Who is James Webb? (cont.)

As Andrew Ferguson’s article in the Weekly Standard makes clear. U.S. Senate candidate James Webb is politically all over the place, speaking up in a Chronicles-like way for Scots-Irish Americans, whom he describes as the backbone of the country who have been denigrated by liberalism for many decades, opposing women in the military, but running as a Democrat and writing novels with those vulgar and offensive passages. Maybe the latter is just an expression of his wild-man Scots-Irishness? Or maybe he is simply, as Ferguson says of his views on immigration, “unformed”?

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David B. writes:

I was going to send you a message asking about Webb when I went to your site and found your comments. In 1979, Webb wrote a magazine article in which he said, “I know the men who make up US Army and Marine infantry companies, and I have never met a woman who could command them.” Well, he pretty much had to back off of that 20 years ago as Navy Secretary. He also severely criticized the reaction to the Tailhook Affair.

I was surprised at James Webb running as a Democrat. His book, Born Fighting, could have been written by Chronicles writer Roger McGrath (a favorite of mine), who favorably reviewed the book in Chronicles. While Webb had retreated on feminism, Allen has made Webb’s past statements practically the centerpiece of his campaign.

Regarding Webb’s Vietnam novel, Fields Of Fire, it is considered perhaps the best of the genre. I remember reading once that blacks didn’t like the depiction of the rear areas. I have been around working class men a good part of my life, and their language can be rather crude, to put it mildly. Have you ever read James Jones’s From Here To Eternity (pretty weird at times) and the Thin Red Line? It would be pretty rough for readers of The Weekly Standard.

I am of Scots-Irish ancestry myself. Neither party today is a good fit for a Traditionalist of that background. The Republican Party has never been an especially good vehicle for any kind of conservatism. The ERA first appeared at the 1940 GOP convention. I have never liked either GHWB or GWB, as I instinctively distrust that type of Republican. I could support Ronald Reagan, an ex-Democrat. I have a feeling that if Webb wins, he would be better on immigration than Allen, despite his compromises to get elected. I would trust Webb on foreign affairs more than most of the Senate.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at October 29, 2006 03:49 PM | Send