Anthony Zinni for Jim Webb

Anybody who questions Webb+óGé¼Gäós credibility and loyalty to the Democratic Party can give that one up now. Webb is the only candidate so far to have the public endorsement of a former Party Chair.  That means that the whole "Miller is the Real Democrat" argument is pretty farcical at this point.

Very true, couldn't have said it better myself, "Dannyboy!" :)

In the excitement of Pickett's great endorsement, we have not paid sufficient attention to ANOTHER endorsement, however.  Yesterday, according to the Daily Press, Jim Webb also announced that he would "re-visit the [Hampton Roads] area on May 3, when he's expected to accept the endorsement of retired Marine Gen. Tony Zinni."  According to the Daily Press, "Zinni is a Williamsburg resident and an outspoken critic of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and the conduct of the war in Iraq."  For his part, Webb has said that "We do not need to be an occupying force in that part of the world." And the two men apparently respect each other tremendously. 
On April 1, Zinni appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press."  As I wrote at the time:

Yesterday's Meet the Press interview with General Tony Zinni, former commander in charge of U.S. Central Command, was a stunner.  I almost can't believe he said all this stuff.  Basically, what Zinni did yesterday was..."a point by point demolishing of the Bush positions and lies on the war. He is the Administration's worst nightmare."

Just a note here, before I get into Zinni's main points: my understanding is that Jim Webb and Tony Zinni are very friendly with each other, see things eye-to-eye on Iraq, and are highly simpatico in general.

Among other things, Zinni called for Secretary of Defense Don Rumsfeld's resignation, and also for other responsible parties "to be held accountable."  Zinni strongly implied a lack of "integrity, honesty and performance and competence" in the Bush Administration, while calling the Administration's pre-war assertion that Saddam wasn't contained:

...an insult to the troops who, for 10 years, ran the containment: those brave pilots who flew the no-fly zones, those sailors who enforced the maritime intercept operations, our soldiers and Marines that were on the ground out there that responded to every crisis, our support for the efforts of the inspectors that were in there.

By the way, Tony Zinni is no liberal (not that there's anything wrong with being a liberal!). In fact, it's unclear whether or not Zinni's a Republican, Democrat or independent.  Whatever his political affiliation, Tony Zinni is a man of great integrity and courage. In other words, Tony Zinni is the Bush Administration's worst nightmare. Just like Jim Webb - another man of tremendous integrity and courage - is George Allen's worst nightmare.  This should be an interesting campaign: Jim Webb, Tony Zinni, Owen Pickett, Wes Clark, Paul Hackett, and no question many other American heroes and leaders taking on George Allen the phony, bored, southern California "cowboy."  This should be fascinating.

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