Jim Webb and John Warner: "Red, Right and Blue"

Agree or disagree with Webb, or with Warner's decision a day earlier to challenge the wisdom of Bush's new strategy, say this: Virginia is represented in the U.S. Senate by two men who bring admirable independence and authenticity to the table.

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Americans say they long for politicians who speak from the gut. Warner and Webb have their imperfections, but shying from conviction isn't one of them.

In a time of challenge, Virginians can be proud to lend honest voices to the debate.

Excellent article, read the whole thing here.

We've also got a Newsday column by Les Payne entitled, "Bush can't dodge Webb's critique."  Payne begins by declaring that "The president's State of the Union address was rocked Tuesday by the improvised explosive device set off by the freshman senator from Virginia."  Payne elaborates, then concludes:

Webb opened up with the same guns Tuesday, attacking an ersatz commander for wasting lives through gross incompetence. "[Our national leaders] owed us - sound judgment, clear thinking, concern for our welfare, a guarantee that the threat to our country was equal to the price we might be called upon to pay in defending it. The president took us into this war recklessly."

Even at this late and tragic hour, Webb called upon Bush to start acting in the best interest of the American people. Otherwise, "we will be showing him the way." It's about time.

Andrew Sullivan in The Sunday Times (UK), writes:

For the first time in his presidency, Bush was out-machoed and outperformed. And the man who did it, the new senator for Virginia, James Webb, tells you a lot about the shifting landscape of American politics in the twilight of the Bush years.

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In retrospect, Webb's razor-slim victory in Virginia was perhaps the leading example of how that change has begun to transform American politics. Webb ran against the quintessence of Republican success in the past two decades: George Allen, frat-boy flunkey of the religious right, adept at all the usual tricks in the Karl Rove playbook - subtle demonisation of racial minorities, unsubtle demonisation of gays, smear tactics against his opponent if necessary, and unquestioned support for an infallible commander-in-chief. Webb beat Allen by a fraction of a percentage point. Today, he'd win by a much larger margin.

So, I think, would the Democrats. They're serious again. Their choice of Webb proved it. Yes, they have the first woman Speaker in American history. But they gave the response to a navy man from the South. They know what they're doing. Which is more than can currently be said for the White House

Ed Quillen in the Denver Post speculates on Jim Webb running for President.  Quillen writes:

...it is fun to imagine a 2008 Democratic convention in Denver where there's no clear winner after the primaries among Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and all the others, and on the fourth ballot, the party turns to the battle-tested junior senator from Virginia.

I'm not sure about that one, but it demonstrates the high regard in which people are holding Jim Webb these days.

Finally, back to Virginia's senior Senator, John Warner.  This morning, the Washington Post has an article by Michael Shear entitled,  "Vietnam Shades Warner's Iraq Stand."  After relating how John Warner regrets having not been "more outspoken" during the Vietnam War, and how he would never forget how generals kept asking to "send in another five or ten thousand" troops, month after month, Shear writes:

More than 30 years after Vietnam, Warner is once again watching as generals propose additional troops. But this time, he's not staying silent. In a rebuke to President Bush, Warner is leading an effort to have the U.S. Senate declare a lack of confidence in the administration's plans to send 21,500 additional soldiers into the Iraqi war zone.

Two former Navy Secretaries who bring "admirable independence and authenticity to the table?"  Virginia can be proud to have two such leaders representing it in the U.S. Senate.

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