Well, George, let me clear this up for you, and please let me know at any time if I'm going too fast. I'll try to lay this out real slow-like, so you can follow.
1) Jim Webb is NOT Ted Kennedy.
2) Jim Webb is NOT Hillary Clinton
3) Jim Webb is NOT another person.
4) Jim Webb is Jim Webb.
5) Jim Webb is George Allen's worst nightmare.
Who is Jim Webb, ideologically speaking? For starters, he's a tough-minded independent who puts country above party. He's a man who has taken on one of the hardest tasks in America, running for public office, NOT because he enjoys it or gets his ego stroked that way, but because he believes the country is headed in the WRONG DIRECTION. (by the way, just to demonstrate how tough it is to run for public office, note that Mark Warner withdrew from the 2008 Presidential race yesterday so he could have a normal life).
So why is Jim Webb runing for US Senate, if running around asking for money is probably the last thing he would like to be doing? I know this sounds naive, but he's doing it because he strongly believes the country needs fresh eyes and fresh leadership, or it's in deep trouble. In particular, he believes that the Republican Party - which he served loyally in the Reagan Administration - has now, under BushAllen, gone off the far-right-wing deep end.
Other reasons Jim Webb is running for U.S. Senate this year? Because he thinks the Iraq War is a huge strategic blunder. Because he sees an out-of-control Presidency that needs to be reined in, and a supine Congress that needs to get a backbone transplant. And because he looks at a country where BushAllen policies have led to a rapidly widening gap between the richest 1%, and the other 99% of Americans.
Why ISN'T Jim Webb running for U.S. Senate? Well, he's NOT running to raise taxes on 99% of Americans (we'll see about the other 1%, who have been living high on the hog the past 6 years). He's NOT running to take massive contributions from Big Oil or Big Pharma, not to mention scumbag lobbyists like Jack Abramoff. He's NOT running to redefine marriage as between one man and one woman (he opposes the Marshall-Newman amendment because it is a poorly written piece of slop, and also because he believes the government should stay the hell out of our bedrooms).
Finally, Jim Webb's NOT running to exclude people based on race, ethnic background, religion, or any other criterion. Just look at the courteous way that Jim Webb has treated George Allen's "trackers," compared to the "oafish" way Allen has treated Webb's trackers. Which one of these guys represents true Virginia values? That, by the way, was a rhetorical question. We all know the answer, and it's sure as hell not that guy from Southern California!
P.S. Another thought: if Jim Webb is Ted Kennedy, then is George Allen a clone of Pat Robertson? Grover Norquist? Jack Abramoff? George W. Bush? Dick Cheney? Hmmmm.
Lowell Feld is Netroots Coordinator for the Jim Webb for US Senate Campaign. The ideas expressed here belong to Lowell Feld alone, and do not represent those of Jim Webb, his advisors, staff, or supporters.
In addition, we need people writing letters to the editor about the kind of stuff that appears on blogs, in order to get away from only "preaching to the choir."
Finally, we need people to phone bank, talk to their friends and neighbors, hand out literature at farmers markets and Metro stops, etc., etc. We need thousands of people spreading the word about Jim Webb, in addition to traditional advertising which we're now seeing on TV and hearing on the radio...