George,

I’ve been hearing a good amount of grumbling from my fellow Democrats that Jim Webb is not a “true-blue” Democrat and therefore does not deserve the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate in the June 13 primary.

We can argue all day long about which of the two primary candidates is more loyal to Democratic ideals (trust me, there’s no slam dunk in this regard), but I don’t believe that this particular debate serves our party or our Commonwealth very well.

What I want to know is, which of the two primary candidates has a better chance of winning election in November -- and which of the two has a better chance of getting this country back on track?

Larry Sabato recently called Jim Webb “George Allen’s worst nightmare,” and the dozens of local, state and national Democrats who’ve endorsed Webb (including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, Congressman John Murtha, Gen. Wesley Clark, Leslie Byrne, Don McEachin, and 11 senior members of former Senator Chuck Robb’s staff) clearly agree. Webb’s blend of economic populism and social moderation, combined with his strong national security credentials, put him in an excellent position to win statewide in Virginia.

Many people can now see that George Bush’s poorly-conceived invasion of Iraq has seriously derailed our country’s effort to wage an effective war on terror, and has restricted our ability to counter some of the many challenges we face here at home. Back in late 2002 and early 2003, there were far too few voices on the national scene speaking out against this impending disaster, with even many Democrats buying into Bush’s transparent fabrications about the “dire threats” posed by Iraq.

During the build-up to the attack, Jim Webb was one of the few national figures who spoke out, in very clear and prescient terms, against the war.
“Unilateral wars designed to bring about regime change and a long-term occupation should be undertaken only when a nation's existence is clearly at stake,” he argued in September 2002. “The issue before us is not simply whether the United States should end the regime of Saddam Hussein, but whether we as a nation are prepared to physically occupy territory in the Middle East for the next 30 to 50 years. Those who are pushing for a unilateral war in Iraq know full well that there is no exit strategy if we invade and stay…In [post-WWII] Japan, American occupation forces quickly became 50,000 friends. In Iraq, they would quickly become 50,000 terrorist targets.”

He was wrong on only one count: there are actually 130,000 American terrorist targets in Iraq today. And it’s time to bring them home.

Jim Webb had the moral courage to speak out against this ill-fated war when far too many remained silent and complicit, and Jim Webb knows what it will take to get us back on the right track when it comes to both international and domestic affairs. I am proud to endorse his candidacy for the U.S.
Senate and I encourage my fellow Democrats to vote for Jim Webb in the primary election on June 13.

Dave Norris (electronic mail, May31, 2006)