Recently converted, because he couldn't stomach the GOP any longer, Jim Webb shows Democrats how to campaign for political office.
Bob Lewis for AP reports that Republican Sen. George Allen attacked his Democratic challenger's opposition to a flag-burning amendment, and James Webb retaliated by calling Allen a coward who sat out the Vietnam War "playing cowboy at a dude ranch in Nevada."
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Well, how about that, a FIGHTING DEM! Republicans for too long have gotten away with smarmy insinuations that Democrats are weak and unpatriotic. Allen is playing the game with the wrong guy.
Reporter Lewis made this his second paragraph in the story:
"The statement by a senior adviser to Webb, a decorated veteran and former secretary of the Navy, went to extraordinary lengths to question Allen's fortitude, even repeatedly using the middle name the senator detests and never uses, Felix."
The sting of the needle.
And there was this jewel of disingenuity from Allen campaign adviser Dick Wadhams:
"They're saying we questioned (Webb's) patriotism, and that's a lie," Wadhams said. "We just raised a legitimate question about whether he supports a flag amendment or not. How is that questioning his patriotism?"
As if that wasn't the whole point of the amendment in the first place. Republicans love to dish it out, but they sure can't take it.
Lewis continues:
The news release by Allen's campaign said Webb's opposition to the amendment shows he is beholden to liberal Sens. John Kerry, Ted Kennedy and Charles Schumer, who all voted against the amendment.
Within hours, Webb lashed back, calling Allen's news release "weak-kneed attacks by cowards."
"People who live in glass dude ranches should not question the patriotism of real soldiers who fought and bled for this country on a real battlefield," Jarding said.
Webb left the Republican party over Bush's handling of the war in Iraq. He has written novels informed by his Vietnam experience and a recent non-fiction book "Born Fighting."
Allen is a first-term senator mentioned as a possible 2008 presidential candidate. While he was a student at the University of Virginia, Allen worked summers at ranches in the Southwest.
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