If you haven’t read today’s Wall Street Journal column by Senator James Webb (D-VA), you owe it to yourself. The key line is this one, where Webb argues that our “present-day diversity programs work against that notion, having expanded so far beyond their original purpose that they now favor anyone who does not happen to be white.”
What makes it key is: Why now? Why write this column today? What brought this particular issue out at this particular moment?
These questions are important, because Webb’s column is a virtual declaration of war on President Obama — at a time when Obama’s head must be already spinning after two weeks of racial strife from the NAACP and Andrew Breitbart. And a “recovery summer” that’s anything but. So it’s not often I find myself agreeing with Pat Buchanan, and when I do — even only partly so, like today — I always wash afterwards. But when Buchanan says that the White House is in a “panic” because it “fears it is losing white America,” he’s absolutely right.
But what Obama really ought to fear is losing his own party — because Webb’s column is just the most recent sign.
On the Bush tax cuts, due to expire in January, Obama is already seeing defections. Three Democratic Senators — Kent Conrad (ND), Ben Nelson (NE), Evan Bayh (IN) — are calling on Congress to extend current rates, even for “the rich.” Raising rates is maybe the centerpiece of Obamanomics. Without “the rich” to bash on, squeeze, hammer, and otherwise alternately abuse and neglect, the rest of Obama’s economics don’t make any sense.
Even then they still don’t make much sense, but still, Obama’s theories need to rest on something. And the belief in the general unfairness of every- and anything that hasn’t been redistributed through DC is his foundation.
“why now? why write this column…..” These ARE important questions. The political cynic in me says these “safe” politicians are merely providing cover for others on their side.
Nonetheless, Webb’s article is very good and adds to, and improves, the ongoing racial dialogue in our country (notwithstanding the Holders et al). Better Webb than that creep Al Sharpton….(what does it say about a party when someone such as him has a prominent place in their political machine? How can ANYTHING that guy says be taken at all seriously? (or, why pretend to?))
Nice piece by Webb.
Of course, what would impress me more with his opinion is if Senator Webb put his money where his mouth is so to speak.
After all, being a United States Senator, he’s got the power to introduce a bill to end the “Procrustean policies” he decries and reform the federal affirmative action program along the lines he proposes.
I’ll take him seriously when he backs his words with action, after all he’s in the perfect position to do it.
“All the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely palyers.”
And every politician, male or female will in his or her time play many parts.
And knowing this you’re going to take a professional politician seriously?
“Oh what a tangled webb we weave when first we practice to deceive”.
Senator Jim Webb is my Senator, and I follow his votes. He may talk like a moderate, but it’s all just a show. He has voted in support of every one of Obama’s Marxist/Socialist policies, in spite of the opposition of the clear majority of his constituents.
There is no such thing as a moderate Democrat anymore.
“The Dark at the End of the Tunnel”??
Racist.
Don’t you have a database to debug? Adults are trying to have a conversation here. Go ask your mom if she can fire up the Slip ‘n’ Slide.
Dude, tune up your sarcasm-o-meter.
Goy doesn’t win the thread, but I’m giving him 50 bonus points anyway.
psssst . . . hey . . . pssst . . . goy . . . assigning “irony” or “sarcasm” to your own posts through a sock puppet in an attempt to deflect judgment for your juvenile post is, well, bad form.
Seemed like obvious sarcasm to me. At least, that’s how I took it.
Skeeter, take off your so-called “serious” glasses and smell the sarcasm coffee!! Are you THAT dense? Goy’s remarks were rather clever, in fact.
Truth in the Modern Liberal Cesspool. Are you a Liar sleazits?
Never.
“…assigning “irony” or “sarcasm” to your own posts through a sock puppet…”
Never.
“…an attempt to deflect judgment…”
Manufacturing working overtime. Never.
“. . . hoo . . . hoo . . . hoo . . .”
How about it. The Principal Liar sleazits Persons Galore grabs the nitrous tank and proceeds with its “Life”.
“Slip ‘n’ Slide.” “…bad form….” Latex needed.
108. skeeziks
“Four or five friends finally free from their work-a-day week.” “…Couple of hookers.”
July 9, 2010 – 1:16 pm
Yeah right. How did the 5 on 2 go?
“Don’t you have a database to debug?” “First I gotta debug this data base.”
103. Now and Then.
“So, allow me to clarify . . .” “… Rose I picked up from the local jiggle bar. Hi, Rose. Yeah, in a minute. First I gotta debug this data base.”
The Kick Me sign riveted to your ass looks like a fur covered manhole. Kyber meets truck?
You know, why not let Toasti Gouldi Locks carry the raw sewage? Such a promising career? Promising. Like Jaaaavvvvellllin!
Is Shirley your new friend like Van Jones?
The Cesspool. A collective action. Love it or leave it.
Whatever.
goy – L O Freaking L!!!!
ROTLF! *wipes tears of laughter* . . . *cleaning up coffee spewed all over my keyboard* . . . SERIOUSLY . . . the funniest thing I. HAVE. EVER. HEARD!
Sock puppetry is generally frowned upon, but I’m 99.9% sure the original comment was intended as sarcastic/ ironic.
Stop it! . . . a ha ha ha ha . . . Stop it, I tell ya! . . . a ha ha. . . You’re killing me! . . . a ha ha ha . . . Oh, my guts hurt! . . . ha ha ha . . . oh . . . ooh . . . a ha ha ha . . . whew! . . .
Racist? Nah! It would have been racist if he had used the title:
The Darkie at the End of the Tunnel.
Weeeee haaaaah . . . hoo . . . hoo . . . hoo . . . bwaaaaaaa haaaaa haaaa . . . hoo boy . . . I can’t take it! . . . It’s too good! . . . hoo . . . hoo . . . wow, I haven’t laughed this hard since . . . ha ha ha. . . whew . . . I don’t know . . . How do y’all do it? . . . whew . . . ok . . . ok, I got it together . . . darkie . . . a ha ha ha ha . . . oh . . . too funny . . . great stuff . . .
It’s not a Tunnel it’s a BLACK HOLE with the NAASCP @ bottom of it sucking the life out of the country.
Good work, cold fish, we got darkie and black in so far. All we need is someone to play the spade card. Keep it subtle. (Here’s a hint of what “not subtle” means . . . The kindest word I can use to describe Webb is “turd”. Thanks to Jim at #47 for that bit of enlightenment. You’re a prince. I know if I were trying to be charitable to someone like Webb I would never consider describing him as, oh, maybe a “veteran” or a “father” or maybe a “public servant’ . . . I always go straight to “turd.” Well done, compadre!)
How about the “Dork at the End of the Tunnel?”
No. More like the The Principal Liar sleazits Persons Galore Cesspool Party.
Why all the random barking Kyber? Is the Kick Me sign riveted to your ass causing Preperation H vocalizations?
Yeah, exposed, beat down, and H’ed up. Good job Kyber.
Where’s Now and Then, Liar? And Rosie? Debug? Toasti Ghosti? Boom! Gone.
Sure. Whatever.
Don’t be so niggardly with your reasoning.
skeeziks has only one goal in life. To make every thread be about him. He’s a lot like his hero in that regard.
Notes on humility from someone who calls himself Mark The Great.
Here we go again. Get in line with the racist train of thought. So if I like green apples instead of red apples I’m a racist to the red apple? You need to learn what that word means. It will no longer in the future stop or freeze a point of interest. Matter of fact it will only further the point that racism is not a playing card anymore.
So… here in this shrine to the dry martini, some folks can’t detect dry humor?
Bummer.
The end of the tunnel is closer than even I had feared.
goy, goy, goy . . . It wasn’t dry and it wasn’t funny. It was just dumb. Sarcastic? Obviously. But the lowest of hanging fruit. Nothing clever or insightful or ironic, just pedestrian. More predictable, derivative cliches. One need look no further than the title of the blog in question – The Dark at the End of the Tunnel.
You’re a smart enough guy as conservatives go, but you mistake cynicism for humor. Don’t take it personally. It’s the bane of the right wing.
Could you please be live up to this level of golden rant “Slip ‘n’ Slide” lameness The Principal Liar sleazits Persons Galore?
107. skeeziks.
To Ron Radosh (Rosenbaum),
“Come on, man, that dictator rant to goy was absolute gold. Nothing in there that was objectionable. Why’d you block it?”
Jan 29, 2010 – 11:10 am
Does huffing methane in the Modern Liberal Cesspool cause this kind of thing?
I’ll flush some Ex-Lax down the tube. Then you can have chocolate and eat it too. Liar.
How was that 5 on 2?
Hey, check it out. That’s a Sloppy Joe sign riveted to your ass. Some thing new, something right on groovy cool! Lameness Rules!
Whatever.
Ah the soothing suckle of Mr. Lucky, remora extraordinaire.
. . . a ha ha ha ha . . . . . . a ha ha. . . . . . a ha ha ha . . . . . . ha ha ha . . . oh . . . ooh . . . a ha ha ha . . . ___________ . . .
Liar.
This is the opening salvo in the “conversation on race” that Holder supposedly wanted. It is ironic that it comes from a Dem senator. The obama administration’s outrageous behavior in racial matters has awakened the sleeping giant of all fair minded Americans. It is long past time to end what affirmative action has become as well as all the racial spoils systems that have cropped up in this country. Thanks,barry.
Canada is now dismantling its Affirmative Action programs, as the programs have unfairly overcompensated the once downtrodden.
Why now? In the case of Sen. Webb, it’s difficult to know because he is, of course, bat poop crazy.
Webb is a bit of a pompous ass. Yes he served admirably in Vietnam, so did I and thousands of other Vets.He thinks the world revolves around him. Ask John Lehman(former Sec. of the Navy)under Mr. Reagan about Webb.
I gotta raise my hand on this one. Thousands of Americans served with honor in Vietnam, while we hold our heads high now, we admit there is nothing special about being a Vietnam Vet. Those guys who survived WWII are our heros. A politician claiming glory because of service in ‘Nam is trading on a greater man’s efforts. My dad did Normandy, nothing I did in ‘Nam was the equal of that.
What you did in Vietnam still beats what I did sitting in my living room today.
Or my 22 months at Ft. Sam Houston.
Or my career in hidden politics after getting five deferments to keep me out of Vietnam . . . or my 4f status granted me for my butt pimple. Thankfully, I can absolve myself in the eyes of all people conservative by whimpering this empty sentiment . . . “Thank you for your service.” There, I’m a patriot! Just like Sean Hannity! (Hey, did you know he actually got waterboarded for charity? Now that’s what I call a great, great, great, great, American.)
Hallelujah!
Re: Webb’s timing…Dem internal polling MUST be awful. Fact is, lots of people who voted for Obama did so because of the great wave of media pressure. They have now had almost two years to figure out that this guy is an empty suit.
There’s gonna be political hell to pay when the average guy finds out he’s gonna be forced to pay higher taxes for just about everything, and get in line for health care after 2014.
When all of THAT hits the Dems may go the way of the Whigs.
They’re going to find out how much they’ll pay after the lame duck session of Congress passes a value added tax.
What happens when BOTH parties tarnish their images for a generation or more?
What happens Tim? We get a fool like Obama!
Probably one of the most honest governments in a generation.
Glass you are supposed to add “sarc” after a post like yours.
Right you are. (sarc)
obama worry …I don’t think so. he believes his sh!t don’t stink.
regardless he entends to continue down his alinsky path of destruction because that is his only way to stay in the white house. he has been buying votes since day one (and stealing them too) …thats what criminals do.
he needs to crush the economy and make sure that it will be beyond repair and he will get the votes he needs just like Hugo Chavez and Robert Mugabe.
….and I think he is there now. the only thing is that the accounting hasn’t shown that the country is now a banana republic without bananas save his adopted state Hawaii.
Webb may have awakened a sleeping giant of the silent majority. After having been called cowards by Holder and spit in the face by Obama, maybe we are ready to address this issue. It was not possible under a white president to openly discuss race. But under Obama and his Jeramiah right philosopy we know he has disdain for most whites and he said as much when speaking in San Fransisco. Then we have the Professor Gates at Harvard and the stupid white cop shtick. Obama has not been to a church in the DC area because it would violate his beliefs that whites are evil and the cause of all bad things. Recently there is the case of the NBPP and the way Holder handled this case. Imagine two hooded white guys doing the same thing and then being let off! Remember his quote from his book something like, white man’s greed causes the black man’s need. Bring on the debate and may we all grow a pair to handle the lying press!
Why now? Good question. Webb has voted for the Neo-Com agenda since he was elected in 2006. I had hopes that he would represent a state that elected him by a very narrow margin…but those didn’t last much past his acceptance speech.
He must see the writing on the wall and think that reversing course now to re-establish some “Born Fighting” credentials will get him reelected in 12…and possibly take a shot at the Oval Office in 2016.
Fat Chance.
All I can think of when I see Webb on TV or hear or read what he’s said, is that infamous moment at the Bush WH Christmas reception (or some such “festive” occasion), when Bush asked (and I always felt, honestly and with a degree of concern and respect), “How’s your son?” – and, of course, red-headed, hot-tempered, shoot from the lip Webb probably had all he could do to not say “FU,” but instead said, rudely & curtly, “That’s between me and my son!” And then left in a huff. Classy guy! As they used to say in the military (or, so I was told), “You never get a second chance to make a first impression!” That’s my first impression of Sen. Webb….
If Webb believes this, truly BELIEVES this, then he needs to return to the Republican party.
No we don’t need, want, desire, long for,hopelessly wait, loiter in need for Webb. Once a traitor always a traitor. Arlen Spector ring a bell? Best Webb can do is go sit in his self loathing corner and write another book about how a father loves his son when coming home from the woods.
Webb? A moderate? Compared to Fidel Castro…maybe.
Don’t forget that Senator Macaca shamelessly played the race card to beat George Allen in 2006, so it is a little hard to take his concerns seriously now. The white Bayh lectured Condi Rice on how to be a black woman. Conrad and Nelson have never distanced themselves from the race-baiting of the NAACP.
Notice that three of the four “moderates” are not even running for re-election. Webb is the only one who is (so far), and that probably motivated the article more than any genuine concern for the nation.
inspector, Webb’s comments may have some broad appeal, but I don’t think he is aiming for the silent majority here. I think your hoped-for conversation will continue to be diverted. Webb is targeting a narrower demographic based more on history than current events – think about that a bit, I’m sure some very interesting questions will begin to occur to you. Fun times.
Coalition governments, which is what Democrats have had for a century, can be quite powerful, because the loss of any one coalition partner can be offset by finding another. Where weakness occurs is when different parts of the coalition start fighting with each other.
Just a lot of Macaca.
As one who was force to participate in what was called “The Courageous Conversation” several years ago I know exactly what Holder wants to say. He would like all of us of the “White Collective” to shut up and listen to all of the reasons we should feel guilty for being Caucasian. That was what they did to my faculty in Seattle Public Schools. I was amazed at a guy dressed in a three thousand dollar suit with shoe that cost as much as the suit, not to mention of the tie, telling a bunch of people dressed in their Walmart specials that we should feel guilty about being in the “privileged class.” What is amazing to me is how many of my colleagues bought into that BS and voted for Obama in 2008. I think they may be learning the lesson.
I escaped the corporate world 20 years ago, just as they were gearing up to do the same kind of indoctrination on all employees. So glad I missed that…
I have to call bullshit on Webb. Didn’t he just vote (along with a bunch of so-called moderate Democrats) for the finreg bill which reportedly sets up a whole new racial/gender spoils system with accompanying bureacrats and endless litigation?
I suspect my son will feel the brunt in terms of lost opportunity. Another forgotten man.
I have long said that for a white man to vote democrat is insane. If that counts as racist so be it.
He probably hadn’t read the finreg bill before voting. No one had time to plow through the 2,000+ pages. He can plead ignorance.
Somewhere in Kenya there is a village missing it’s idiot.
Somewhere in Kenya a village is missing it is idiot.
I add the following to Senator Webb’s comments:
(1) in admissions to elite colleges, there is now well-documented evidence (Princeton sociologist Thomas Espenshade and Alexandria Radford) that whites who are poor, rural, conservative, or from Red States, suffer very strong discrimination when their credentials are the same as other whites. Incredibly, listing membership in H.S. ROTC, 4H, or FHA reduced chances of acceptance by 65% for the SAME SAT scores, especially if the applicant was an officer in any of those organizations.
Furthermore, not that these things helped the disfavored whites when they had done them, but the elite colleges emphasis on “helping others” could be cynically viewed as a way to advantage affluent whites who can afford to forego summer jobs and can pay for their travel to Guatamala and other needy places.
(2) in admissions to elite colleges, Asians also are victims of similar strong discrimination
(3) “To have the same chances of gaining admission as a black student with an SAT score of 1100, an Hispanic student otherwise equally matched in background characteristics would have to have a 1230, a white student a 1410, and an Asian student a 1550.”
Perhaps not coincidentally, blacks are over-represented in the bottom 25% of class ranks and have poor graduation rates in elite schools. If you look at those not in “black studies,” the record is even worse. Note that black graduation rates are poor for 2nd and 3rd tier schools, also, perhaps because of the similar placement advantages at every level. A study a few months ago showed that blacks having the same GPAs and SATs as whites in the same school did about as well. Hence, as Thomas Sowell argues, pushing them up levels (“over-placement”) is a poisonous gift. This is typical of current affirmative action efforts in not achieving intended effects.
(4) affirmative action for blacks is poorly done in general, benefitting the children of the black elite but doing little for those truly in need. Black academics also complain bitterly that a large proportion of preferences for blacks in admissions are given to blacks from Africa and the Carribean. Since they are not the children of American slaves, the only justification for this practice is to recruit more academically competitive blacks so that the school’s admissions and graduation numbers look better. Never mind that most of these students have affluent parents.
And, please, it is irrelevant if ancestors of the Africans or Carribeans were slaves. All of us have ancestors who were slaves, but neither they nor we whites grew up with the pernicious effects of Jim Crow. Besides, why should we give advantages to non-Americans?
(5) positive discrimination in favor of women is no longer needed: women make up the majority in colleges at every level, including PhD. Women candidates are surging in both the Republican and Democratic parties and in business.
There is a lag in reaching the top due to time in grade (that and having babies constitute the real “glass ceiling”), but the former will pass quickly enough and, at least in academia, women are given tremendous leeway for reduced hours to accommodate bearing and raising small children.
(6) We MUST end affirmative action for Hispanics, south Asians, Pacific Islanders, etc., before naturalizing millions of currently illegal immigrants. Otherwise, ending it will be politically impossible and will lead to increasing inanities and conflicts over time. If you are a Hispanic voter, why should you give up any advantage you can get for your children?
I, personally, have had students originally from Central and South America or Mexico who were white, blue-eyed blondes with affluent (sometimes rich) parents, who nevertheless were given advantages in scholarships and admissions. One expressed guilt about it, but took the benefits, anyway.
(7) It would be better to switch the basis for positive discrimination from race to poverty. Blacks and Hispanics make up roughly half of poor people, so they would benefit, but so would poor whites. It should provide the poor more financial help but should not continue the over-placement debacle, whether for elite schools admissions or later job placements (e.g., firefighters, pilots, physicians).
(8) As I have stated before, I don’t think many liberals understand the anger of many working class and rural whites towards liberals. They know very well that big-city democrats despise them and their values and see their resentment of affirmative action as being racism.
They resent it because it is not liberals who suffer from reverse discrimination, as Espenshade and Alexandria Radford have documented for admissions to elite colleges. Likewise, the quotas are for firemen, not “intellectual” jobs, such as advertising, newspapers, etc.
Hey, I have an idea: If we can’t end affirmative action, perhaps we should simply set quotas by race, ethnicity, religion, geographical area, income, etc. That would be truly egalitarian, wouldn’t it? Amazingly, liberals are much happier just discriminating against Asians and against fellow whites who are conservative, evangelicals (a white Baptist has a roughly zero chance of getting into an elite school), or from rural areas, especially the south. When affirmative discrimination applies to them, also, that is okay only if they are tenured or otherwise secure and have no children.
admissions study: http://press.princeton.edu/titles/9072.html
..a study a few months ago showed that blacks having the same GPAs and SATs as whites in the same school did about as well.
Do you have a link for that? Thanks.
That was a very interesting set of stats & factoids that you posted – and I agree with many of them (and, in fact, can verify some, but mainly from personal observation, not collected or tabulated stats).
I’ve been an alumnae volunteer recruiter & interviewer for my “Sister Colleges” alma mater (used to be 7 – now down to 5, I think…) for the past 15 years; and, in that time, I’ve seen many trends and policies that affect admission to my elite college. Of course, I totally decry the categorizing of students by skin color and ethnicity – after all, that’s quintessentially UNAMERICAN!! But ALL colleges & universities are so totally steeped in this disaster known as “diversity,” that it will take at least a generation (or more – at least as long as it took to institutionalize it!) to dismantle and refudiate it (which, BTW, is an excellent use of Palin’s new word – soon to find its way [reluctantly, of course, and against much libtard pressure!] into the next edition of Webster’s…). This is the behemoth that we are facing and will need to challenge – a real David & Goliath battle, but one that will FINALLY make our country truly “post-racial” and set us on the path toward TRUE equality of opportunity & meritocracy – and healing, please God!
On to a couple of specifics among those stats that were quoted: First, I would suggest that Asians are NOT discriminated against to the extent that you claim; on the contrary, we have experienced quite an uptick in our Asian student enrollment (both Asian-American and International Asian students); but we are focused on GPA levels, so some of our chasing after “diversity” is often set aside for a straight-A student at the top of her class. We have not – nor will we – sacrifice pure intelligence and top grades for non-academic qualities (although non-academics play a very large role in differentiating one top student from another).
Finally, I tend to agree that acceptance of “poor white” students takes a back seat to acceptance of poor minority students (students/women “of color” – an expression, BTW, that I detest!). But I think – as was alluded to in another part of that report – that background, religion and family demographics certainly do play a role; and, in fact, I’ll bet dollars to donuts that many a student from a poor white family with “Conservative” values might NOT be at the top of the ladder when the mostly “Liberal” Admissions Committee reads through all the applications – including personal essays, teacher recommendations and alumnae interviews (docs that would be most likely to reveal personal & political values, etc.). On the other hand, those students themselves might be much less likely to apply to my “elite” alma mater – simply because of both the real & perceived social gap that the student might jusitifiably feel would prevail on campus. (The college goes WAY out of its way to welcome students “of color” and international students; but so-called majority white students are assumed to have little need of this hand-holding and ass-kissing set of inducements – virtual social “bribes,” I maintain.)
And finally, although the college has been busy as heck recruiting top-tier Black American students (to which their increasing percentage of the student body, as well as the ever-increasing size of the Black Alumnae Ass’n, can now attest), there has now been, for the past few seasons in particular, a real push for Hispanic students as well. These have, interestingly enough, actually been more difficult to recruit, because these young women usually come from large & tight-knit families from whom it is VERY difficult to move thousands of miles away (if they come from the SW USA) for their college experience on what is virtually a different planet. But the ranks of Hispanic students ARE growing with each new entering class.
I could go on about other stats re admission to an elite “sister college,” but I’m still sticking with this otherwise very rewarding volunteer activity mainly because academics, moral character and high ideals still outweigh – for MOST of the otherwise “brainwashed” students – political ideology. These are really fine young women who go on to become leaders in their communities, their (admittedly very liberal) churches & synagogues, and in their chosen professions. Almost without exception, they also serve as excellent role models for younger women. And the lifelong “connection” is priceless.
The icing on THIS particular piece of cake will be – for me – when Conservative political philosophy and poliitics and history taught WITHOUT a Libard/Progressive bias will have an honored place on campus and play a much more prominent role in the lives of these young women. I pray that it will happen in my lifetime (I can dream, can’t I?); if that Nirvana ever comes to pass, this will be one happy camper – you betcha!! (And, yes, I also dream that one day someone like Sarah Palin will receive the respect she truly deserves from these currently misguided little snot-noses…)
Racism makes you stupid.
Obama and Sharrod both are classic exhibits. Obama with the Cambridge comments. And Sharrod with the notion that opponents of ObamaCare(tm) oppose it because he is black. That is so stupid I cannot believe a person could hold a steady job with any authority and believe it. Any person with half a brain knows that the same opposition was up against HillaryCare(tm) in the 90s and would emerge today. Heck 95% of the opposition to ObamaCare(tm) also opposes RomneyCare(tm). And Romney ain’t black.
Could Sharrod really be this clueless? Apparently. I wonder how many other liberals and blacks think the same way. It just makes no sense. If the majority of whites, or even a modestly small group, were this racist we never would be so enamored with black athletes, entertainers, military, business leaders, Thomas Sowell, Ward Connerly, Clarence Thomas, etc. “Americans love a winner.”, G. Patton, and we hate whiners.
We need to end affirmative action. You cannot end racism as long as there is affirmative action.
Meanwhile the NAACP is all upset over maybe a racist poster at a Tea Party event – which needs to be condemned, but you never hear them protest the facts that blacks are 13% of the population, 40% of the serious criminals, and 90% of the victims!! If the NAACP wanted to help black people maybe the should focus on that.
Webb just needs to burnish his reputation as an “independent” Democrat. Fact is, the man lives but to serve…Reid and Obama.
A LOT of people in VA are really PO’d at Webb for voting the party line on ObamaCare and hinting he would vote for the (reportedly dead) global warming bill. Southwestern VA is coal-country and they don’t take kindly to their Senator vowing to do what it takes to vote for legislation that will throw them all out of work.
If the GOP would run a credible candidate, it could be a real race. Of course, the GOP is nothing if not bewilderingly stupid, so they’ll probably put up a loser like Michael Steele.
Obama may ruin Democrats for a generation, but what about black Americans? Imagine their pride at the first black president. Now imagine how tragic it is that the first black president was Barack Obama.
Yes, you are completely right. How tragic it is that the first black president is a Marxist ideologue who wants to destroy America.
Precisely. He’s poisoned it for any up-and-coming black candidates from the Democratic party. The next black president will more than likely be a Republican.
I, too, have thought alot about that – and what a more wonderful world it would have been had we had someone with the character (and political leaning!) of a Thomas Sowell or Walter B. Williams or LT. Col. (ret.) Allen West, etc. – hell, even RINO/”moderate” Colin Powell would have been light years ahead of Ozero!! To say nothing, of course – had she wanted any part of it, which, obviously, she did not, of Condi Rice!! Lynn Swan and J.C. Watts also come to mind. And there are and must be other outstanding Black Americans who would have made ALL of us proud – not just the hoodwinked masses. Well, it was definitely a missed opportunity; but in life, these things happen – and we’re often left with a sense of regret and a BIG “What if…?!?”
Well, we always assumed there were at least some Democrats who weren’t anti-American. Or were at least as smart as Lula de Silva who knows “…to first build capitalism, then make socialism, we must have something to distribute before doing so.” Of course, the continue to distribute you must have more capitalism to create more.
Or were at least as smart as Lula de Silva who knows “…to first build capitalism, then make socialism, we must have something to distribute before doing so.”
You’re referring to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil?
If so he certainly did not first build anything but is free lunching off the efforts of Fernando Henrique Cardoso who continued with the privatizing of Brazil’s industry and commerce that took it into the 20th century after stagnating under the Militaristic Corporatism of Socialism with all its corruption and waste.
FHC reduced inflation and stabilized the Real. Brazilians profited.
Along came Lula and and started with his socialist “Bolsa Familia” which keeps millions of Brazilians reliant on the tax payer for food and housing instead of working, and great voters for the Worker’s Party (PT) most probably putting Dilma Vana Rousseff * into the presidency when Lula’s term is over. There is now massive foreign debt and the Real is now grossly over valued.
Looking back on what Lula did it seems that he beat Obama on using “Stimulating politics” for his agenda.
* Some interesting intel
(the terrorist who is forbidden entry into the States for what she did to an American diplomat at the time – see the link.
Marxist Terrorist Tipped for Next Brazil President)
Exactly right, JKB. Socialism/Marxism depends on other people’s money to operate. When the supply of it runs out, they’re finished. I guess the challenge is to be in the group of capitalists that is allowed to continue operation. Maybe George Soros, Michael Moore, etc., have been given their season tickets.
Apparently Soros holds lots of Petrobras stock, the Brazilian national oil company, and earlier this year Obama gave Petrobras a present of some $2 billion for deep sea oil exploration.
Webb wrote a history a few years back called “Born Fighting: How the Scots Irish Shaped America”. It’s a thought provoking read and expands on some of the points he makes in the article. I recommend that anyone read it if you get a chance.
Having read Webb’s work, both fiction and non-fiction,there’s another explanation. He’s a different type of person then most Democrat Pols in that he is a highly educated representative of Walter Russell Mead’s Jacksonians. In fact, Webb’s book “Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America” is just a footnoted history of the Jacksonians validating what Mead wrote four years before.
“The Scots-Irish (sometimes called the Scotch-Irish) are all around you, even though you probably don’t know it. They are a force that shapes our culture, more in the abstract power of emotion than through the argumentative force of law. In their insistent individualism, they are not likely to put an ethnic label on themselves when they debate societal issues. Some of them don’t even know their ethnic label, and some who do don’t particularly care. They don’t go for group-identity politics any more than they like to join a union. Two hundred years ago the mountains built a fierce and uncomplaining self-reliance into an already hardened people. To them, joining a group and putting themselves at the mercy of someone else’s collective judgment makes as much sense as letting the government take their guns. And nobody is going to get their guns.”
You don’t think the man who wrote that doesn’t understand the Tea Party? Or the rising rage of the Bitter-Clingers? He may be trying to warn the Democrats, but since Mr. Webb is a Scots-Irish fighter himself I think he wrote it because he believes it to be true.
Which Jim Webb are we talking about? The Jim Webb who wrote the article that sort-of kind-of criticized race-based programs? Or the Jim Webb who ran an ugly race-baiting campaign in 2006, rode a wave of macaca into the Senate, and happily voted for the racial preferences in the “stimulus” bill, finance “reform” bill, and ObamaCare?
Jim Webb would slap a swastika on his arm and goose-step up and down the halls of Congress on national TV if he thought it would help him win re-election. This is what Jim Webb really believes in: Jim Webb.
Sadly Daudi, I’ve seen your act before.
“I know, this will work, let’s give the person I attack the choice between two negatives.”
Which is, to any educated person, a fairly stupid way to argue a point. But it works for you amongst the non-thinking knuckle-draggers.
“Jim Webb would slap a swastika on his arm and goose-step up and down the halls of Congress on national TV if he thought it would help him win re-election. This is what Jim Webb really believes in: Jim Webb.”
Really, Daudi, really? You’ll go all Godwin on this because it destroys your precious meme that anyone who doesn’t toe your definition of Conservatism is an evil monster? I don’t agree with much of what Sen. Webb has to say but based on my readings of his work and my knowledge of his stint as SecNavy he doesn’t fit the narrative that many of the Right-of-Center wish to tar all who disagree with them with.
The odds of Allen making up a word to describe a tormentor that just exactly fitted the subject is pretty much zero. I think Allen got caught being a douche and he paid a price.
And,Daudi? Go back and play in Misha’s realm, there your misinformed and structurally deficient argument style is appreciated. I sincerely believe that Webb is DILIGAF on his re-election. He’s always been hard to deal with because he simply will not fit in the model.
If you want to honestly argue the point feel free. But I doubt your capacity to do so.
why would somebody that “understood” the Tea Party vote for Obamacare, fin reg, etc? I appreciate the man’s service to his country but – he’s no conservative; and if he’s a “moderate”, he didn’t have the spine to buck the party line when it really mattered. One Term Webb. also, read comment #45.
In my opinion, “diversity” was a rouse to reject and discriminate against white males. And now that we have traveled down this PC road for a few decades where are we? We have a large overbalance of females enrolled in college. We have young boys far behind females in math. We have a mindset that punishes merit in favor of “diversity”. What kind of society are we building? One that thinks any values are to be embraced except those of the white males who have been thrown under the bus.
The engineers of this new world don’t really know where they want to go, they only know where they don’t want to be. That is a recipe for disaster. One of the fruits is that other societies are starting to eat our lunch economically because aggressive people, not feminized people are still in charge.
If, as his op-ed says, Senator Webb thinks that quotas are a bad thing, why did he vote aye on the “financial reform bill” which, lo and behold, contains quotas?
In short, Webb is talking one way and voting another. And he deserves to be sent off to retirement the next time he’s up for re-election.
Webb is a stuffed shirt and lacks character. At a social occasion Pres. Bush innocently asked Webb how his son was doing as a soldier in Iraq. Webb replied in substance, “That’s between me and my son, Mr. President”
I will never forgive him for that gratuitous slap.
Thanks for the reminder of that unfortunate incident.
See my post above – my exact point – re Webb and his gratuitous remark to Bush. I’ve never forgotten than nasty piece of business…
Webb just had a chance to walk his talk and vote against Obamalosi care and Dodd-Frank, both of which are stuffed full of race preferences.
So, did he?
Nope. Webb voted for both. Hypocritical macaca.
You say macaca like it’s a bad thing.
People, WAKE UP. This is just a smokescreen. There is no such thing as a centrist Democrat. Did not Webb (along with Bayh, Conrad and Nelson) VOTE for Obamacare, VOTE for the $787 billion public employee unions sop (know by the misnomer American Rebuild and Recovery Act), VOTE for the financial “reform” monstrosity?
Where have these centrist Democrats been the last 20 months while our beloved country disappears down a socialist sinkhole? NOW they want to convince us of their moderate bonafides? Let them stew in their own juices, and don’t let them change the subject.
For a supporter of the Reid-Pelosi agenda, Webb is starting to realize his performance in the Senate does not match the desires of the majority of his fellow Virginians. He is lucky he is not up for re-election this cycle.
Stu,
Him and Warner both. I’ve written them numerous times about how I’ve never been more disgusted with my government than I am today and how deeply sorry I am that they’re lucky enough to not have to face the wrath of the Virginia electorate this year. When I’ve spoken to their staff, I’ve gotten the impression they know damned well that Virginians are mad as Hell at them and would send them packing today if they could.
In thirty years of political garbage, the Wapo’s pushing of the “macaca” nonsense was one of the most contemptible examples of pro-Dem journalistic favoritism I’ve ever seen. The JournoList scandal comes as absolutely no surprise to me. It was clear long ago that the lefties have been very closely coordinating their “racist” attacks against anyone who doesn’t conform to their anti-white, redistributionist rhetoric. Allen should have demanded a recount.
The good news is that Virginians can donate to other conservative candidates around the country (assuming they have a job).
Maybe the writing on the wall says that the President will be polarized by the racial tension being fanned by the administration, the compliant media and Obamatons (some of whom may pop up here). The obvious notion that EVERYTHING should pass the Constitutional smell test is politically incorrect, so therefore it’s not politically expedient. Oh what to do?
Maybe the writing on the wall says to suck it up and take one for the team, like Van Jones, who was given the Obama shuffle (gone but still in the game). Sherrod’s shuffle is the same way, but not as nice, since it was most unfortunately became public spectacle. You might say that you can save face by recycling.
Maybe the writing on the wall says that you must repent and make nice with your constituents because they are the true arbitors of power. After all, they blocked that nasty health care bill and executive mandates to bail out companies that seem too big to fail… okay, not that one.
+1 to Quilly Mammoth. James Webb is not crazy, although he has a 30-year record of being cussedly independent of his “masters” be they Republicans or Democrats. The timing of the article is interesting. “Why now?” is a great question. Perhaps because its becoming increasingly clear that, despite his “distancing” from Rev. Wright in the campaign, President Obama has included a number of “Wright-thinking” folks in his administration who gradually are being ferreted out. And Webb certainly speaks for a point of view that “affirmative action”/diversity has gotten way out of hand, as it gradually has been extended to nearly every group of non-European ethnic origin (and even some who have European origins, if they’re Hispanic) notwithstanding the unique experience of Africans and their descendants in the United States. Only Africans and their descendants have had the vast power of the State aligned against them — first as slaves and then as second-class citizens under Jim Crow laws. Sure, lots of new arrivals in the United States were discriminated against and treated poorly for decades. But that group includes a lot of Europeans as well as people from other parts of the world. And, at some level, a white guy must find it particularly galling that he’s supposed to step back in favor of a Chicano who came across the border illegally 30 years ago and then got legalized in some amnesty program that was part of the last “immigration reform.” That’s who James Webb is speaking to. Although the Adlai Stevenson/George McGovern/John Kerry/Barack Obama wing of the party doesn’t like to admit it, there was a day when the Democratic Party represented such people, and cared about them.
Yup. That’s who Webb is speaking to. But after four years of watching him goose-step like a trained monkey to the Pelosi-Reid tune, why should they listen to him?
*applauds Athena* Amen, amen! Webb’s going-along-to-get-along has puzzled me right from the beginning. Not much Scotch-Irish gravel in the gut there after all, seemingly.
How do you adjudge his vote on “Don’t Ask, Don’t tell”? He voted against repealing it. That ought to make him a freaking SAINT amongst the doctrinaire.
Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who is openly gay and a leading voice against the “Don”t Ask” policy, also said he was “disappointed” by Webb’s vote, adding that he believed Webb’s argument “that the troops will feel disregarded doesn’t hold up.”
I think Webb is right. You Athena and Elizabeth?
Read Walter Russell Mead’s essay’s on Jacksonian America and see if it doesn’t fit the majority of America.
If Jeffersonianism is the book-ideology of the United States, Jacksonian populism is its folk-ideology. Historically, American populism has been based less on the ideas of the Enlightenment than on the community values and sense of identity among the British colonizers who first settled this country. In particular, as David Hackett Fischer has shown, Jacksonian populism can be originally identified with a subgroup among these settlers, the so-called “Scots-Irish”, who settled the back country regions of the Carolinas and Virginia, and who went on to settle much of the Old West—West Virginia, Kentucky, parts of Indiana and Illinois—and the southern and south central states of Tennessee, Missouri, Alabama, Mississippi and Texas. Jacksonian populism today has moved beyond its original ethnic and geographical limits. Like country music, another product of Jacksonian culture, Jacksonian politics and folk feeling has become a basic element in American consciousness that can be found from one end of the country to the other.
The Scots-Irish were a hardy and warlike people, with a culture and outlook formed by centuries of bitter warfare before they came to the United States. Fischer shows how, trapped on the frontiers between England and Scotland, or planted as Protestant colonies in the hostile soil of Ireland, this culture was shaped through centuries of constant, bloody war. The Revolutionary struggle and generations of savage frontier conflict in the United States reproduced these conditions in the New World; the Civil War—fought with particular ferocity in the border states—renewed the cultural heritage of war.
…
To understand how Crabgrass Jacksonianism is shaping and will continue to shape American foreign policy, we must begin with another unfashionable concept: Honor. Although few Americans today use this anachronistic word, honor remains a core value for tens of millions of middle-class Americans, women as well as men. The unacknowledged code of honor that shapes so much of American behavior and aspiration today is a recognizable descendent of the frontier codes of honor of early Jacksonian America. The appeal of this code is one of the reasons that Jacksonian values have spread to so many people outside the original ethnic and social nexus in which Jacksonian America was formed.
The first principle of this code is self-reliance. Real Americans, many Americans feel, are people who make their own way in the world. They may get a helping hand from friends and family, but they hold their places in the world through honest work. They don’t slide by on welfare, and they don’t rely on inherited wealth or connections. Those who won’t work and are therefore poor, or those who don’t need to work due to family money, are viewed with suspicion. Those who meet the economic and moral tests belong to the broad Middle Class, the folk community of working people that Jacksonians believe to be the heart, soul and spine of the American nation. Earning and keeping a place in this community on the basis of honest work is the first principle of Jacksonian honor, and it remains a serious insult even to imply that a member of the American middle class is not pulling his or her weight in the world.
Jacksonian honor must be acknowledged by the outside world. One is entitled to, and demands, the appropriate respect: recognition of rights and just claims, acknowledgment of one’s personal dignity. Many Americans will still fight, sometimes with weapons, when they feel they have not been treated with the proper respect. But even among the less violent, Americans stand on their dignity and rights. Respect is also due age. Those who know Jacksonian America only through its very inexact representations in the media think of the United States as a youth-obsessed, age-neglecting society. In fact, Jacksonian America honors age. Andrew Jackson was sixty-one when he was elected president for the first time; Ronald Reagan was seventy. Most movie stars lose their appeal with age; those whose appeal stems from their ability to portray and embody Jacksonian values—like John Wayne—only become more revered.
The second principle of the code is equality. Among those members of the folk community who do pull their weight, there is an absolute equality of dignity and right. No one has a right to tell the self-reliant Jacksonian what to say, do or think. Any infringement on equality will be met with defiance and resistance. Male or female, the Jacksonian is, and insists on remaining, independent of church, state, social hierarchy, political parties and labor unions. Jacksonians may choose to accept the authority of a leader or movement or faith, but will never yield to an imposed authority. The young are independent of the old: “free, white and twenty-one” is an old Jacksonian expression; the color line has softened, but otherwise the sentiment is as true as it ever was.
Let me tell you about the real Jacksonians today. They are pissed that some people get a better chance at a job because of skin color and they are pissed that some people spend years laying on the dole rather then doing whatever it takes to make ends meet. They are, unlike the Republicans that Cockholster Grayson talks about, concerned that some of their fellow Americans might not be eating because of the lapse in unemployment coverage. Yet they can still be pissed that so many Americans are out of work.
They want real solutions absent of ideological boundaries. And they honestly don’t really give a shit about your tests for ideological purity. They want results. AND they decide elections.
Quilly: What a FABULOUS quote from that book about Jacksonian populism!! I felt that it was describing me, my father and his antecedents (and, to a large extent, my mother and her antecedents as well) to a “T!!” Particularly my father and his English/some Irish background – at least insofar as the individualist philosophy is concerned. But the VALUES system in which both my parents grew up and I, too, was immersed (particularly, as a child) are SO reflected in the independence, hard word, honor (“Your word is your bond!” my father often said to me!) and just plain “pulling one’s own load” even in difficult financial circumstances (as I have experienced in the past few years) was a hallmark of the philosophy that came down through the generations of BOTH sides of my family (and Mama’s side were Russian Jews who immigrated to British NA in the 19th century).
I am SO thrilled to have a historical lynchpin on which to lean and on which to call when self-identifying in the American vernacular – and I don’t even regret “choosing” Jackson over the more cerebrial Jefferson (for whom I’ve always had the greatest respect and admired greatly as our 3rd POTUS, but with whom I had a more distant “personal” feeling & relationship).
Thanks again for the great posting – and sharing this important piece of background!!
How eliminating diversity programs now is essential is beyond me. He must have read the latest demographic report that caucasians will soon make-up 40% of the American population.
> He must have read the latest demographic report that caucasians
> will soon make-up 40% of the American population.
Really? And which report is that? In the 2000 census the percentage of “white” population was 75%. There is no way that is hitting 40% any time “soon”.
Do not underestimate the Democrats’ ability to play teh identity politics game.
Webb is just posing for the election (and do not forget what state he from). The Democrats are squarely against the nation and that, of course, means the white middle class, and in particular the those whose families have been in this nation for 4 generations or more. Do not be taken in by the idea that the democrats are just now “soul-searching” about this. Younger folks here do not realize that they always make these poses when election time rolls around. The Democrats are a mixture of criminals, traitors, Marxists and opportunist; they have been pumping various special interest groups full of “false consciousnesses”, fake histories, despair and desperation for generations, and they do this in order to allow those interest to live off the white middle class in exchange for their vote. They have been playing the race card, both sides of it in fact, since Reconstruction.
Just listen to him: “Our current diversity programs”. 1) The Government is not supposed to have “diversity programs”; and 2) OF COURSE the work against white people. THAT IS THE WHOLE POINT OF THEM.
They are only posturing because the electorate is getting fed up with them.
Once they have fooled the voter and are back in power it will be back to destroying the very fabric of our society, nation, culture and civilization. They generally get away with it. Watch them push this meme all the way through to Nov. The brazenness of it. The most racist and divisive administration in our history–the fruit of decades of subterfuge, deceit and sedition–and they are going to run on “problems with our diversity programs”. Beyond belief! There is no reason to believe that they will not get away with this nonsense again.
Witness on how they moved the world when the issue of the constitutionality of affirmative action, an issue that should be glaringly obvious to any one, came up before SCOTUS.
The results were shameless and made a mockery of that court and of the Constitution.
And do not for a minute that they care about “Minorities” they just care about power (and the destruction of this nation).
Webb is just trying to make people forget he’s a Democrat and put some (imaginary) distance between himself and Obama.
Let us all know when he stops voting for Obama’s economy-crushing initiatives, bills with built-in racial bias (er, I mean “diversity goals”), and Supreme Court nominees who announce their inherent superiority to white males.
I have a simple answer why Sens. Bayh, Nelson and Webb are bucking Obama.
2012 Democratic Primary
If Obama continues on his current approval slide – and there’s no reason why he won’t – then Democrats are going to be BEGGING for a primary opponent for Obama in 2012 to prevent ANOTHER disastrous election season.
Bayh’s retirement was always going to be a set-up for an eventual presidential run, so that’s a no-brainer. Nelson is a long-time Democrat in a red state, and Webb is a successful Democrat in a purplish-red state; so both will have credibility when they claim to represent “a different kind of Democrat” should the party find itself casting about in desperation for the “Anybody But Obama” candidate to run in 2012.
We’ll see how it plays out once the Republicans retake the House in the fall, but if Obama continues to be as incompetent after the electoral blowout as he has been thus far, then you can best at least one – if not all three – will throw their hats in the ring come primary time.
I think you hit the bottom line. Good take.
Today I reviewed the “Federal Business Opportunities” website and selected 20 projects our company was qualified to bid on. After eliminating projects that were restricted to “8a” (minority) firms, “HUBZone” (inner city-like Washington DC) firms,and “Disabled Veteran” firms, there was nothing left to bid. Although, I did get 4 calls from these type firms to bid projects to them so they could bid with a slight markup of 10% on my number for doing nothing other than attending progress meetings.
That said, Webbs voting record shows support for this kind of minority welfare.
Uhh, what “Clinton-era surpluses”? There weren’t any. The national debt has increased every year since the 1960s (the earliest I looked up – it may have started even earlier). That means that the federal government spent more than it took in, every year, without exception. Hence, there couldn’t have been anything surplus. There was some creative accounting in those days, involving moving really ugly stuff “off-budget,” but that was just a bit of tricky paperwork, and I haven’t heard anyone mention – let alone boast about – such shabby practices in the last decade or so.
Mr. Green:
“And my guess is the men of this Gang of Four are trying to save their party from the train wreck coming in November, 2010 — and in 2012, and 2014 and 2016 unless policy changes and public perception changes start coming, and quickly.”
Ah-yup…I think you nailed it.
The graybeards and wannabes of the DemocRat party are looking at Life After Obama and discovering that there ain’t gonna be MUCH of it, (for them).
Tough.
As for Senator Webb,(full disclosure: my Senator), I suspect that he’s trying to angle for a gig as the DemocRat answer to John McCain.
ie: the GOP’s favorite pet DemocRat.
Hopefully, it will do him as much good as “doing the McCain” did McCain.
I do know that Webb’s little “boost” from the Washington Pest in re the “macaca” smear against George Allen hasn’t been forgotten. And if there’s one thing that Virginians HATE is to have anything from Washington-effin’-DC have a say in our politics.
We are the state of Washington and Jefferson and Madison and Mason.
DC is the home of Marion Barry…
Love those last two lines! I will paste them up on my wall today.
Me too. Entertaining AND educational. I thought Jackie Mason was from New York.
Anyone who has said anything disparaging about James Webb (D-WaPo) I agree with. I don’t give a c**p if he was in the Corp and Sec of Navy. Born fighting? Really? He’s serious about national defense? Really? Then what’s he doing in the Democratic Party (which hasn’t been serious about national defense since, oh, 1975)? As Nostromo noted, his first public act as a Senator was to insult the President of the United States, at a reception in the White House for newly installed Congressmen and Senators, for having the gall to ask him a human question: How’s your son (a Marine in harm’s way)? What a t**d. It was conduct so obnoxious even his PR firm, the WaPo, called him on it (buyer’s remorse? nah). Come November 2012, I’ll be first in line at my pollng place, doing my best to vote him out of office.
Webb is actually a great man. Served in combat in Vietnam which is more than most, if not all of the Bush admin. could say. He insulted Bush because he hated that stinking stupid war in Iraq. A war that I believe led us into having the current fool in the White House. Of course, on the other side, his son was a volunteer in the war so he really had no right to complain.
I’ll take a Jim Webb who is not some neo con hack, over a RINO McCain, any day of the week.
Insulted the president. Is that a problem for you? If it is, why are you in the Tea Party? That’s the ONLY thing they do is insult the president . . . that and eat weenies.
“Now imagine how tragic it is that the first black president was Barack Obama.”
It is tragic beyond our present understanding, mark my words. Within only a few years, Republicans could have, and would have, put forward an honest and learned black man or woman, one who would have been a leader and a healer.
Eager to “score first”, Democrats have done the exact opposite, and the results will be the opposite too. Damn their hearts that are perverted by the lust for power, untempered by the love of truth.
In 1996 the GOP nomination was Colin Powell’s for the asking. All he had to do was reach out and grasp it, it would have been his by general acclamation. He did not have the moral courage to do so. I’ve read that his wife dissauded him, supposedly fearful that he would be assassinated. I suspect that is a smokescreen for the real reason, whatever that was.
I was very disappointed in much of Powell’s work as Sec State, but I was all for him to run in ’96. It is a great pity that Powell did not run in ’96, when he might hopefully have become our first black President (I did not count then on him picking up most of the black vote though, being he would have been running as a Pack; blacks today prefer the party of welfare to the party of Lincoln). Next time a black person runs for President the memory of President Barry “The Return of the Carter Administration” Obama is going to be a drag on the campaign, certainly if the candidate is a Dem.
On a brighter note, Obama and his cronies may be bent on ruining the nation, but as Adam Smith told a contemporary, there is a great deal of ruin in a nation. If we can kick him out and reverse his policies after 2012 the USA can come back and recover.
Powell’s manifest shortcomings aside (RINOism, etc.), I don’t think there’s any deep, complicated story behind his deciding against seeking the GOP nomination in ’96. “Family misgivings” was what was put out for public consumption at the time; several years later, I read more than one story that indicated Mrs. Powell flat-out told him “you run for President, I pack my bags and walk.”
Further “gossip” or supposition on the “family reasons,” etc. why Powell declined to run for POTUS: His wife, indeed, was the deciding factor, but here’s why: She suffers from chronic/clincial Depression – a condition that is NOT fatal or terminal, but IS a condition that requires attention, meds and certain protocols – like a regular routine, plenty of rest, and avoiding those foods or drinks that tend to trigger “an episode.” Of course, we often think of Clinical Depression as a “mental disorder,” but it’s really a physiological one that, if left untended and poorly monitored, WILL, indeed, trigger a “mental”/physical depression (often lasting for days). On the other hand, if proper & regular meds are ingested and all the other physical attentions are paid, then the chances of an “episode” occurring are greatly diminished.
What this suggests – nay, even dictates – is that a hectic and all-consuming Presidential election campaign cycle – lasting up to two years!!! – could NOT be undertaken, except in careful, limited “dosages,” by Powell’s wife. Of course, he would be doing most of the campaigning, but she would HAVE to be on the road a great deal more than usual – and this might well have spelled disaster for her mental & physical health.
Anyway, that’s the way I heard it…
Really. Is that the “gossip” and “supposition” you heard? Well, I heard that his wife was worried that her beloved husband would get assassinated by some crazed right wing redneck.
Anyway, that’s the way I heard it…
Perhaps, although the Stupid Party has a knack for nominating whoever is next in line (McCain).
At any rate, any black Presidential candidate put up by the GOP would have been called “Uncle Tom” or “Aunt Jemimah” by folks like Shirley Sherrod and the NAACP. You can bet the MSM would have lapped it up.
“At any rate, any black Presidential candidate put up by the GOP would have been called “Uncle Tom” or “Aunt Jemimah” by folks like Shirley Sherrod and the NAACP. You can bet the MSM would have lapped it up.”
Quite so, and that may well have been one of the reasons Powell didn’t run.
Webb reminds me of Sen. Moynihan…
“His speeches and books joyfully sideswiped popular liberal cliche-thought. But when voting time came, he was almost always there, observing the party line. His deportment at that hour was that of the freethinking monk who, at vesper-time, clocks in submissively to the catechetical regimen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan didn’t win four elections in New York by stressing the desirability of school vouchers, or the tragedy of black family disintegration.”
W. F. Buckley, April 21, 2003 “National Review”
Actually, it doesn’t make any sense with the rich to “bash on, squeeze, hammer, and otherwise alternately abuse and neglect” either. But, I nit pick.
I live in deepest blue northern Virgnia (Jim Moran was a neighbor before his divorce.) The kindest word I can use to describe Webb is “turd”.
The left-wing political project is a racial one, and has been since the sixties.
And because it’s a racial project, the rights attempt to argue its case in terms of economics is doomed to failure. If you want to beat the left you have to tackle their actual beliefs and not pretend they are 1930′s Marxists worrying about the means of production. You have to stop fretting about Keynesian theory and start caring about the Frankfurt School.
Without “the rich” to bash on, squeeze, hammer, and otherwise alternately abuse and neglect, the rest of Obama’s economics don’t make any sense.
I wouldn’t worry too much about the rich. For one thing, they can take care of themselves. For another, they were and still are big contributors to the Democratic Party.
I get up early (5:15am) and race off to the health club, 5 minute drive. Workout, then race back home to shower and race through breakfast. Race off to work to calculate the risk of a 100 year flood near a plant we are designing. Skip lunch to finish the risk assessment and race down to the mail room to get the report off to the head design office. Didn’t race fast enough; missed the afternoon FedEx pickup. Late out from work, but race off to help coach my son’s little league team. Finish there and race home for dinner. Then race off to the home office to do finish the taxes with TaxCut. Tomorrow I race to the post office to mail the 1040 with the final payment, and race off to the local Tea Party gathering at the park to hear that I’ve been called a racist by some TV lay-about. If the above is the definition of a racist, then I qualify.
The conservative martyr complex in full bloom. Your experiences are NO DIFFERENT than those of a typical liberal, save for the Tea Party. We just don’t think it qualifies us for sainthood among the patriot gods. It’s just another tricky day. And yet the right calls the left racists.
Sorry, no points allowed.
Sleaze, your behavior is slipping…better get back on those meds! So, those people who work hard and who just might be pissed that they’re forced to “share” their earnings with others who don’t (or won’t) are just bitchin’ to hear themselves whine? “No (brownie) points there?” Why, Sleazy, you’re positively MEAN!!
You’re upset, I get it. You’re angry that you can’t appropriate the common HUMAN values of hard work and responsibility as the sole province of conservatives. Well, you can’t, no matter how many Tea Parties you go to.
once again, you’ve nailed it, green.
Jim Webb is an opportunist, not unusual for a politician. I have read two of his books, one a novel set in the Pacific in WWII, and the other “Born Fighting”, a history of the Scotts Irish, his own ancestry and partly my own, in America. On both occasions I have concluded that the man is a lout as well. He seems to think that his ethic identity gives him license for loutishness. I resent that. There is a difference between hard headed toughness and loutishness. He calls in his article for the end of ethnic diversity while in the same breath argueing that WASP Americans have unfairly been left out of the pie cutting. He is playing to his constituents in western Virginia to join in the whining for attention, something that he so eloquently argues in his history that they are incapable of doing. The fact is, Jim Webb is as afraid as any Democrat that he will pay the piper for his party identity and for his support of the pseudo-messiah in the Big House.
I hope he has a mobile home near Gate City to retire to.
Nobody is excused here. Lies and packs of lies will get their just deserts. If Democrats are running and hiding it is because the hand writing is on the wall: the destruction of the party. The results of Obama’s lies will take down the party that has already been taken over by communists. Communism used to be virtually outlawed in this country but we forgot the warnings of Ronald Reagan, that the enemy was at the door. Now the enemy is in the White House and the intimadation of the “position” is wearing off; for good. (and this is a good thing for we have all been asleep for too long now) Now the only alternative for the commies is violence, which they will unleach as soon as they feel they can get away wih it. Their defeat will ultimatly come when they unleach the hounds and to their surprise they will destroy each other and nobody else because this is the way of justice: liars pay for for their lies and truth tellers sit in judgement. This is the principal of all things as it has been ordered from the beginning of time as history tells. Yes nations fall when the inhabitants lose their regard for the truth but here so far the people are standing up for the truth. Keep it up.
The notion that the whites in America are going to have their collective noses rubbed in the “racist” smear much longer is false. The country has had enough of melanine being the determining factor in who gets what job, what pension, what subsidy, what college acceptance and what political appointment. The origional intention was at most to stop race based descrimination in the job market. It has morphed into a racist policy of wealth re-distribution controlled by corrupt government officals and special treatments for supporters. It is going to stop and all Senator Webb is trying to do is scramble back onto the side of justice before his short political career is taken over the clift with the rest of the Progressive loons.
There is no such thing as a “moderate” Democrat. It is a term invented by the MSM to help marxists get elected in conservative and centrist races.
Can anyone point to anything moderate in the voting of Bayh, Conrad, Webb and Nelson?
Stephen, thank you for the concise article, and for the information. I may or may not read Senator Bayh’s article, but at least I know it’s there, thanks to you.
Question: I am surprisingly hopeful that the current tax rates, aka the Bush tax cuts, will be extended before they expire at the end of the year. Yet you are more immersed in the system than I am. Why do you believe there is no hope for them to be extended, even if we take back Congress in November?
I think my senator is “feeling the heat”that the entire liberal caucus is feeling,and he is doing this in order to set himself up for another run in 2012. Webb is a diehard Democrat,don’t think for a minute that he is separating from Obama because he is having a “conservative”moment. This is all about politics baby,the purest kind.
I have never been able to understand why those who clamor for higher taxes don’t volunteer to send in more of their own, check, cover letter to IRS & SS #. Done !
As the apes say, “the nation needs the money”, putting aside the fact the Government is not the same thing as the nation, still they would be acting on their supposed beliefs.
I guess they’re full of crap.
I would possibly believe Senator Webb about his change of heart, if he had not voted in line with President Obama for just about every single issue. Check his voting record before believing that he has changed in any significant way. He has voted for far too many Of the things on President Obama’s wish list.
Pathetic. Every one of those so called moderates voted for a failed, budget busting stimulus, Obama-care, over-reaching financial “reform” (except Bayh), and would vote for cap-and-tax (except Bayh). These are not moderates. The notion is laughable. They need to be tossed at the next available opportunity, except Bayh. He quit and saved us the effort.
Some people of color are waking up to the fact that their guaranteed vote for the Dems has not actually helped them as much as they have been duped to believe. Check out the uproar here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55aujTwuJY8&feature=player_embedded
If that 95% ever wakes up to the true nobility of how the ideas from the right could help them, well, the nutroots would be even more despondent.
You know Webb is now toast in 2012, not even the WaPo can save him. He’s a Dem and without the black vote he can’t win.
His only hope is that the blacks in VA hold their nose as they vote for the Marxist-in-Chief and pull the “D” lever for Senator. If Obama is not on the ticket, he is gone (I’m talking to you, Hillary).
Webb now has a record to run on. It will be interesting to see how he tries to defend it. In my humble opinion the Republicans will need to find a candidate with a heartbeat in order to defeat him in 2012.
Senator Webb owes his seat to one word, “Macaca,” and the firestorm that the left-wing media whipped up over it. That he should be denouncing anti-white racial hysteria when he has so richly benefited from it, is amusing to say the least.
As for his essay, it’s good, so far as it goes. But throughout, whether he’s discussing slavery or Jim Crow or the current tilted playing field, he fails to mention a key player in them all: the Democratic Party. In fact, the Democratic Party is not mentioned at all, even though it, like Senator Webb himself, is the beneficiary of the racial divide-and-rule that has so scarred our nation’s history. And by publishing in the Wall Street Journal instead of, say, the New York Times or USA Today, Senator Webb is preaching to the choir, instead of challenging those who most firmly support the Obama Administration’s racially divisive policies.
Senator Webb’s essay, in fact, is deeply cynical. He’s appealing to conservatives, saying he’s really on our side, while not even addressing those whose minds most need changing.
“And by publishing in the Wall Street Journal instead of, say, the New York Times or USA Today, Senator Webb is preaching to the choir”
Right. Because it’s wildly biased. Because it’s owned by Rupert Murdoch. Who said it was the job of Fo x News Corp to ” . . . get Republicans elected.”
Pretty simple.
“Pretty simple.” You mean simple like this The Principal Liar sleazits?
“… NO INTEREST WHATSOEVER in what is true.” – “You act like I’m trying to hide my identity,…” sleazits.
Really now, act? No, you are a thing of action! Misogynist, Bigoted Liar.
“…bitch-slapped “? In its own words, this is what the Modern Liberal Cesspool Reasoning at its pinnicle.
Refute this Liar –
181. Now and Then:
Matthew Matthew Matthew . . .
“That’s when truth and accountability went out the window. ”
“They have NO INTEREST WHATSOEVER in what is true”
http://wonkette.com/412574/former-gop-missouri-house-speaker-beats-up-chokes-mistress-during-sex
“So I suggest you continue your trouncing of Hoosierhawk. He will eventually tire of getting bitch-slapped by you and slink away to other thread where he can trowel out his prideful misinformation on some other gaggle of yahoos.”
“Hail Matthew. Go PatGund!”
Dec 10, 2009 – 7:19 am
“goy, goy, goy . . ”
So, who is is Now and Then? Could it be The Principal Liar sleazits Persons Galore? “…bitch-slapped “?
426. Now and Then:
“Jayne Jayne Jayne . . .”
Hail Rush, Go Sarah!
Dec 7, 2009 – 5:35 pm
Better drop the Name, Name, Name thing. Just like “you people” and “hillbillies” Nailed. Kick Me sign. Riveted. To ass. Kick is away! “…bitch-slapped “?
skeeziks
“goy, goy, goy . . ”
July 25, 2010 – 12:26 pm
388. Now and Then:
“Hail Rush, Go Sarah!”
Dec 6, 2009 – 3:46 pm
Who the hell is jeanneb?
82. jeanneb:
Hail Rush. Go Sarah!
December 11, 2009 -
No kidding? “…bitch-slapped”? “That’s when truth and accountability went out the window. ”
skeeziks:
“You act like I’m trying to hide my identity,…”
Jan 28, 2010 – 3:06 pm
30. skeeziks
“Hail Rush. Go Sarah!”
June 21, 2010 – 9:05 am
Great description of what you see in the funhouse mirror.
5. skeeziks
“The guy’s a fraud. A poseur. A punk.”
June 23, 2010 – 3:15 pm
“…bitch-slapped “?
Van Jones just got an award? Will you be Liar of the Year on PJM into perpetuity? Got it locked up lameness.
How was the 5 on 2 Sloppy Joe sleazits? Need more? There is so much more.
Is it Dark at the Bottom of the Cesspool?
You Made your Cesspool. Love it or leave it.
Whatever.
5 on 2? Too bad you weren’t there. Then it could’ve been 5 on 3.
No thanks jeanneb. I only deal with honest women.
82. jeanneb:
“Hail Rush. Go Sarah!”
December 11, 2009
30. skeeziks
“Hail Rush. Go Sarah!”
June 21, 2010 – 9:05 am
108. skeeziks
“I have a date with a boat. Big one.”
Nice. As in Rosie O’Donnell? Or Oscar le grouche?
108. skeeziks
“Four or five friends finally free from their work-a-day week. (Poor bastards.) Tequila. Poker. Couple of hookers.”
Jeez, Ratso could do better.
Sloppy jeanneb The Principal Liar sleazits was what, sandwiched between #2 and #5? Or was it just a Wesson Oil and Great Value Bleach free for all?
Whatever.