The following is from U.S. Marine Corps Col. Michael Duncan Wyly, Colonel (ret), Jim Webb's company commander in Vietnam. I believe it is very powerful and should be distributed as widely as possible. Thanks. {note: bolding added for emphasis)
Why I Would Vote for Jim Webb if I lived in Virginia
by Michael Duncan Wyly, Colonel, USMC (ret)
3 November 2006If I lived in Virginia my vote would be for Jim Webb because I know him and came to trust him and saw and felt the confidence his Marines had in him while I was his Company Commander in combat in 1969. We were together every day and night; our relationship was professional, yet nothing missed my notice then because so much was at stake. I was asked recently by a reporter from the Norfolk Pilot, why, in my opinion, Jim Webb was so respected by the men he led in 1969; why they were so loyal to him and still are to this day. The reporter did not publish my answer so I want to make it clear, here.
My answer came implicitly without having to think: GÇ£Because they knew he would always be there for them, even at great risk; and he placed enormous value on human life." When I was his company commander he never hesitated to voice an opinion if he had an idea of a way to make a move more safely. The lives and safety of the men in his charge came first, and they knew it. When Dale Tucker, one of his squad leaders was shot in the abdomen during an ambush on the 20th of April, 1969, Lieutenant Webb went into the kill zone without hesitation, pulled him out, and gave him first aid. He performed similar rescues of several Marines on the 9th of May of the same year. That was the same day he risked his life to recover the body of Jim Ward, knowing how important this would be to Corporal WardGÇÖs grieving family back home. Lieutenant Jim Webb stayed with his men all that year and the acts I have described here characterized JimGÇÖs performance for the entire twelve months that he remained in combat before being ordered home.
As I have remained in contact with Jim through the years, the same characteristics that I came to know in GÇÿ69 have continued to define the man he is. He is an intellectual as well as a man of strong character. As a novelist, his understanding of human nature, good and bad, is tangible; and his passion to see good overcome evil is compellingly clear. I have read all of his books and I recommend them to every American as a means of understanding your country better, and mankind better.
More importantly, I commend Jim to you as the leader this Country needs. JimGÇÖs ability to make decisions has been forged through a multiplicity of diverse life-experience that few men ever have. He makes decisions according to the dynamic and changing situation that life is and he can be depended upon to make the best decision for his Country that he holds so dear, and the men and women of Virginia, who like his Marines in 1969, are to him, his family.
Jim Webb embodies humanityGÇÖs two greatest virtues, courage and integrity. Courage first. I place courage ahead of integrity because it is impossible to sustain the latter without the former. It often takes courage to tell the truth. In all the years I have known Jim Webb, even under the toughest pressure, he has never compromised on either. If Jim says it, itGÇÖs true. And if itGÇÖs true, he has the courage to say it GÇô and he will.
Wow. Wouldn't we all love a recommendation letter like THAT?!? :)
Lowell Feld is Netroots Coordinator for the Jim Webb for US Senate Campaign. The ideas expressed here belong to Lowell Feld alone, and do not represent those of Jim Webb, his advisors, staff, or supporters.
Republican political strategist Roger Stone, on the Tucker Carlson show:
STONE: Well, again, I think that the question of George Allen is an interesting one. Here‘s a guy who grew up in Newport Beach, California, grew up in southern California in the ‘60s and ‘70s, or ‘70s and ‘80s, and, you know, the cowboy boots, the chewing tobacco, the confederate flag. Where does all of this stuff coming from? Because he‘s not a good old boy, not given his pedigree.
Senator Jim Webb will be the pride of Virginia.
Senator George Allen will be the shame of Virginia.
[T]his silly controversy reminds us to respect the boundaries between make-believe and reality. In this age of global, instant and technologically sophisticated communications, we are often left bewildered over what is true and what is made up…
And now we are supposed to believe that an imaginary story — and that is what a novel is — must be an accurate moral litmus test of its creator?
Novelgate raises another issue: Rather than condemning candidates who are skilled in artistic and literary expression, we should welcome them. America needs more diverse politicians — people who are neither lawyers nor millionaires who so often win office through equivocation or through the power of money.
Colorless would-be politicians whose past legal and commercial training has taught them to raise money and say nothing of consequence cannot be expected to show courage and candor when they assume office. In the past, when flamboyant generals, inventors, builders, actors, teachers, pilots, doctors, farmers and, yes, novelists participated in democracy, the richer became our political ideas and oratory.
Whatever you think of James Webb, he at least brings a different background to politics. He wrote about human depravity because he had apparently seen a great deal of it and wished to warn his readers. Webb’s past life proves that he is a far different, far better person than many of the warped characters he feels he must create. And we should know and appreciate such a distinction — while also restoring the critical fault line between art and reality.
Usually, Hanson writes articles like this: "Liberals Gone Wild!" http://www.realclear...
So is this another example of what seems to be a mass defection of hard core "intellectual" conservatives from Allen?
Webb writes novels -- that's too much to read for many of them. People like Allen are much better at spinning "short fiction" (no, I don't know what "macaca" means; I made the word up")