10/25/2006
Webb rises above
Here's what the endorsement said as printed in the Fairfax edition:
10/25/2006
Webb rises above
***Voters sided with George Allen six years ago based on his popularity as governor. He led parole reform efforts and instituted an educational accountability system that later became a national model. But once elected to the U.S. Senate, Allen seemed to stall. Major news from Capitol Hill centered on other members of Virginia's federal delegation who appeared to give Allen token credit for "assisting" in their efforts. He failed to pick up the torch on educational accountability at the national level, and his voice has clearly been lacking on the transportation front, which ought to steam Northern Virginians in particular, since it was under Allen's administration that the Virginia Department of Transportation began its slow decline.Allen's 10-gallon cowboy persona has clearly worn thin in Northern Virginia, which is becoming "bluer" with each passing election, but his disgraceful display of intolerance earlier this fall - in which he hurled a racial slur at a young man of Indian descent volunteering for his challenger's campaign - during a stop in southern Virginia ought to be enough to push people in every corner of the commonwealth over the edge. ***
The media's handling of those events is debatable, but what cannot be ignored is the fact that a sitting U.S. senator singled out a man of color in a mostly white audience for ridicule . . .Our support of Jim Webb is based on more than the fact that he is simply not George Allen. As another local newspaper noted, the former Republican-turned-Democrat appears to have reservations about both parties, and it is that independent streak that will serve him well when he arrives on Capitol Hill.
The decorated Vietnam War veteran offers a perspective about the current conflict in Iraq that has been lacking for some time.
***
Allen's stiff arm to the Bush administration is only a recent phenomenon, spurred primarily by political self-preservation to appear as if he is aligned more with Virginia's more popular U.S. senator, Republican John Warner, who issued a gruff assessment of the situation in Iraq after a recent visit.But during Allen's own visit to Iraq in late May, he issued a statement in which he said, "what I have been hearing from everyone - whether Kurds, Sunnis or anyone - is that they want the U.S. to stay the course. This is a crucial year, and I am seeing that good progress is being made."
And as recently as late August, in an appearance at Springfield's Greenspring Village retirement community, Allen said bringing U.S. troops home now would be an act of "surrender." He followed by saying, "The strategy needs to be we win, you lose."
After President Bush again rendered his "stay the course" message during a fund-raiser with the senator last week, Allen met with reporters to clarify he did not agree with everything the president said, but he added that he did not want to Monday morning quarterback the situation, according to reports.
Well, which is it? The current situation notwithstanding, we as a community lose when those in power fail to realize their missteps or fail to clearly think through all the consequences of life-and-death decisions before acting.
There are vast differences between the candidates, ranging from taxes to the war to the economy. However, Webb stands out because of his willingness to stand up for the little guy. Like most Democrats, he has been painted by Republicans as a liberal tax-and-spend politician. In reality, Webb opposes raising taxes that would affect a broad range of Americans. He supports President Bush's plan to reduce taxes on small and mid-sized estates but thinks it is OK to tax multimillion-dollar estates.
Despite the fact that Sen. Warner sided with Allen in a recent campaign advertisement, we believe it is Webb who is most likely to follow in the mold of Virginia's senior senator and others who are not afraid to ask tough questions and speak their mind rather than worry about the party line.
The Times chain does not have any particular bias. Indeed, it supported two GOP candidates in its major endorsements (grrrr). When I was involved in a delegates campaign last year, the campaign was pleasantly surprised to get the endorsement of the local paper (Chantilly Times) because it usually backed GOP candidates. So this is a good pickup for Webb.