It is an axiom of politics that the candidate who finds himself trailing going into the home stretch of a campaign must “go negative” in order to make up the deficit before election day.
The thinking behind this strategy is not to get voters to change their minds necessarily but rather so disgust the supporters of your opponent that they stay home on election day.
Congratulations, George Allen. You’ve hit the jackpot.
Issuing a press release that quotes a character from one of Webb’s saucy war novels doing unspeakable things to his own son (sorry – find the damn link somewhere else. I don’t link to porn.), Allen may very well have sealed his victory by “outing” Webb’s fictional day dreams but he has lost his soul in the process.
Yes, yes, I know all the excuses my intelligent and worthy commenters are going to give below. It’s in the public domain. It is weird. Allen included a plethora of other quotes showing Webb’s disdain for women in the press release – in a way much more disturbing than the incestuous porn and barely concealed pedophilia. And Webb’s dishonest attacks on Allen’s character deserve to be answered in kind.
But doesn’t this make anyone else’s skin crawl? Both because Webb wrote it and Allen brought it into a political campaign?
Don’t get me wrong. I’ve written many times that politics is a full contact sport and that just about anything is fair game when it comes to the kind of bare knuckled, Pier Street brawl that the Allen-Webb contest has become.
But I also believe that politics is not a zero sum game. There must be limits beyond which a candidate is penalized for exceeding. The absolutely disgusting nature of the passages quoted in the Allen press release fills that bill. The fact that they are quoting piece of fiction obviates only slightly Webb’s startling and disturbing imaginative wanderings into the sexual dark side of the human mind as it also reveals the depths to which Allen’s honor and integrity have sunk.
If this doesn’t doom any Presidential hopes for the Virginia Senator, it certainly should.
This “outing” does nothing to elevate the debate over Iraq, homeland security, the economy. or any number of other important issues. But then, few campaigns going today are interested in doing so. Perhaps, as in other times in our history, the real issues are so divisive, so painful to discuss that we substitute this kind of excrement and call it politics so that we don’t have to face the hard choices.
The winds of history are blowing gale force outside our door while inside, the occupants are tearing at each other’s vitals, going toe to toe, hammer and tongs over trivialities, personality quirks, and the real or imagined malfeasance of one party or another. Evil lurks in dark corners, conspiracies flourish, and the absolute worst of our fellow countrymen is said and believed.
In some ways, the election of 1800 was similar. The Democratic Republicans (Jeffersonians) were convinced that 4 more years of Federalist rule would doom the American experiment. Democrats were telling anyone who would listen that the Federalists wished to establish a monarchy along with a debased aristocracy while corrupting the republic with their money schemes and unconstitutional actions.
The real issues were the formation of a national bank and the support of the Federalists for Great Britain in their war with Napoleon. The campaign carried out against one of the greatest Americans who ever lived, John Adams, was shameful. Rather than attack his policies, the Democrats went after Adams personally. The viciousness of their attacks depressed the great man and caused a rift in his friendship with Jefferson that was to last almost 20 years.
In the end, Jefferson and Adams healed the wounds from that campaign and, in the most remarkable of exchanges in the history of American letters, explored the philosophy and politics that made up the basis of the grand experiment in democracy in which they both played such a vital role. Their letters – affectionate, teasing at times, and thoughtful – prove that even the rankest of political enemies can find common ground if a modest effort is made.
I daresay that Allen and Webb will be enemies until the day they die. A pity, that. Both men have proved in the past that they have a lot to offer the country. And given the perilous times in which we live, we could use whatever wit and wisdom they could contribute to public life in America.
UPDATE
Now, the George Allen campaign has detonated its October surprise using the same tactics as Cheney’s and Libby’s critics—attacking the fiction of his Democrat opponent, James Webb via an official “press release” sent to the Drudge Report last night. Are the passages in Webb’s “Lost Soldiers” bizarre and perverted? Yes. But they are no more proof of Webb’s immorality and unfitness for office than the passages in “Sisters” are proof that Lynne Cheney hates men or that the passages in “The Apprentice” are proof that Scooter Libby endorses sex between children and bears.
Agreed. But the efficacy of using Webb’s words as a device to attack him in some way still rubs me the wrong way.
6:20 am
Enough is enough
Allen may very well have sealed his victory by “outing†Webb’s fictional day dreams but he has lost his soul in the process….
9:33 am
[...] Update: A pox on both their houses, says Moran: Issuing a press release that quotes a character from one of Webb’s saucy war novels doing unspeakable things to his own son (sorry – find the damn link somewhere else. I don’t link to porn.), Allen may very well have sealed his victory by “outing†Webb’s fictional day dreams but he has lost his soul in the process… [...]
9:48 am
The REAL issue in the Webb/Allen Senate race: the Washington Post’s pro-Webb bias
There’s a lot of talk in the blogosphere today about dirty, nasty passages from books Jim Webb has written that were released by the Allen campaign last night.
My response: So what? I’m in Malkin’s camp on this one . There are plen…
9:53 am
Sorry, Tim. I realize your intent was innocent but I will not publish your comment because of the graphic description you included.
10:06 am
Jim Webb’s Dirty Books
Senator George Allen has issued a press release detailing lurid, strange, and otherwise lame scenes from the novels of his Democratic opponent, former Navy Secretary James Webb.
WEBB’S WEIRD WORLD
The Author’s Disturbing Writings Show a Continued P…
10:09 am
I doubt this makes much of a splash. Let’s see, Iraq/the economy/healthcare/terrorism vs. dirty passages in a book written decades ago.
10:57 am
Republicans have just taken October surprises in the teeth election cycle after election cycle. I’m not sure why the Republicans would want to follow the Dems in this apparently losing strategy.
That said, what is the choice? With the Dems launching these attacks and MSM amplifying and milking them as long as they possibly can, no response will disillusion the base. Consider the attacks on Bush. He has generally held his powder in the face of accusations of lying and fascism, only joining the fray at election time. The consequences of holding fire has been MSM broadsides that have withered his popularity. Accusations without response will do that.
11:29 am
[...] Update: Some on the Right like Rightwingnuthouse and Michelle Malkin are dismayed at the Allen campaign’s press release regarding the contents of Webb’s “Novel” [...]
11:44 am
230 years ago Jefferson argued that citizens need the same weapons as the government because the worst of us go into government. Jefferson then proves himself to be one of the worst of us 24 years later. This year’s elections are again proving the point. The worst of us go into government. We need the same weaponry as the government to protect ourselves from the worst of us.
The exception that proves the rule is Ronnie. Ronnie was not only not the worst of us but was the very best of us. I am sure he is rolling over in his grave at what Allen did! Allen has adopted one of the slogans of the Socialist Labor Party (the folks who scared his mother into denying her religion 66 years ago) “The ends justify the means”. As a conservative I disagree with that slogan and am asamed to be grouped with Allen and the like.
12:03 pm
“... Allen may very well have sealed his victory by “outing†Webb’s fictional day dreams but he has lost his soul in the process.”
I disagree. This is not some unsubstantiated allegation concerning some unprovable event that happened 25 or 30 years ago being used as a political smear tactic. All Allen did was to state facts already in evidence in the public domain. Period. If that’s what you call a “dirty” campaign, then so be it, but I call it a “smart” campaign. Nothing was made up, nothing was fabricated. Some of us voters want to know about the moral fiber and character of the candidates, and writing about sexual abuse of a minor is just one small step away from actually doing it, IMHO. Foley didn’t resign for nothing, eh? My only question to the Dhimicrats is “How does the shoe fit? Comfortable?” Heh.
12:06 pm
Thank you for being a voice of reason.
I’ve been embarrassed to be a conservative this morning, thanks to the unthinking, partisan reaction of many.
Apparently, the concept of fiction – even strange fiction with strange characters doing evil things – is lost on people. Or they’re refusing to see the obvious because it suits their politics.
As I noted elsewhere … condemning Webb for his fiction is like suggesting Peter Benchley supported shark attacks. The shark was a fictional character, doing hungry-shark things … designed to heighten the reader’s emotional response.
Conservatives seem to suggest Benchley could have saved hundreds of pages by cutting out the shark attack parts. Right?
Wrong.
How embarrassing. Can someone form a viable third party for those of us with brains? The Conservative/Libertarian/Common Sense party, perhaps?
Okay, the name sucks. But damn I hate when conservatives act like the cartoon figures liberals make them out to be.
12:11 pm
I agree with Rick Moran on this. To attack something a candidate wrote in a work of fiction is know-nothingism at its worst. It is both cynical and stupid.
Rush Limbaugh is gleefully defending Allen’s attack, which to me is worse than what he said about Michael J. Fox.
12:11 pm
“writing about sexual abuse of a minor is just one small step away from actually doing it, IMHO.”
Really?
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John described the ritual execution of Christ – not to mention Herod’s murder of thousands of children.
Were they one small step away from doing it?
Dear God. How embarrassing. Quick – somebody remind me why I’m voting?
Oh. Right. Because at least my side isn’t quite as bad as their side.
Time to go burn my favorite Clint Eastwood western. There’s a disturbing scene of rape in it … and, you know, Clint must be one small step from actually doing it …
12:18 pm
In today’s mud slinging world of politics, sometimes it’s either get dirty or lose. I’d rather see Allen get as dirty as the Webb campaign and their media team at WaPo and win; especially more than i’d like to see him running a clean campaign that pleases all the self righteous conservatives and lose.
While the average blogger and pundit might claim foul, the average voter in Virginia (those conservative Christians, impressed by Webb’s service and pseudo conservative stances) will most definitely be disgusted by this. Fiction or not.
Work on a campaign or two, you’ll quickly find out.
12:20 pm
[...] UPDATE: Rick Moran writes, “If this doesn’t doom any Presidential hopes for the Virginia Senator, it certainly should.” I agree. [...]
1:05 pm
Election ‘06 – 12 Days Till Nov. 7 (October 27, 2006)
[This post will be updated throughout the day; scroll down for more stories] News Southern discomfort: New Yorker looks at Allen vs Webb, “the strangest Senate race of the year.” House scorecard: Pollster.com has posted a new scorecard; Mark Blumenth…
1:07 pm
Of course, the fact that the passage has nothing to do with incest and pedophilia but deals with tribal rituals and how out of place the American characters felt when seeing it, means nothing?
The hell with truth and context, there are elections to be won!
1:50 pm
[...] Republicans understand how abhorrent that Allen’s desperate path is. Rick Moran at Rightwing Nuthouse and Michelle Malkin (of all people) have both weighed in against Allen’s gambit in strong terms, and I expect to see more. [...]
3:13 pm
I ask, what sort of person thinks this way. You try writing this crap and see what your brain does.
If it can be said that the mere utterance of the N-word makes you a racist, what does writing entire books of XXX porn make you.
Hope Allen wins, big time.
4:14 pm
What I find most appalling is that Malkin, who generally represents some sanity, is making the same argument against Allen that Webb is. Lynne Cheney & Scooter Libby were NOT candidates for elective office. James Webb IS.
James Webb is not a moral man. He left his first wife to marry the second then left the second to marry the third who is pregnant with his fifth child and she’s about a year older than his daughter with the first wife. His professional history is not any less complicated and is MUCH more disturbing. His hostility towards American women is welll-known. His Washingtonian article railed against “horny women” at the Naval Academy. He declared women aren’t fit psychologically for combat duty.
Allen’s campaign shining daylight on Jim Webb’s record is a duty. If the press releases, ads & discourse is distasteful to Malkin & others, then don’t play politics.
5:06 pm
Well, we just can not allow the demsheviks to win.
Every seat counts.
So, a tactical win now, can become a strategical one pretty soon.
5:17 pm
Come on – Webb didn’t make up the practice. It is in fact a Cambodian one, and it is NOT SEXUAL. Just like Judeo Christian circumcision isn’t S&M sexual abuse either.
This is ignorant, shameless hypocrisy. But it’s what we’ve come to expect from Allen.
5:32 pm
From NRO:
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NDc1NGQ3Y2M2NjllZmU5NTdiMGI5NDdmZTVjNjE5MTM=
Lost Soldiers [Kathryn Jean Lopez]
Would this be a bad time to mention that John McCain wrote a blurb for it ?
Posted at 10:46 AM
LOL. McCain endorsed the book, but now it’s evil. Maybe if Allen, Bush, Cheney and the rest of the GOP had actually gone to Vietnam, they might not be such ignoramuses.
6:00 pm
This is stupidity.
I’m a writer of fiction. My fiction is often horrific and graphically violent (a scene in one of my short stories features a disturbed antihero figure cutting off a villain’s hands on camera and then sending the tape to one of the villain’s cohorts). I don’t condone the amputation of the limbs of even horrible folks (and this character was a horrible fellow).
I’ve never had the urge to harm anyone (save monsters like Osama). Fiction is an exploration of the human condition (and hopefully a realistic one). Let’s not pretend that people aren’t sick, twisted, and violent.
6:20 pm
“Allen may very well have sealed his victory by “outing†Webb’s fictional day dreams but he has lost his soul in the process.”
Good grief, politics ain’t tiddly winks. I suggest if you think Allen lost his soul you’re better off reporting on sports or some other topic. Nothing is more irritating than a whiny crying holier than thou self righteous blogger.
6:29 pm
“Nothing is more irritating than a whiny crying holier than thou self righteous blogger.”
He isn’t being self-righteous, he’s being a logical person. You don’t attack someone for FICTION they wrote for crying out loud.
6:35 pm
Well, I guess this shows that Stephen King, Elmore Leonard, Tom Clancy, Lawerence Block, James Ellroy, Patricia Cornwell, Clive Barker, John Grisham, Dean Koontz and Jonathan Kellerman can never run for public office.
Jesus. How stupid.
7:16 pm
For Webb, or anyone to hide John McCain is ABSURD. onservatives hate John McCain. Jerry Falwell can go play nicey-nice if he wants to – But John McCain is a CREEP. That’s why he got hsi ASS handed to him in South Carolina in 2000.
McCain – like WEBB - left the wife who waited for him while he was a POW for the perky heiress that would fund his political career. McCain doesn’t belong in officeanymore than Webb does.
Webb’s people had a pretty free ride all summer long. But dancing the Potoman Two-Step ain’t for the faint of heart.
If the “ugliness” of politics is too hard – then get out of it. It’s not going to get sweeter before Nov 7th.
7:23 pm
Rick,
Well said.
Take no demshevik prisoners!
Because they don’t.
7:26 pm
If anyone cares enough about their intellectual integrity enough to come to an informed opinion, just check out the Amazon reviews of the books. Yeah, they’re badly written mil lit, but no one was particularly offended by the passages in question. Most of the readers aren’t Hugh Hefner’s compatriots, either. FWIW
7:33 pm
“If the “ugliness†of politics is too hard – then get out of it. It’s not going to get sweeter before Nov 7th.”
No you get out. This isn’t your ugly politic smackdown. This is American democracy, a glorious thing, not a dirty GOP pigstyle, and some of us actually care about the issues, like Americans getting slaughtered on a daily basis in Iraq. You debase and demean and disgrace this great country by your cutthroat, win-at-all costs thug tactics which are more befitting a KGB like Putin than an American.
7:35 pm
p.s. Indeed, Bush and Cheney are far closer to Stalin than they are to Reagan—who would be appalled at their hatred and dismantling of the one thing that is the ESSENCE of America—freedom. This wiretapping, torture-mongering, “permanent one-party rule” cleptocracy is profoundly anti-American.
8:17 pm
CommonSense… the matter at hand is whether or not James Webb is fit to serve as US Senator. He is not. He is an ammoral man. Whatever shame he carries about the Vietnam war is HIS SHAME. Not yours, not mine and not today’s Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen or Marines.
His writings both fiction & nonfiction demonstrate a temperment unsuitable for public service. His hostility towards American women is unquestionable. And as an American woman, also of Scots-Irish descent – Webb’s betrayal of our nation’s strong belief in Equality is an automatic DQ for me.
As for this being a GOP politcal smackdown – you’re right. It is. And we’ll keep this seat. Because we’re better at politics. Tough noodles.
8:48 pm
Webb of Perversion
The big political news of this news cycle has been Jim Webb’s novel and it’s rev
10:06 pm
I am glad I do not live in Virginia. I’d hate to have to choose between these two men. The mudslinging went nuclear a while ago and there may be more left in the arsenal – the sealed Allen divorce records story has interesting potential.
Tradesports.com has the race at 30/70 in Allen’s favor. Allen picked up 10 percent today – it was 60/40 yesterday.
In the NorthEast (my domain) the Allen racism story would beat Webb’s racy wartime fiction hands down, but Virginia must be another story.
10:19 pm
I’m glad the bizarre synaptic activity, that Webb obviously suffers from, is exposed. To Senator Allen’s credit, he didn’t use a surrogate or bagman, like some others have done recently.
Some of you can dismiss Webb’s writing as ‘fiction’ or ‘literature,’ I find it disgusting and lurid, and indeed, can’t imagine ever having thoughts such as those about the man and his son. Those ‘words’ came from a disturbed, and very sick mind, and he needed to be exposed before the election. While many of you wish to excoriate Sen. Allen, I on the other hand with reserve that fate for the voters of Virginia, should they elect Webb.
10:21 pm
And if Allen’s divorce records are revealed – Webb’s will be too… from both of his ex-wives. It’s very ugly this year!
10:23 pm
Amen, No2liberals!
11:26 pm
no2liberals, re I find it disgusting and lurid, and indeed, can’t imagine ever having thoughts such as those about the man and his son.
I can’t imagine doing it or even thinking about doing, for sure. Nonetheless, this is an aspect of childrearing practices in some cultures in Asia. I did not know this before tonight, but the material turned up in google searches was quite convincing. (For an academic treatment and if and only if you’re not squeamish, there is a unsettling/interesting chapter in “The Emotional Life of Nations”, Lloyd deMause)
3:34 am
Webb has explained that he actually saw the pedophilic act take place in full view of about a hundred people. In some parts of the Third World it is not a sexual act done for enjoyment, but a RITUAL, as the following scientific article demonstrates:
“The fact that a son is bound up with significant symbolic meaning, is inseparable from a local recognition of a boy’s body in biological terms, that is to say, his genitals (i.e. the Phallus). In Thinh Tri, the body of a little boy is generally a matter of common interest and concern. For example, a little boy is usually fondly called a thang cu, which means ‘penis boy’ (lit. male penis). The genitals of small Thinh Tri boys receive a great deal of attention by being commented on, joked about, or even grasped. The local ways in which boys’ genitals are paid attention to are in sharp contrast to the fact that girls’ genitals do not receive any special attention. The widespread concern in Thinh Tri with respect to boys’ genitals is related to the symbolism of blood, which does not mean the same with regard to females and males. Despite blood being acknowledged as a ‘vital life force’ (khi huyet) of both the female and male body, it is basically perceived of as a female energy. Its complementary male vital life force is ‘semen’ (khi), which is said to be the substance of male energy. This energy is thought to guarantee the continuation of the blood of a male’s patrilineage. Due to such assumptions about blood, a boy’s genitals—and by extension, his body—are always already inscribed with the collected morality (dao duc), honor (danh du), and ‘obligations’ (nghia) of his past generations. Boys’ bodies have accumulated body capital while girls’ bodies have not . Because a Thinh Tri boy’s body holds inborn morality, honor, and reputation due to his relation to his patrilineage, his body i.e. the Phallus) condenses the preconditions for practicing good male morality. His body symbolizes the future good morality, honor, and reputation of his patrilineage and the performance of certain patrilineal rituals”.
Hence,
” a child’s body is construed as a powerful socio-symbolic and material sign that reflects local life in terms of hierarchies, positions, and power. Local understandings of female and male bodies crystallize the fact that a child’s body simultaneously is wrought socially (i.e. in terms of ‘gender’) and biologically (i.e. in terms of ‘sex’). In this way, both the notions of sex and gender have a history, which is constructed discursively. In other words, both notions address the same question, which is namely, how female and male bodies are rendered meaningful in time and space”.
9.2.1 Verbal Indices
Matters become more directly apparent in accompanying verbal reinforcements, directed to the baby/toddler or to audience. Only a selection of descriptions provide such accompanying commentaries:
The Vietnamese case being mentioned; Ordos Mongols: ” commonly touch the child’s genitals and caress them, saying at the same time: “Give me this” “; Okinawans: “Old women like to tweak a little boy’s penis and jokingly say. “What is that, what is that?”; Balinese: “With the slight titillation go the repeated words: “Handsome, handsome, handsome”, an adjective applied only to males. The little girl’s vulva is patted gently, with the accompanying feminine adjective “Pretty, pretty, pretty” “; Borneo: “Mothers often hold infant boys aloft in the course of singing magical growth songs, blowing softly on the penis, while noting aloud sexual powers to come at maturity”; Sarawak: “Not infrequently, when brother’s or sister’s young child visits Ego, the latter will “make glad over him” (begaga ka ia) with the words, Jaum aku, ulun aku (“My captive, my slave”)” ; Aritama: “Adults make joking remarks about the future virility of the baby, about the size of his penis, and about his reactions to such caresses”; Martinique: “Men fondle the penises of little boys, remarking publicly on their size and potential, impressing on the children expectations of their masculinity”; Puerto Rico: ” adults and older brothers and sisters are likely to tease and play with his genitals, kissing them and remarking on their size, commenting that he is a machito (real little male) or a machote (real he-man)”; ” parents and friends may play with the boy’s genitals until he is around seven years old”; “parents would pull a two-year-old’s penis, and inquire for its function. The answer would be, “For the women!”; “A two-year-old boy will be asked, “What is it for?” while an adult pulls at his penis; and sometimes the child will answer, “For women”. Such a child is called malo (bad) or even malcria’o (badly brought up), but actually the terms are used with some measure of approval”; “As soon as they started talking, they asked them questions about their penis, for whom it was and for what it was needed. They answered it was for the chacha or the girl friend, or to playa trick on the girl friend. If they had an erection, they were praised and the parents would celebrate it by telling them they had joined the masculine race”. Morocco: ” affectionate genital contact some women extend when they greet or communicate with an infant”; “Little sisters, aunts, maids, and mothers often attract the little boy’s attention to his htewta and try to teach him to pronounce the word, which is quite a task given the gutteral initial letter h. One of the common games played by adult females with a male child is to get him to understand the connection between sidi (master) and the htwta. Hada sidhum (“This is their master”), say the women, pointing to the child’s penis. The kissing of the child’s penis is a normal gesture for a female relative who has not seen him since his birth. Tbarkallah ‘ala-r-Rajal (“God protect the man”), she may whisper”; Turkey: ” grandparents and parents fondled their genitals and repeated: “You are male, you are male” “. Olson-Prather noted that a teenage neighbour girl of the elite class expressed verbal but not physical admiration; “In Egypt the mother may attempt to prepare her son gradually for the circumcision operation by “caressing his organ and playfully endeavoring to separate the foreskin from the glans. While doing this she would hum words to the effect that what she is doing will help to make him become a man amongst men”; Eskimo children would copy the practice “to caricature the physical raptures of their parents with cries of “It’s wonderful!” “.
8:03 am
p.s. You people who think that authors should censor their works to avoid offendintg are just as abd as the PC crowd. Indeed, you have become the PC crowd. “Don’t offend anyone with reality†is fundamentally American. I hope Webb and others continue to stand up against the NeoPuritan censors and knowitalls who want to pretty-up even gory ggrimy experiences like Vietnam. If they had their way, there’d be no Full Metal Jacket or Platoon.
Has the GOP (doesn’t mean Conservatives btw) become the party of political correctness, censorship and puritanism? How totally unamerican and anti-American.
God help us. PC from both extreme left and the extreme right
!!
10:34 am
I guess I’m confused , its O.K. for the webb campaign to go and on and on about the word Macaaca and claim Allen said the N word years ago, but not O.K. for Allen to show scum books written by a man who wants to be a public servant?
!!
What am I missing here?
Guess I’m just tired of it all, the ungliness, especially on the dem side and all the October surprizes being thrown out against the Republicans. I’m burned out on the media pushing so damn hard for the dems, its just plain sickening.
10:42 am
The Dixie Chicks Archipelago
You probably haven’t heard, but the Dixie Chicks have a new movie out. For the most part, word of the movie has been suppressed, but a few key details have managed to leak out…
11:37 am
No one has said anything about censoring the books… that is ludicrous. What I’m saying is that given Webb’s hostility towards women and apparent obsession with deviant sex, extramarital sex, incest & pedophilia – he does not belong in the US Senate.
As for the practice he “witnessed” in the slums of Bangkok – if it is legal & commonplace in Bangkok – FINE. But in the United States it is a CRIME. It is INCEST. It is PEDOPHILIA. And the man would go to jail. Webb is certainly entitled to write about anything, he’s a good & serious writer. My point is that he is unfit to serve in the United States Senate. His moral judgement on votes about mandatory minimums, law enforcement, equal rights, the civil rights of CHILDREN, healthcare, a woman’s right to choose and a host of other issues comes into question when he personally sees nothing wrong with that horrific act.
3:25 pm
I don’t believe it was Webb’s intent, to inform anyone of his interest in cultural anthropology. I’ve heard of cultures that eat dogs, eat humans, and even of one culture that believes women are chattel, owned by men all of their lives(you may have heard of that), yet those practices aren’t accepted in this country. By my standards, and apparently other’s, what we have seen is a display of flawed judgement, and dysfunctional thinking. Not even going into the many other examples of Webb’s unusual views, towards women and minorities specifically, this most recent revelation about his thought processes are enough to convince me he is unfit for high political office.
As for any recriminations for Senator Allen, I have no problem with respectfully disagreeing with anyone, on how this may or may not have harmed his soul. The fact he was already leading in the polls makes me think he was doing more than insuring his election, he was sending a message…eff with me and you will get nuked! Personally, I like that, a republican politician with the cajones to strike hard, at an enemy that deserves it.
As for censorship…phffft! That’s one of the things I love best about free speech, it allows people to say what they want, so that others can see what is going on in that person’s mind…irrespective of how pornographic or maladaptive it may be.
4:05 pm
The GOP has been playing “AnimalFarm” in real life. The have become the liberal, sleazballs the Dems were before Newt threw them out! Allen’s slime is a perfect example of how liberal Republicans believe “they are more equal than others”! If the GOp loses both houses this year the will have earned the loss!The party of Ronnie is now the plarty of liberal liars and slome!
8:03 pm
Fiction, non-fiction, shmiction… I cannot believe how stupid people like Webb (and Foley) are. The first thing I learned when I was in government was “If you don’t want to see it on the front page of the New York Times, DON’T PUT IT IN WRITING.” The first thing I learned in academia was “Anything and everything you put in writing will be judged by your peers.” Mr. Webb’s bizarre fantasies and mysoginistic comments may be fine for a novelist. They are NOT fine for a public servant. We have enough people with weird “inner lives” in politics already. (My home state of Massachusetts specializes in those…) Let’s not try to make excuses for them, or for those who would like to join the club.
11:02 pm
Sigh. I’ve rarely been so disturbed to call myself conservative.
To all those who don’t understand the word “fiction” – here’s a very easy challenge for you:
Name one – name ANY - novelist or writer, past or present, who you think COULD run for office.
Anybody.
Good luck finding one, if you’re planning to remain intellectually consistent.
Dr. Seuss, maybe? (Although come to think of it, the Grinch was pretty twisted, and Horton Hears a Who clearly suggests a bias against the hearing impaired …)
Name. Me. One. One writer who I can’t find to have written something sexual, violent, disturbing, or offensive.
Just one. And for God’s sake, don’t read your Bible. It’s frickin’ full of smut … if you don’t understand the context. The writer of Leviticus, for example, CLEARLY supported sex with camels … right?
Sheesh. Embarrassing.
8:09 am
[...] Rick Moran over at Right Wing Nuthouse is typical. There must be limits beyond which a candidate is penalized for exceeding. The absolutely disgusting nature of the passages quoted in the Allen press release fills that bill. The fact that they are quoting piece of fiction obviates only slightly Webb’s startling and disturbing imaginative wanderings into the sexual dark side of the human mind as it also reveals the depths to which Allen’s honor and integrity have sunk. [...]
12:47 am
“Both men have proved in the past that they have a lot to offer the country. And given the perilous times in which we live, we could use whatever wit and wisdom they could contribute to public life in America.”
Your conclusion points out the saddest indictment of this election year. A damaging outcome which weakens our nation during sush critical times.
United we stand, divided we fall
1:59 pm
What about Lynne Cheney’s lesbian novel? Got a problem with that, Moran?
I didn’t think so. It’s okay when a Republican does it.
You hypocritic morans disgust me.
3:05 pm
Talking about negative campaigns, has anyone paid attention to the TN senate race with Harold Ford and Robert Coker?
9:13 pm
A dhimmicrat calling a Republican a hypocrit. Pot…meet kettle.
As for Lynne Cheney…is she running for the Senate, also? Talk about your stealth campaigns!
3:41 am
Submitted for Your Approval
First off… any spambots reading this should immediately go here, here, here, and here. Die spambots, die! And now… here are all the links submitted by members of the Watcher’s Council for this week’s vote. Council li…
6:05 am
Watchers of weasles 11/01/2006
The Watcher of Weasels has this week’s nominations up. Here are the Council nominations. AbbaGav considers the depths to which the media sinks to make an issue of torture. The question actually asked here is getting remarkably close to “have you stop…
10:50 am
[...] Right Wing Nut House, “Enough Is Enough†[...]
4:09 pm
The Council Has Spoken!
First off… any spambots reading this should immediately go here, here, here, and here. Die spambots, die! And now… the winning entries in the Watcher’s Council vote for this week are Female Genital Mutilation in Georg…