Well, which is it?

My blog brother, DJ over at Right Wing Liberal, posts about a lovely flip-flop by our darling new junior senator. DJ mentions two articles, the first quoting Sen. Webb’s response to the State of the Union speech

The majority of the nation no longer supports the way this war is being fought; nor does the majority of our military. We need a new direction. Not one step back from the war against international terrorism. Not a precipitous withdrawal that ignores the possibility of further chaos. But an immediate shift toward strong regionally based diplomacy, a policy that takes our soldiers off the streets of Iraq's cities, and a formula that will in short order allow our combat forces to leave Iraq. [emph. added]

and the second a transcript from CBS’s Face the Nation (.pdf file, page four, about 2/3 of the way down)

... I don’t believe that there is any politician who has the right to say that he or she is speaking for the troops, for the military.

Note in the first quote that there’s an interesting little thing Webb says: he doesn’t want a “precipitous withdrawal,” and yet he quickly talks about an “immediate shift” and “in short order.” Now, I understand that the nuances of the word “precipitous” can imply disorganization and confusion (”done with very great haste and without due deliberation” [Link]), nevertheless it appears the Democrats’ position still focuses on haste.

Then of course, combined with the second quote, it appears that Sen. Webb speaks for the military (and for a beautiful fisk of that, see McQ’s Saturday post, “Fact Checking Jim Webb”)... except that he doesn’t think politicians can speak for the military.

Ooooooo-kay, well, which is it?

Ah! I see! Politicians can’t speak for the military, except if they’re Democrats proposing a cut ‘n’ run strategy. If you’re a Republican politician (and not a RINO), you can’t speak for the military, ever.

Gotcha.

Comments

[Jackson Landers]

1.

Observing the fact that most members of our military to weigh in on something are in opposition to it is not the same thing as claiming to speak for them.

C'mon, you know that you secretly want to like Jim Webb. If this is the stuff that you have to try to nail him on then he can't be all that bad.

[Kat]

2.

Jack, I like you - but so far, my impression of Mr. Webb is that he's a self-serving, manipulative, ignorant boor.

Believe me, I have some good friends who thing the sun shines out of Sen. Webb's a**, and who are trying to persuade me to their (and your) view.

Two words, my friend:

FAT CHANCE!!!

-- Kat