Warmed-Over Pose, or a Chance

In writing “Miller Is a High-Contrast Candidate for Senate” the Washington Post’s Marc Fisher's take on the two candidates -- Harris Miller and Jim Webb -- and the political landscape at this point in time is well worth a read.

“...Dragged down by unfathomable gas prices, an unpopular president and a seemingly unwinnable war, Allen suddenly finds himself having to fight for reelection. On June 13, Virginians will choose between examples of the two more interesting categories of Democrats -- former Reagan man Jim Webb and a rare, overt anti-Reaganite, Harris Miller.

“No mealy-mouthed weasels in this race: Webb, Reagan's Navy secretary, is a convert, turned against the party he long served by his belief that our Iraq policy is deeply, dangerously wrong. Miller, a Washington lobbyist who has long been active in Fairfax County's Democratic Party, is an increasingly endangered animal, an out lib.”

Fisher doesn’t come out and say it, but it seems to me -- between the lines -- he is telling Virginia’s Democrats this: Harris Miller offers you another chance to strike a warmed-over pose and little chance of victory. Jim Webb offers you a chance, maybe a long-shot but a chance, to win back the U.S. Senate and perhaps even change the modern face of the Democratic Party.

Whether that’s what Fisher is implying or not, that’s my take on what's happening in the Democratic primary, which is exactly two weeks away. SLANTblog's readers who still believe in voting should give Mr. Webb a good listen. He's a successful writer, a Renaissance-man of sorts, and far from politics-as-usual.