OT: So Webb and Gates are "old enemies"?

[beachmom]

Anybody hear this from douchebag, aka Robert Novak?

http://www.suntimes.com/news/novak/132306,CST-EDT-novak12.article

One reason for hurrying Senate confirmation of Robert Gates as secretary of defense through the lame-duck session of Congress is to avoid confrontation with an old enemy: James Webb, who will be a Democratic senator from Virginia in the new Congress starting in January.

During President Ronald Reagan's second term, Gates and Webb clashed as colleagues. Webb as secretary of the Navy objected to plans by Gates, then deputy national security adviser, for U.S. warships to protect oil platforms in the Persian Gulf. The hot-tempered Webb made clear his irritation with the soft-spoken Gates.

Considering his background, Webb is likely to go on the Senate Armed Services Committee. The White House wants to confirm Gates before Webb is sworn in.



Not sure how true this is, but it's interesting to learn about who Webb couldn't stand in the Reagan administration. Most notable: Oliver North. He absolutely HATED him. I'm beginning to think Webb and Kerry will have more in common than I previously thought.

[ProSense]

1. Good!

The RW is trying to spin Iran Contra Gates as someone with the same views as the Democrats!

[whometense]

2. Something tells me the Gates hearings are

going to be very dramatic. I only wish Kerry could be there to interrogate. I'm prepared for major grandstanding by one senator from New York.

:popcorn:

[rox63]

3. I think we can expect grandstanding from her on a lot of things

for the next 2 years. :eyes:

[wisteria]

5. I intend to pay her absolutely no mine from now on.

She sets off my buttons like Bush used to do. Now she has replaced him as the person I admire the least and loath the most.

[karynnj]

7. I welcome that - Hillary has said and done almost nothing

controversial in 6 years, other than her courageous call (3 yrs after others) to fire Rumsfeld. (Seriously, I even read in one commentary that Bush couldn't fire Rumsfeld because Hillary called for it and that would be giving in. ???

Her written statements can be prepared, but the questioning has to be more dynamic to be great. We've seen people who stick to prepared questions. They miss pursueing anything that comes out of things. It also looks like they may be intending to let him in easily to get Rumsfeld out faster.

[sandnsea]

4. Oh now there's the cherry on top!!

And he opposed using our military to protect oil platforms?? Oh be still my heart!!!

This is awesome news, just awesome!!

:bounce:

[beachmom]

6. Check out this video of Webb on Larry King Live

raisingkaine.com/showDiary.do;jsessionid=09653F998EA0246F6690F9D8F3C517EF?diaryId=6003

(copy and paste -- string too long for hyperlink)

In the interview he says two times HE wants to be able to confirm Gates, that it not happen in the lame duck Congress. Very interesting.

The other thing I liked was his reasoning for NOT calling for the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld -- that the failures in Iraq are ADMINISTRATION failures. Although I disagreed with him on this, I see his thinking on it is very correct, that, in the end, this is all Bush's fault.

Webb is never going to toe the party line with Reid, that's for sure. In another article I read, he wants to model himself after Patrick Moynihan. I really think this guy is going to be a great addition to the Senate -- not that we'll always agree with him, but that he is not going to compromise his principles -- he might be like Feingold a little bit also. And I certainly think there will be common cause with Sen. Kerry on a lot of issues, including economic ones.

[beachmom]

8. Awesome comment about Kerry & Webb on a Kos diary about this

http://www.dailykos.com/comments/2006/11/13/2158/0865/217#c217

I'd like to see Webb appear with Kerry more (2+ / 0-)
Recommended by:beachmom, Loudoun County Dem
to help cross that bridge with the vets who feel betrayed by Kerry.
I realize there are a lot of them lost forever to their hate for Kerry, but it would go along way toward helping the nation come together in resolving Iraq today.
The doves and the hawks have got to come together.

by NYFM on Tue Nov 14, 2006 at 06:54:16 AM PST

< Reply to This |Recommend Troll >




It is my dream that these two not just have an uneasy alliance on the issues that they agree on, but that it becomes a real professional friendship by two Vietnam veterans willing to put the bitterness of past history to bed for good. For a while, Kerry and McCain had that, but I do feel like Webb is a more likely partner because they will agree not just on narrow issues, but broad issues of an "unjust war" and economic fairness.

[wisteria]

9. Webb, seems to be an honest straight shooter. He isn't a phony

like McCain has become.

[karynnj]

10. It will be fascinating to watch

Both Webb and Kerry are interesting real people in an organization where there are many who are more concerned with politics than issues. With McCain, it seems they were able to agree to disagree on Vietnam. With Webb, his view of Iraq as a mature man may be able to inform his view of Vietnam, but that will be an internal process.