Jim Webb On Why He Won

This is illuminating. And disappointing. Senator-elect James Webb was interviewed on Wednesday by a Rchmond Times-Dispatch reporter and was asked how it came to be that he was elected over the seemingly popular and invincible George Allen. His reply:

In his own words: Sen.-elect Jim Webb
By Peter Hardin, Times-Dispatch Washington Correspondent

Q: As an experienced journalist, how would you grade the job the Virginia press corps did during the campaign?

A: It was a vicious campaign. And quite frankly, from the primary on, I stopped reading all analysis and stopped watching all analysis ...

... And I think that we presented a campaign that truly gave people alternatives ... (link)

I skipped over the part about Webb saying he ran a positive campaign. We all know how truthful that statement is.

More important going forward is the "I think that we presented a campaign that truly gave people alternatives" comment. Can anyone name them? Even with regard to Iraq (in reality his only issue) can anyone tell me what Webb proposed besides getting the troops out?

Beyond that, look at the issues brought up in this interview and Webb's responses. This will give an indication as to just how many alternatives this guy offered or even understands (ellipses in the original):

Q: Sen. George Allen would allow visitors to carry a concealed firearm into a national park. You wrote a letter during the campaign on gun issues; do you intend to introduce a bill that would repeal the gun ban in national parks?

A: I'm willing to look at that.

Q: Your thoughts on Bush's nomination of Robert Gates for secretary of defense?

A: The things that I've seen about him that I believe are affirmative are he seems to have a very realistic approach to the Middle East, and he was a member of the Iraq Study Group, which gives him a fresh and independent look at the problem.

So I'm inclined to believe ...

Q: You're not willing to say whether you would support or oppose him, if you had a vote?

A: I've not been able to examine ...

Q: Do you have a position on proposed federal Food and Drug Administration regulation of tobacco manufacturing?

A: We'll have to take a look at it ...

Q: Is the fact that you're a tobacco user likely to influence your position?

A: I'll have to see what the proposed regulations are ...

Q: Do you have a position on filling the seat on the Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated by J. Michael Luttig?

A: Senator [John W.] Warner has approached me about that. I've sent the name out [that Warner gave him] to some people whose views I trust. . . . [Warner] asked for my input. We're working on that right now.

Q: Do you have an opinion on Bush's nomination of William J. Haynes, the Pentagon general counsel, for the 4th Circuit?

A: I have no opinion yet. (link)

The answers (and the depth of Webb's understanding of the issues before him) remind me of Admiral James Stockdale (God rest his heroic soul) when he participated in the vice-presidential debate with Al Gore and Dan Quayle in 1992, famously saying, "Who am I? Why am I here?"

Webb however knows the issue that matters most; the one that got him elected:

Q: Will you be accessible to the media?

A: Absolutely. And . . . I will expect [reporters and editors] to be fair to me.

There were in this article eight questions posed with five follow-up questions. You see nine of them here. You also see in his answers Webb's complete lack of understanding of the issues before him: "I'm willing to look at that." "... I'm inclined to believe ..." "I've not been able to examine ..." "We'll have to take a look ..." "I'll have to see what the proposed ..." "We're working on that right now." "I have no opinion yet."

Much was made during the campaign about Jim Webb being a Vietnam War hero. Presumably that meant he would be a great candidate for the United States senate. Admiral Stockdale too was a hero of the Vietnam War and, based on the answers given above to the pressing issues of our day, he is as qualified to be our senator. And he died last year.

Who am I? Why am I here?

Rip Van Winkle Awakens To ... Busing

George Will must have missed the 70's. And 80's. And ...

I was living in Louisville, Kentucky way back in 1974 when court-ordered busing went into effect. Interestingly, it involved shipping poor black kids from the inner city to inferior white public schools in the southwestern corner of Jefferson County, and the poor white kids living out there being put on buses and shipped to the inferior black schools downtown. This was deemed to be necessary to bring about the greater good for all. Somehow.

The rich kids in the eastern sections of metropolitan Louisville went - mysteriously - untouched.

All these years later, columnist George Will finds himself suddenly confronting the looming specter of ... racial quotas in the public schools. And all the way out in Seattle:

Clueless In Seattle
By George F. Will, The Washington Post

SEATTLE -- This city's school district decided in 2000 that because the son of Jill Kurfirst and the daughter of Winnie Bachwitz are white, they should be assigned to an inferior and distant high school. If they had not left the Seattle school system, this would have required them to rise at 5 a.m. in order to leave home by 5:30 a.m., alone and in the dark, to take the first of three buses, returning home between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m., with almost no time left for homework, family activities and adequate sleep.

The parents argue that the racial school assignments -- actually, assignments by pigmentation -- that so injured their children violate the Constitution's guarantee of equal protection of the laws. The reliably unreliable U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit -- often reversed but never in doubt -- predictably ruled, with interesting indifference to pertinent Supreme Court precedents, against the parents. Soon -- oral arguments are tomorrow -- the Supreme Court can remind the 9th Circuit of the Constitution's limits on what schools can do in the name of "diversity." (link)

Personally, I think the solution to this and every other problem we deal with in the devastatingly awful public school system in this country is to close every school and either start over or let the private sector take charge of the whole thing (which I prefer).

But beyond that, where has George Will been all these years? This notion of racial quotas in the public schools has been around since it was decided oh so long ago that lousy schools would somehow improve by having poor kids of a different skin color bused across the countryside to attend them. Thirty years and twenty five million illiterate students later, we've found out that ain't the case.

It now dawns on Mr. Will. Wait til he finds out about Roe v. Wade.

This Seems Like A No-Brainer

Political party members get together and nominate people to run against other people members of the other party nominate. Seems so simple. Well, not to the demon-possessed individual who dreamt up the concept of "open primaries" here in Virginia where Democrats can help choose the Republican nominee.

Say it ain't so. It's so.

Board can't force state GOP to hold open primary
By Matt Reed, The Associated Press

RICHMOND -- A federal judge has ruled the State Board of Elections cannot require the Republican Party to hold an open primary in a state Senate race next year.

The decision Friday regarding a possible primary for state Sen. Steve Martin, Chesterfield Republican, could help the party's efforts to block Democrats from voting in other Republican primaries in Virginia.

In 2004, the Republican Party of Virginia amended its bylaws to exclude anyone who had participated in a Democratic primary the preceding five years from voting in its primary. But the party exempts those who pledge in writing to renounce affiliation with another party, to heed the Republican Party's principles and to support its nominees. (link)

That last part just makes my hair hurt. "... the party exempts those who pledge in writing to renounce affiliation with another party, to heed the Republican Party's principles and to ..."

How about everyone register in one or the other party (if they so choose) and those individuals who express a desire (by so registering) in seeing one party win over the other be allowed to choose candidates who can bring about that end?

This ain't rocket science, folks. Who's running things around here? Is this the same bunch that is sitting on a billion dollar surplus but is warning us of fiscal calamity?

You Wanted 'Em. You Got 'Em.

Another day, another campaign promise broken:

So much for September 11 reforms
Washington Times editorial

The Democratic congressional leadership didn't even need to take office to start breaking campaign promises. Unsurprisingly, it turns out that the Democrats do not plan to implement every recommendation by the September 11 commission after all, as they promised to do again and again during the campaign.

It was a nice campaign slogan, but now reality sets in for the "most ethical Congress in history," which hereby fudges on one of its most oft-repeated campaign promises.

At question is the proposal to move congressional authority over intelligence budget and policy matters from the House and Senate Appropriations and Armed Services committees to the House and Senate Intelligence panels.

Without doubt the Democrats knew all along that they wouldn't be able to implement this one. (link) [my emphasis]

What, you thought the Democrats were serious when they made this promise? Please. You should know by now these snakes never mean what they say. It's never about anything more than getting elected.

What, They Never Heard Of Eminent Domain?

To think, if Susette Kelo lived in the most poverty-stricken and backward country on Earth instead of New London, Connecticut, she wouldn't be forced by judicial decree to leave her home. The Egyptian government, unlike that of the United States of America, respects the right of private property ownership:

Egypt Moves to Empty a Village Near the Tombs of the Pharaohs
By Reuters

GURNA, Egypt, Dec. 2 (Reuters) — Bulldozers moved Saturday into an Egyptian village near the Valley of the Kings in pursuit of a long-delayed effort to allow archaeologists to begin studying a wealth of tombs in the area.

Gurna is the village closest to the Valley of the Kings, where Tutankhamen and other pharaohs were buried.

The Egyptian government, with advice from architect and intellectual Hassan Fathi, tried to move them in 1948 by building the model village of New Gurna on the banks of the Nile, but most trickled back to their old homes.

On Saturday, the bulldozers picked away at four uninhabited mud- brick houses, apparently in an attempt to show that the government was serious this time.

Samir Farag, the governor of nearby Luxor, the center of the tourist trade in the area, said 120 houses had been demolished in the last week and that all but five or six people in the village had signed up for the new resettlement program, which involves 3,200 households. (link)

How ironic. The Egyptian government is trying to convince the inhabitants of this village to move. In the USA, our government simply does it at the point of a gun.

Egypt: land of the free and home of the brave.

One Of 1.5 Million This Year

In Flushing, New York:

STILLBORN TOT'S 'BETTER' FUNERAL
By Frank Ryan, The New York Post

December 3, 2006 -- A stillborn baby abandoned in a Queens recycling plant last month got a full Catholic funeral yesterday, thanks to cops who reached into their hearts and wallets.

"She deserved better," said Detective James Gratta of the 109th Precinct. "We didn't want her buried in a potter's field. We also want to let mothers know you can go to the police or a hospital to leave your baby."

This one was found Nov. 3 at A&R Lobosco Inc. on Farrington Street in Flushing. Cops named her Farrington Marie Hope.

Investigators are conducting DNA tests on two women in an attempt to identify the mother. (link)

What am I missing? The police are investigating this as if some crime was committed? If that's the case, then they should check out all those dumpsters lined up behind the local abortion "clinic."

And prepare for 1,499,999 more funerals.

To Them, This Is Noteworthy

Manhattan elitists come across Christians only in history books. To them, we're a bunch of knuckle-draggers. That's why this makes the headlines in the New York Times:

She Sings! She Acts! She Prays!

The carnival must be in town. That's the only explanation. She's talented AND she's a Christian. My God.

More Liberal 'Inclusivity' On Display

The president of the College of William and Mary thinks he's being more "inclusive" by removing (excluding) the Christian cross from the Christian chapel on campus.

The city of Chicago doesn't want to offend the 10% of non-Christians out there so it decides instead to offend the 90% of Christians who might want to participate in a local Christmas celebration.

And then there's the Episcopal Church and its ongoing effort to drive out heterosexuals by "including," with open arms, homosexuals:

Episcopal Diocese Votes to Secede From Church
By Laurie Goodstein and Carolyn Marshall, The New York Times

An Episcopal diocese in California overwhelmingly passed a series of resolutions yesterday that position it to secede from the Episcopal Church and affiliate with conservatives in the global Anglican Communion.

If the Diocese of San Joaquin affirms the move in a second vote next year, the small diocese, with 48 parishes and 7,000 members, would be the first to try to break from the Episcopal Church, which has been torn by conflict since the consecration of a gay bishop in 2003. Until now, only individual parishes have severed ties. (link)

Of course the Episcopal Church, with its new whacked-out leftist Presiding Bishop, doesn't give a damn how many parishioners are driven out, the church is going to be inclusive or else!

Can't you just feel the love?

Winning Hearts & Minds

Episcopal Church leaders here in Virginia know how to deal with individuals within the flock who don't accept their notion of "inclusivity." They sue their asses:

Episcopalians warned against leaving diocese
By Julia Duin, The Washington Times

Virginia Episcopal Bishop Peter J. Lee is threatening to sue conservative Episcopal churches that soon will vote on whether to leave his diocese, saying individual members of each congregation's governing board will be liable.

In a four-page letter released late Friday, the bishop of the country's largest diocese, with 90,000 members, sent a letter to parishes conducting a 40-day period of discernment on whether to leave the Episcopal Church.

Thousands of Episcopalians already have left the 2.2 million-member denomination over arguments about biblical authority and the 2003 consecration of New Hampshire Bishop V. Gene Robinson, an active homosexual. (link)

You'll accept their ideas of love and compassion or they they'll bring the full weight of the law down on top of you and you'll wish you were never born.

Have mercy ...