1, WW2, Korea, Viet Nam, Beirut and GW1.  Now there's some honkin' foxholes! My mom was thrown out of the marines when she got preggers with me.  I think women have evolved in military roles since then?

As I'm sure Jim Webb has evolved since 1979.  Otherwise, as I mentioned in another rk thread, this Kathleen Murray is nothing more than a swiftboating whiney pants and would love to follow that money trail :)



I'm learning... (Nick Stump - 9/18/2006 1:03:48 AM)
...you can't pay much attention to Roger.  The truth of it is, most military academy grads and cadets fought against having women cadets.  They had strong opinions about this subject.  Jim Webb did a lot of good for career Navy women in his tenure as Secretary of Navy. 

What seems especially repugant to me, is to see Republicans suddenly coming to the defense of women's rights.  After decades of voting against everything from the ERA to choice, all of a sudden I'm seeing outrage over a twenty year old magazine article.  Anyone who votes for Allen over this issue was gonna vote for him anyway--like Roger and his mother.

As shown in the Meet the Press debate, George Allen is unable to compete with Webb on national security.  His blather of GOP talking points compared to Jim's insightful analysis of the Iraq War was almost embarrassing. 

With nothing but a record of lockstep voting with George Bush, no real vision for Virgina or America but Stay the Course, Allen's campaign has no choice but to look for cheap gotchas like this article. I believe Virgina voters are smarter than Allen thinks they are and when it comes to a face to face discussion of the real issues facing Virginians, it's fairly obvious Jim Webb is the man with real answers.



Webb is the real deal (VA Breeze - 9/18/2006 4:50:04 PM)
As Governor, Allen did not help women in Virginia. He was too busy building prisons. As a Senator, he has not helped Virginia's families -he hasn't protected our air and our food. I don't understand this negative "feeling" discussed above. In person, I have heard Jim Webb speak twice and I felt like I was listening to a person who would stand up and support women and family issues.


Women for Webb (RayH - 9/18/2006 6:21:25 PM)

Would it help if there were a Women for Webb Coalition?

Looking at the two candidates, Webb appears to be better on issues of particular concern to many women.