Does Sen. Webb seriously intend for the war in Iraq to end in the same fashion as his example of President Eisenhower ending the Korean War? Last time I looked we still had 30,000 troops stationed on the Korean peninsula.
By tdb001 | Jan 24, 2007 11:54:53 PM | Request Removal
A Bush speechwriter calls Jim Webb incoherent? That is laughably ironic and worthy of the sorts of idiotic neo-con-isms from the Colbert Report. Except, of course this Bushie isnt being satiric. RE the Korean War -- Webbs analogy is indeed inexact since Korea was a conflict involving the organized, regular armies of nation-states. There were actual battle lines. It was not entirely urban guerrilla warfare. Frances troubles in Algeria are more analogous to our little Iraq debacle. And, not surprisingly, things are going about as well that is, as poorly as they did for the French as they are doing for us. Not that anyone in this administration would think to learn anything from the mistakes of the French. We didnt in Vietnam, why would we bother in Iraq?
By funhaus5 | Jan 25, 2007 1:11:37 AM | Request Removal
Gerson, you*ve worked with the organ grinder*s chimp too long, you wouldn*t recognize a patriot until they planted a combat boot up your backside. Webb is the real deal, you and your neocon trash should be waiting curbside for the big WM truck.
By billgk | Jan 25, 2007 1:50:07 AM | Request Removal
Its all politic babble to me. For just half the things this administration has done and is still doing, there should be tons of noose rope being used in DC! Oh! that is too barbarian? Perhaps, but Ill settle for complete white house overhaul with fast immediate impeachment...
By darmar40 | Jan 25, 2007 1:59:26 AM | Request Removal
Rude rebuff,Ill say.Pelosi and Reid did not bite.Rummys gone and the blame is squarely on Bush,rightly so.The Great Decider,my way or the highway wants someone to share this monumental blunder.Rove is losing his touch.
By hbetterthanahal | Jan 25, 2007 4:12:17 AM | Request Removal
Didnt show a whole lot of emotion? I saw a TON of emotion, its called contempt, dissatisfaction, ANGER. Or is poor Mr. Moran unable to see it because Mr. Webb is a thinker and not a raving, screaming maniac?
By digtalcomp | Jan 25, 2007 5:34:16 AM | Request Removal
Webb did okay in what is usually a yawner after the drama of the SOTU. I did think it was heavy on self-promotion, though, and there were two whoppers. The military is NOT against current policy, and we were hardly **reckless** going in.
By gitarre | Jan 25, 2007 6:36:37 AM | Request Removal
The tragedy of our impasse in Iraq follows from our inability to know the consequences of our leaving. Our vulnerabilty to terrorism--even nuclear, and our dependence on oil supplied by the region, constrain us to wage a war we cannot win without national unity and purpose. Clearly an unwinnable war must be bad war,just as an unenforceable law like prohibitionmust be let go. But withdrawal puts us in equal peril. With good minds on both sides of the dilemma, once again ignorant armies clash by night.
By mkaplan | Jan 25, 2007 6:37:29 AM | Request Removal
As a Brit I am appalled at some of the reactions to John Webbs Statement. The point of criticism should have been the contents of the sppech but not the prose. Come on USA Speechwriters and Journalists face the problems of your electorate not the preservation of your career and your future. Hollywood, which portrays the American Dream showed in years gone by - and still screened on TV - characters such as James Stewart, Henry Fonda and Gregory Peck who played the partsof past True Men. Look to your History USA. Best Wishes. John Stanton. PS Wasnt a Stanton Abraham Lincolns Minister of War? So from a Family point of view I do have a very linked interest.
By john | Jan 25, 2007 6:41:14 AM | Request Removal
By the way, the SOTU address got a huge audience, and a CNN poll showed 78 percent favorable. Interesting.
By gitarre | Jan 25, 2007 6:42:03 AM | Request Removal
DINO Webb offered more of his POS rhetoric. If more than half the military were opposed to fighting the war, the media would have been on it like flies on a dead Shiite long ago! His pornographic descriptions in his best sellers offered more interest to most.
By dmcdonald21 | Jan 25, 2007 8:41:11 AM | Request Removal
I thought the critical part of Sen. Webbs statement was about the trust that is implied between the political leadership and the military forces. There is an unwritten contract that the leadership will not place the troops in harms way without cause. For almost 4 years this contract has been badly abused by the leadership side. Why trust them now?
By sbarkley | Jan 25, 2007 8:51:01 AM | Request Removal
Michael Gearsons laughable claim that Webb would fail as a speech writer makes one wonder how David Frum, whose wife bragged about him coining the Axis of Evil phrase, now feels about the enormous cost to world peace and stability those words engendered. Iran and North Korea go nuclear, and Gearson wants to cast stones at Webb. Looks like being delusional is a job requirement of the Bush Administration.
By seitzlaw | Jan 25, 2007 9:14:44 AM | Request Removal
Jim Webbs speech was all that it should have been and more. Far more eloquent and inspiring than Bushs speech. For the vast majority that embraced it, it was most definitely not incoherent. We get it. Sadly, republican operatives still lapping at the bloodstained boots of Bush/Cheney never will.
By kelfrylane | Jan 25, 2007 9:36:31 AM | Request Removal
Webbs speech was comical, in his attempt at showing his patriotic side he failed to mention that he was a long time womanizer, who believes that woman serve no place in the Government or military. Webb is clueless.
By Ruth#3 | Jan 25, 2007 10:55:04 AM | Request Removal
Webbs speech was a much more accurate State of the Union. The fate of the middle class must be addressed or the nation is at risk. The Iraqi war was/is reckless. How do we expect for good to come out of lies? Why do we expect the Iraquis to buck up and rebuild their country when we have destroyed it based on lies?
By susanb51 | Jan 25, 2007 11:30:33 AM | Request Removal
``Conservatives scoffed at Webbs less-than-animated demeanor. One blog headline commented on Webbs constant seriousness with the headline: ``Dem Response: Countdown to Webbs Aneurysm.`` How typical. Lacking intelligent criticism, conservatives substitute childish ridicule. And this is a pretty damn serious time. Thousands of Americans and tens of thousands of Iraqis have died in this ill-conceived and mismanaged war. That this conservative blogger thinks the time and issues warrant anything but seriousness frightens and disgusts me.
By thisbe88 | Jan 25, 2007 11:38:27 AM | Request Removal
With the comment by Michael J. Gerson it is no wonder Bush is such a fool. Mr. Gerson obviously has no interest in any ideas but the Republican party. Mr. Webbs response was clear and concise and the logic is unassialable. This war was a gross mistake and has made this country less secure and it seems everyone but the Republican party which by the way is more interested in being in power than doing what is good for the country and Mr Gerson understands that. To claim that those that are against the war are against the troops is an outright lie and those useing those statement know it. As an registered independant and former registered Republican I can tell you I find it difficult to believe or support any Republican, no matter how good he may be on local issues - they have forgotten that they are to be Americans first, represent their state second and then party members. The founders of this country would be ashamed.
By jjheg2 | Jan 25, 2007 11:47:28 AM | Request Removal
Mr. Shears assessment of Sen. Webbs speech offered an interesting contrast: his view on the speech itself and the journalistic balance that required him to include the smarmy, think-tank, sounds-like-a-lobbyist-for-speechwriters pap offered by Mr. Gerson. We just want the TRUTH, even when it arrives a bit muscular. Whoda thunk---that in THIS administration, characterized world-wide by its unreflective, knee-jerk, fire first aim later style of policy management one might even say muscular---whoda thunk that a line needed to be drawn at mixed metaphor. That James Webb is a United States Senator and not a starving speechwriter, may strike Mr. Gerson as revelatory - for most us, its just res ipse loqitor.
By BeOfUse | Jan 25, 2007 12:14:04 PM | Request Removal
I think Michael Gerson is jealous! Its good that presidential speech writers are so un-biased.Webbs speech was his own making and it was resoundingly received around the country.Perhaps there is some hope left after all. count me in.dldrayton
By dldrayton | Jan 25, 2007 12:23:02 PM | Request Removal
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