"A Choice, Not An Echo!"
In 1964, the Republican presidential candidate, Barry Goldwater, campaigned on the slogan, "A Choice, Not An Echo!" While most voters disagreed with the choice he offered, they certainly agreed on the importance of new, independent thinking in politics; simply rubber stamping policies that failed was not what the country needed in 1964, or today.
Fortunately, in Virginia this year, we have a real choice, Jim Webb, running for the US Senate. Formerly a Republican----who served as Ronald Reagan's Secretary of Navy---he offers a stark contrast to the tired, shop worn slogans of his opponent George Allen. Allen has voted with the Bush Administration 97% of the time, and 100% on issues dealing with the quagmire in Iraq. A rubber-stamp we don't need; an independent US Senator is what Virginia, and the nation, needs at this critical time.
Jim Webb is a graduate of the US Naval Academy, a hero who fought with honor and distinction in the Vietnam War. He offers a direct contrast to George Allen, an armchair soldier who presents a weak handshake and blank check (and, NO check) to the Bush Administration in its run-up to the Iraq war, with its false and deceptive threat that Iraq posed a "direct and immediate" (Bush's words) to American security. Where has Allen been to question, and criticize, the Administration's bungling attempt to bring order to Iraq since 2003? Just last week the Pentagon top brass issued a report sharply at odds with the Administration's claims that progress was being made in Iraq; the military's conclusions were exactly the opposite. Where was George Allen during all this? He's been invisible, only asking that we do more of the same, kowtowing to Bush/Cheney in letting fiasco be compounded by even more fiasco. The floor of the Senate is an opportunity to ask tough questions, not a forum to say, "Aye, Aye, Sir!"
Jim Webb will ask TOUGH QUESTIONS on this and other issues. He will tell us the truth. Obviously, no single Senator can change things overnight, but at least we need a clear voice, an independent thinker, not another Bush-wannabe who has one eye on polls in Virginia and another eye on Bush's White House.
If Ronald Reagan trusted Jim Webb enough to put him in charge of our Navy, why shouldn+óGé¼Gäót you have enough confidence in him to elect Jim Webb our US Senator ?
We need a choice, not an echo!
Andy Cerillo
Centreville, Va.