1. He is a foreign policy/national security expert and "realist," not a "neocon" or isolationist.2. He publicly opposed the Iraq War when almost nobody else had the courage to stand up and do so.
3. He has shown exemplary character and courage his entire life.
4. He is deeply concerned with issues of economic fairness for all Americans.
5. He opposes the Bush tax cuts for rich people, especially at a time of war.
6. He is not a creature of Washington DC, but instead has spent his life serving his country, being a writer and journalist, working to clear the name of an African American marine falsely accused of war crimes in Vietnam, etc.
7. He will fight for FAIR trade, as opposed to mindless "free trade."
8. He understands that we need to rein in the power of the Executive Branch, and he is tough enough to stand up to George W. Bush or anyone else.
9. He is pro-chioce.
10. He is pro-gay-rights/civil unions.
11. He is not a career politician and has never desired to be one.
12. He is a visionary on racial issues. Webb has written that "the greatest realignment in modern politics would take place rather quickly if the right national leader found a way to bring the Scots-Irish and African Americans to the same table, and so to redefine a formula that has consciously set them apart for the past two centuries."
13. He can win people - including Southerners and "Reagan Democrats" - back to the Democratic Party and make it a long-term majority party again.
14. He wants to be "the leader of the anti-outsourcing movement."
15. He was "drafted" by citizen activitst and is running an amazing netroots campaign. He has over 2,500 volunteers.
16. He thinks for himself and doesn't just blindly follow along with "litmus tests"
17. He truly understands that "we are in danger of developing a permanent underclass." As a populist, he also "gets it" that "the country is breaking into three different groups, and is becoming defined by class far more than at any time in my memory."
18. He has been endorsed by almost the entire national Democratic leadership, including Harry Reid and John Kerry. He has also received endorsements from more than 60 Virginia political figures.
19. He believes that all Americans deserve access to some form of quality health care.
20. He believes that "education is the only way to level the playing field and provide all Americans with the opportunity to succeed."
21. He says that "teachers and school districts must have access to the resources that are needed to implement the mandates placed on states by the No Child Left Behind law."
22. He opposes drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
23. He strongly supports solar power and renewable energy in general.
24. He believes that the blogs and the internet in general represent democracy in action and must be protected.
25. He believes that the Republican Congress has been wrong in "let[ting] drug company lobbyists write a prescription drug plan for our seniors - and the drug companies are going to make billions from this law."
Anything else?
I like Webb, but I don't like the acrimony here. I think this site has one standard for Webb and another for others.
Webb has written that "the greatest realignment in modern politics would take place rather quickly if the right national leader found a way to bring the Scots-Irish and African Americans to the same table, and so to redefine a formula that has consciously set them apart for the past two centuries."
As far as I. Publius is concerned, he's a right-wing troll who's been on the edge - or over the edge - of being banned for the past 1 1/2 years, well before Jim Webb came along. You should have heard the things he said about Tim Kaine, Leslie Byrne, etc.
But I'm not sure why he keeps pushing pro-Miller talking points. Seems odd since he really wants Webb to win.
My wife is going to be directing people to this site tomorrow to learn about Webb. Number 12 is not that clear for people who don't know the context of the quote. Could you clarify?
In addition to the statement in the 2004 WSJ article, Webb has a long history of advancing a very progressive stance on race and class in America.
In a 1990 speech at the Confederate War Memorial, Webb said to a group of Confederate descendants:
"Americans of African ancestry are the people whom our (the Southern Scots-Irish) history in this country most closely intertwines, whose struggles in an odd but compelling way most resemble our own, and whose rights as full citizens we above all should celebrate and insist upon."
If you want to learn closer details of Webb's views on race and class in America you should read his best-selling non-fiction book Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America.
Throughout the book, one of the major themes Webb returns to again and again are populist economic issues and how the white Southern elites (i.e. the Plantation/slave owning class), which comprised less than 5% of the white population in America at the time of the Civil War, kept both black and poor whites mired in a cycle of mutual fear, suspicion and resentment.
Webb's analysis of American history and especially American southern history is stunning in its insightfulness, both economically and socially.
In summing up the age old technique of divide and conquer, which leaders use time and time again, Webb describes how it was used during the painful era of Reconstruction:
The thin veneer of white leadership in the South knew full well that as long as poor whites and poor blacks were blaming each other for their misery, the prospects were small that they would join together to address their mutual plight along class, rather than racial lines.
Both of the above quotes can be found on pages 246-247 of Born Fighting (paperback).
In almost all of what you read in Webb's writings you will hear this thread again and again about how the leaders of a nation, whether this one or others, use fear of race and economic issues to keep two opposing groups divided when the sum of their similarities is greater than any minor differences that separate them.
This is of course as true today with Karl Rove, George Bush, George Allen and Harris Miller...each of whom not only use the same tactics, but represent the same elite moneyed class that would continue to keep the average American mired in poverty and debt by outsourcing middle and working class jobs and funneling the increasing corporate profits the smaller number of elites at the top.
Thank God someone like Jim Webb exists to lead us out of this darkness. I appreciate Lowell's efforts to enumerate all the reason he is worthy of being our next Senator
Anyway, I'm glad to provide all my reasons for people to vote for Jim Webb. I'm also glad to provide factual information from Webb's numerous interviews, "live blogging" sessions, etc. Overall, I'm very proud of the role Raising Kaine has played in leading the "draft" of Jim Webb, then working hard for months to help promote his candidacy. With Yearly Kos over now, it is obvious that people are increasingly listening to blogs and bloggers, aka the "netroots," aka "citizen activists." I strongly believe that this trend will continue to grow in coming months and years. The internet isn't going anywhere, nor is the political blogosphere. For the past year and a half, I have been honored to play a small part in it.
Slowly, inch by inch the netroots is deliving the power of democracy back to the little people versus the power of the corporate interests. Thanks for discovering and promoting someone like Jim Webb to run for office, his courage and integrity is an inspiration and a reminder of what all our leaders SHOULD BE like.
Thanks to Jim, an Afro-American is among the three soldiers depicted in the Viet Nam memorial statue.
Also, Webb performed pro bono work to clear the name of an Afro-American soldier.
In his office while Secretary of the Navy, Jim Webb prominently displayed a tiny picture of his grandfather who had courageously spoken out against racial inequality and paid dearly for doing so.
He wasn't running for office then; it was a sincere statement of Webb's values and character.
Sometimes it's not very easy to speak out for inclusion. But is even more difficult to "do" inclusion. And Jim Webb has demonstrated the moral courage to do just that.