The bottom
Friday October 27, 2006
I've thought this fall how incredible -- and incredibly stupid -- it was that with the US mired in a foreign war it's losing, to say nothing of the other huge challenges facing America, that voters in Virginia were being...
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About Crunchy Con
Rod Dreher is an editorial columnist for the Dallas Morning News, and author of "Crunchy Cons" (Crown Forum), a nonfiction book about conservatives, most of them religious, whose faith and political convictions sometimes put them at odds with mainstream conservatives. The views expressed in this blog are his own.
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I do too, Rod, and have been actually praying for that to happen for some time. See, I live in Virginia. And I can't wait until November 7 to vote.>
Allen may have opened a Pandora's box on this one. The widley believed rumor is that his sealed divorce records contain some bad stuff. It hasn't been an issue, but now...
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/010601.php
From TPM:
All those reporters have a pretty good idea of what's in there. But Sen. Allen (R-VA) just won't agree to let them see it.
It's almost like he's spitting in their face.>
While it may be low rent "oppositon research" the novels of J Webb described more than another culture. There are plenty of steamy and vulgar extracts of scenes which apparently include western/American people, women, teens in very weird sexual situations--according to the Drudge post on this.
Sorry, gotta prefer Allen. Not just on this basis, however.>
Looking beyond this, would you really rather have someone who...
1) Wants to expand embryonic stem cell research, which would kill hundreds of thousands of pre-born humans?
2) Does not want a restrained judiciary?
3) Supports legalized abortion, even if it doesn't come from the courts?
4) Favors gay marriage?
5) Is otherwise liberal on social issues?>
The issue of Webb's writing is clearly a desperation move, but that doesn't change the content of what he wrote. I read Fields of Fire just two or three years ago. A good book, but with a smattering of sleazy moments. In that case, one writes it off as mood-setting.
The excerpts posted by Drudge, on the other hand, make it a very valid point to ask about the interior condition of one who can not only fathom, but put to paper for mass publication, the sorts of things found therein.>
just because you like Webb, doesn't make his writing dirty books any "righter". Allen may not be a saint, but he put up with crap from his past for weeks before he did this. I don't like nastiness like this, but Webb asked for it by not condemning all the nasty attacks like this on Allen. Basically, its the same ole thing, Democrats can say anything, do anything, etc. and nothing happens. When a Republican does it, HORRORS! As for "well recieved" books" as you call Webbs novels, Playboy magazine is also thought of by many "as well recieved" too. Does not make them right. Your dealing with two very flawed men. A little less rightous indignation, and more on what they actually say they will do and have done is what matters.>
I'm a Virginian and was already pretty sure Webb would lose. But this should plant him deeper in the grave.
"Boob-bait" or not, the folks who turned the Foley scandal into a 3 week media circus with open questions about whether the House Speaker should resign (Huh???), have no grounds for complaint about this stuff. It's pedophilia, it's disgusting, and it's the direct product of Webb's very weird and graphic imagination.
Likewise, in a campaign where Democratic operatives can claim the Republican candidate used the N word 20 years ago and get 2 weeks of news coverage out of it, this is more than fair game.
Down Webb goes.>
"the novels of J Webb described more than another culture. There are plenty of steamy and vulgar extracts of scenes which apparently include western/American people, women, teens in very weird sexual situations"
As long as those disparate groups appeared all together (especially if in the altogether) in those scenes in one ginormous multiethnic/generational clusterflock, I have no problem whatever with Webb's writing: he seems to have, in the space of a few "cherry"-picked ("steamy and vulgar" - Bring.It.On!) extracts, combined uncannily all my deepest passions in life - especially for those cuties the "western/American people" (O to pinch just once more their sagebrushed cheeks!), who rank just a whisker beneath Asian teens on my personal Schwing-O-Meter from Ronco (TM & As Seen On TV)...
I saw the Webb story at CNN, and the "Cheney: Webb is full of balogney" [Huh wha'th' - Ed.] sidebar, and swore up and down I had just stubled drunk into the precincts of The Onion, spiritual home of all such all-too-true stories issuing from this fall's rival gangs of flies wrestling for mastery over the national dungheap...>
"I hope Jim Webb beats this clabberhead like a drum."
Spoken like a true member of the Liberal MSM.>
The trouble with Allen is that he's all cowboy hat and no cattle. He may not be a racist (anymore) but he's a phony. And in my experience he never answers constituent's mail. I always get a personal reply from John Warner. I have never gotten any acknowledgment from Allen.
And until Warner came back from Iraq and said, yes, it's a mess, Allen was all stay the course I support the president, we're making progress. Now he's backpedaling. Webb has the right idea for bringing the Iraq thing to about as sucessful a conclusion as we can hope for. His son is over there with the Marines. He served as Reagan's Navy Sec. and won a Navy Cross, Silver Star, two Bronze Stars and 2 Purple Hearts in Vietnam while Allen was hiding out on a dude ranch in Nevada.
I voted for Allen in 2000 (so did Webb) and I can't think of one useful thing he has done as Senator. All he does is rubber stamp Bush.
Like Webb, I USED to be a Republican. They have screwed up Iraq so badly and trashed the Constitution, lied to us, and spent the country into a huge budget deficit and I just can't stand to reward these goobers with my vote. I haven't voted Democrat in 30 years but I am going to make an exception.>
Easy for you to say, Rod. You don't live here.
Brierrabbit3030 makes some good points. Webb and his supporters never shut up about Allen's past, and a lot of us are getting good and sick of it. This is mild stuff in comparison. And as for the books, I'm all for writing honestly about evil in order to show it for what it is. But tell me, what excuse can you think of to condone Webb's gratuitous and "non-judgmental," as the liberals say, writings about the kind of thing that enraged you on a daily basis when you covered its presence in the Catholic Church?>
Most of the people talking about Jim Webb here probably haven't read anything but the quotes listed. He's a great American writer. Fields of Fire is, without question, the Vietnam Novel.
This latest move by Allen is a final very deperate attempt to win.
It's sad to see the once honorable conservative movement in this country being destroyed by these foolish, do anything to win, neocons. Hopefully, with a time-out or two, Republicans will regain their composure and be allowed to play with other people in Government. But shame any of you who would drag Jim Webb through the mud over a piece of fiction. You've set the Republican party back 50 years.>
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