He's an open-to-reason person -- argue with him, and he might see your POV. But tread on him? At your own peril :)

I think Jim Webb worries the GOP, because he represents the type of moderate who once helped to make the GOP a majority party.  He is also articulate and can speak with a degree of moral authority on national security issues that few GOPers can match.

If the Democrats can compete with the GOP on national security, what's left?  Etiquite?  Proper spelling and punctuation?

If the Jim Webbs of America continue to leave the GOP, the GOP is going to be in a minority status politically for more than just one election cycle.

Those are the stakes.

I don't think the GOP's character assasination is the best way to go about this, but, as the saying goes, old habits die hard.

A Vietnam vet rises in the party ranks:

WASHINGTON - House Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi has chosen a Border Patrol agent-turned-congressman to lead the House Intelligence Committee, ending weeks of Democratic debate about who will oversee the nation's spy agencies.

Rep. Silvestre Reyes (news, bio, voting record), D-Texas, takes over the key post next year, as his party tries to intensify oversight of the intelligence community. Critics say Republicans failed to do that, leading to faulty prewar intelligence on Iraq and other stumbles.
***
Known as "Silver" to friends, Reyes is a Purple Heart winner who was drafted into the Army and served during 1966-68 as a helicopter crew chief and gunner. His service included 13 months in Vietnam.

He rose through the ranks during 26 years of service in the Border Patrol, leaving as a senior law enforcement official in Texas in 1995. He won his seat in Congress the next year.

Under Democratic control, his committee is expected to increase public oversight of some of the most difficult issues facing the United States, including terrorism, Iraq and government surveillance. Given the committee's inherently secret nature, much of the work will have to be done behind closed doors.

In an interview this month, Reyes said he will insist on more information about the Bush administration's most classified programs and how they are working. The Republicans, he said, have made a habit of rubber-stamping those programs.

***

Note that he is favorably inclined towards Gates; of course, he doesn't get to vote on his confirmation:

Reyes is considered less partisan than Hastings, and signaled that the day after the election when he praised the selection of former CIA Director Robert Gates to replace Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.

Steve

From the Seattle Times:

Well-known GOP activist held in sex-predator sting
By Christine Clarridge

Seattle Times staff reporter

Larry Corrigan, a well-known activist in local Republican politics as a backer of U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert and King County Prosecuting Attorney Norm Maleng, was arrested Wednesday in an Internet sting for allegedly trying to arrange sex with a 13-year-old girl.***

I used to joke about the so-called pattern of GOP pols and sex offenses.  Maybe there really is something to it.  I guess someone with a lot of time could do a statistical analysis.

My mom raised me to remember this.....

If they say it is not about money, it is about money.
If they say it is not about sex, it is about sex.
If the guy praying the loudest in the front pew want to talk, watch your wallet and your pants!

I guess we need to update that with something about right wing freaks.

Off to Staunton for the Central Committee meetings!

That's the link for any of you interested.