In Virginia Beach Democratic senatorial candidate Jim Webb spoke about the two most glaring failures of Republican leadership over the last six years. He began with Hurricane Katrina, which tore into the Gulf Coast a year ago, today.“If there is one single verdict that can be rendered on the six years of George Bush, Dick Cheney and George Allen, it is that they have been years of waste,” said Webb. “When tragedy struck in Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, and Alabama, the Bush-Cheney Administration used it as another opportunity to enrich its friends and gut protections for working Americans. We have squandered our wealth on misadventure and neglected to invest in our future as a nation. And Senator Allen has been part of the problem, not the solution.”
Then Webb drove another nail into Allen’s political coffin by tying that domestic fiasco to the preemptive war/utter debacle in Iraq, by pointing at the obviously inept planning, incompetent execution and bumbling follow up by the Bush administration, once again, as facilitated by the Republican-led Congress.
“Failure of planning. Failure of operational leadership. Failure to follow up. Sound familiar?” said Webb. “Of course it does. Because this is exactly the same pattern that we see from this Administration in Iraq and it reflects a failure of overall approach that needs to be remedied. A remedy that is an independent voice in the U.S. Senate willing to fight for change.”
This is exactly what I hope Jim Webb will keep saying, every chance he gets. Tying those two colossal failures together is not only smart strategy, because of Allen’s 97 percent backing of Bush, it’s the unvarnished truth. Spin as he might, there isn’t much Allen can say to keep those two signature debacles from sticking to him, not unlike the Macaca story has.
Note: This story was culled from the Webb camp’s web site. Art by F.T. Rea
3 comments:
thegools,
Thanks. I was in a hurry and didn't look at it enough. It has been changed. Hopefully, now it is more clear.
Great post. I agree, it is the unvarnished truth that in both cases, it was the Bush administration's incompetence and lack of planning that led to disaster.
Hopefully, Webb will also tie it to some of the real gaps in our national security as well, such as the holes in security at our ports and continuing problems with airport and train security.
There is also growing anxiety about the economy, consumer confidence has gone down significantly as gas prices have gone up and housing prices are falling.
Webb simply has to ask people if they are better off now than they were 4 years ago, when Allen first began voting 97% with the Bush administration.
AIAW,
Thanks for the plug and for your comments on this post.
For whatever reason, Webb’s language/copy was as sharp as a tack with that speech in Virginia Beach. The vagueness of some earlier times was gone. To me, it was a very encouraging sign.
Post a Comment