Jim Webb's op-ed from Wall Street Journal--MUST READ!!!

[nolies32fouettes]

http://www.progressiveu.org/132339-words-from-new-congressman-webb-on-the-drift-towards-a-class-system#comment-123621

(I couldn't find a link to this online. But I posted the piece at my blog. http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/nolies32fouettes )

[wicket]

1. Here's a link from the WSJ

LINK

[wholetruth00]

11. Double WOW!!!! Maybe he's the one we're looking for to run in '08.

He really has a handle on what is happening in this country and seems to have some thinking on solutions. He speaks in terms that ordinary working-class people understand. He is the wake up call to America. We had better listen to him. Our Dem Congress and leaders should listen as well.

[Warpy]

24. He certainly seems to get it

and it certainly seems he's been reading stuff here.

I've seen everything he says posted here.

[Spider Jerusalem]

29. That's a silly thing to say, really.

After all, some things are rather obvious to anyone who cares to pay attention; there's no real coincidence in reasonably intelligent people who have no awareness of one another drawing the same conclusions from observation of the same facts. The world is not a vaccuum, and people on DU aren't the only people capable of realising that the average worker has been getting fucked by corporate America for a while now.

[cui bono]

57. What? Come on... these things are common knowledge to anyone cares to know.

DU doesn't corner the market on information.

[Hippo_Tron]

62. Webb needs some experience in front of the TV camera before he can run for President

I can see that he could be the working class hero we are looking for, but he's not ready. If there was one advantage (money and name-recognition aside) that Allen had over him in the campaign it was his experience in front of a crowd and in front of a camera. I cringed when I watched them debate on Meet The Press because Webb could've hammered Allen and his scripted answers but he simply wasn't polished enough to do so.

That said, Webb did something that most newcomers aren't able to do. He ran a virtually flawless campaign. IMO, his campaign manager Jessica Vanden Berg needs to be promoted ASAP.

[Toots]

65. You list a flaw of Webbs in fact two flaws

His inexperience and his lack of holding Allen accountable in the debate and then you say he was flawless. :crazy: I think there is a flaw there somewhere...

[Hippo_Tron]

70. He was flawless in the way his campaign was run

By that I mean their television ads, their ability to stay on message, the events that they did, the way they raised money, and the campaign's attacks on George Allen in a press conference setting, not in a debate setting.

How a candidate does in a debate setting, a television interview is less reflective of the candidate's campaign than the candidate's personal communication skills.

Here's a better example. Our current "President" has shitty communication skills and did terribly in the debates against Kerry. But the fact that he managed to get out the anti-gay bigot vote in droves by supporting the gay marriage amendment and the fact that mostly through is television ads he was able to portray John Kerry as weak on defense, were all part of a well run campaign.

[wryter2000]

2. K&R

Wow. Just wow.

[demnan]

3. Anybody I know who has read and researched Jim Webb

has come away impressed. I was proud to work in a small way for his campaign. Now I feel like I have a voice in the Senate.

[Cerridwen]

4. Four paragraphs for others like me who don't like to click-through

uninformed. :D

Class Struggle
American workers have a chance to be heard.

BY JIM WEBB
Wednesday, November 15, 2006 12:01 a.m. EST

The most important--and unfortunately the least debated--issue in politics today is our society's steady drift toward a class-based system, the likes of which we have not seen since the 19th century. America's top tier has grown infinitely richer and more removed over the past 25 years. It is not unfair to say that they are literally living in a different country. Few among them send their children to public schools; fewer still send their loved ones to fight our wars. They own most of our stocks, making the stock market an unreliable indicator of the economic health of working people. The top 1% now takes in an astounding 16% of national income, up from 8% in 1980. The tax codes protect them, just as they protect corporate America, through a vast system of loopholes.

Incestuous corporate boards regularly approve compensation packages for chief executives and others that are out of logic's range. As this newspaper has reported, the average CEO of a sizeable corporation makes more than $10 million a year, while the minimum wage for workers amounts to about $10,000 a year, and has not been raised in nearly a decade. When I graduated from college in the 1960s, the average CEO made 20 times what the average worker made. Today, that CEO makes 400 times as much.

In the age of globalization and outsourcing, and with a vast underground labor pool from illegal immigration, the average American worker is seeing a different life and a troubling future. Trickle-down economics didn't happen. Despite the vaunted all-time highs of the stock market, wages and salaries are at all-time lows as a percentage of the national wealth. At the same time, medical costs have risen 73% in the last six years alone. Half of that increase comes from wage-earners' pockets rather than from insurance, and 47 million Americans have no medical insurance at all.

Manufacturing jobs are disappearing. Many earned pension programs have collapsed in the wake of corporate "reorganization." And workers' ability to negotiate their futures has been eviscerated by the twin threats of modern corporate America: If they complain too loudly, their jobs might either be outsourced overseas or given to illegal immigrants.

[nolies32fouettes]

6. thanks. But his whole comment is PERFECT!!!

But thanks for posting those four comments. My browser window doesn't let me copy/paste from that site.

[Cerridwen]

7. Yeah, I would post the whole article, but DU rules have a

four paragraph limit due to copyright issues.

Glad I could help out.

[nolies32fouettes]

10. thanks!!! I really mean it! Can you do that here too?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2972325&mesg_id=2972325

[Cerridwen]

14. Looks like someone beat me to it...:D

DUers are amazingly helpful people.

:hi:

[Bake]

5. Perfect. And to think, Webb served under Reagan!

This is the message that, if we keep hammering it, will eventually reach -- MUST eventually reach even the reddest red-state state redneck good ol' boy (and I'm not being snotty, because hey, I *am* a redneck in a red state).

Kitchen-table pocketbook politics. Populism. That's the key.

Bake

[wholetruth00]

13. And to think that an idiot like George Allen almost beat him!!! Scary

[Hippo_Tron]

61. Thank god Goerge Allen never learned about cultural sensititvity the easy way

[gilpo]

17. I don't know.... Did you read the comments by readers?

It wasn't well received by the WSJ reading crowd, which is hardly unexpected.

[nolies32fouettes]

25. That's not too surprising--the reader's response. Aren't they the

top 2% income holders?

[Bake]

31. Did they feel threatened? They should.

The tacit message to the GOP (Greedy Old Pigs): We're comin' for you.

Bake

[nolies32fouettes]

36. lol...probably right!

999,500,550,000,000,000 is just NOT enough MONEY for them!!!

[calimary]

50. Most likely, and as such, they'd do well to study what happened to

the Romanoffs. Or Marie Antoinette. If you don't share a little more, while you can bargain from a position of strength - you may be FORCED to - under conditions where you're suddenly in a position of weakness.

[Big Sky Boy]

71. Not too surprising

As you noted.

The WSJ Op-Ed page is even further out there than Fox News on some days.

Black is White. Night is Day. The war in Iraq is going swimmingly....

[AspenRose]

18. John Edwards understands that too.

They should join forces (Webb and Edwards)

[Jim Warren]

8. My new favorite word:

BIFURCATION!

Seems like we might have some presidential timber growing on this ground.

Reminds me a bit of some tapes Thom Hartman was playing last night of FDR from the '30s where he takes on the economic "royalist".

[Spazito]

9. Wow! Impressive, very impressive!

Mr. Webb is, imo, an incredible valuable member of the upcoming Democratic congress. Congrats to all who worked for his campaign and voted for him. Your taste is impeccable!

Thanks for posting the link.

[SeattleGirl]

12. Webb really gets it!

Great piece.

[Czolgosz]

15. Wow! That editorial sounds like John Edwards -- hmmm -- Edwards/Webb '08?

[MacGregor]

20. Can us Viginians have him to ourselves? Just for a little bit?

*stomps feet, crosses arms, refuses to share*

I mean, our long Macaca nightmare is almost over, can we have him sworn into the Senate before we enter him in the '08 rodeo? :P

(Actually, this is only partially tongue-in-cheek, as -- I have to admit -- I've also already Gone There m'self. I just don't want to get ahead of myself, kwim?)

[Czolgosz]

22. Yeah, but if Webb gets more experience in the Senate it may have to be Webb/Edwards

[MacGregor]

30. I understand, and I don't disagree. Was just having a Selfish Moment. *g* n/t

[nodular]

47. Webb has had an amazing life.

He was a decorated Marine in Vietnam (Captain, I believe), has
been a novelist for many years and written numerous excellent
books---including the definitive novel on Vietnam,
"Fields of Fire".

He comes from a conservative background and was Secretary of
the Navy under Ronald Reagan.

His son, I believe, currently serves in Iraq as a Marine (or
will be there soon.)  

In recent years, he is reconsidered his politics and switched
parties.  Obviously, populist considerations were a big part
of the switch.  But the direct catalyst was the Iraq War.

His credentials as a war critic are impeccable.

[alfredo]

16. The class system is central to the neo conservative/Straussian

agenda for America.

"In the last couple of weeks, there's been too much psuedo-populism, almost too much concern and attention for, quote, the people... After all, we conservatives are on the side of the lords and barons.. We at the Weekly Standard are pulling up the drawbridge against the peasants." William Kristol Editor of the Weekly Standard, a neo conservative publication.

[nolies32fouettes]

19. that's a good point.

[alfredo]

32. I wear a hat to cover it.

[Minnesota_Lib]

33. Bingo!

[AdvancedProgress]

21. Wow

Do you think Mr. Allen could write like that?

:rofl:

[oasis]

23. Webb's da man.

:bounce:

[PreacherCasey]

26. Anyone have Jim Webb's contact info?

I'd like to send him a letter of support.

[nolies32fouettes]

28. I can't find it but I found this:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/11/11/65311/856

Maybe you could post a note to TeacherKen and ask if there's a contact address.

But write a letter to WSJ! That's AS important!

[nodular]

48. Senate address

You can direct postal correspondence to your Senator or to
other U.S.Senate offices at the following address:

For correspondence to U.S. Senators:

Office of Senator (Name)
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510 

[Oilwellian]

27. I LOVE my new Senator!

Webb is a brilliant man and will represent the working men and women in this country well. Great OpEd...thanks for posting. :thumbsup:

[Minnesota_Lib]

34. Mr. Smith....eer, Mr. Webb goes to Washington. I am impressed.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

35. This is all wrong...

The pundits say that Webb's election is proof that voters wanted only conservative Democrats in Washington.

This whole article must be a typo.

:sarcasm:

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

37. Any news on James Webb's latest movie?

His screenplay Whiskey River is supposedly about a young man injured in the Iraq War who is called back to action before he's physically capable of returning to war. It's in production right now but I haven't heard anything about a date of release in the theaters. Anyone know?

[upi402]

46. I had no idea!

We have a gifted Congressmember it seems.
I never heard about that out here.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

49. Webb wrote the story for the film Rules Of Engagement

and was also executive producer. Here's some information on the Internet Movie Database. His latest film project about the Iraq war sounds pretty interesting. Rob Reiner is supposedly the Director of Whiskey River for Warner Brothers.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0916136/

[upi402]

53. Bonny Timmerman must have cast Rules of Engagement

(love the flicks she casts) and that's a great cast. He must have had Reagan connections to Hollywood to get that kinda pop.

A true Reaganesque theme; "An attorney defends an officer on trial for ordering his troops to fire on civilians after they stormed a U.S. embassy in a third world country"
Or is that Pnac?
Or BushCo...

[ellisonz]

38. This is not surprising...

I've read Fields of Fire and Webbs depiction of the Vietnam War is completely unapologetic and totally concerned with the welfare of his brother in arms, which is anti-thetical to the "Republican" Party.

[west michigan]

39. go Jim go...

.....a very worthy read.

[nolies32fouettes]

40. kick

[femrap]

41. Been a long time since I heard the topic of CLASS

discussed. And it's not too far of a stretch to start discussion of unfair wages for women and minorities. Gee...with that discussion, ya might find some more Dem voters....ya think?

[wicket]

42. kick

:kick:

[bleever]

43. That really is a "must read".

Thanks!

[upi402]

44. go UNION!

He's a smart feller that Jim Webb.

[peony]

45. Meet genuine hero Jim Webb, read all about him!

@ http://www.turcopolier.typepad.com/ Article November 9, 2006: "Webb's Dog Tags."
Here's the story of how he won the Navy Cross in Vietnam.

[BurtWorm]

51. Glad that guy beat macaca.

:applause:

Great to have more of that point of view in the Senate!

[Tatiana]

52. AMAZING! Virginia, you've done us proud!

My favorite part:

The politics of the Karl Rove era were designed to distract and divide the very people who would ordinarily be rebelling against the deterioration of their way of life. Working Americans have been repeatedly seduced at the polls by emotional issues such as the predictable mantra of "God, guns, gays, abortion and the flag" while their way of life shifted ineluctably beneath their feet. But this election cycle showed an electorate that intends to hold government leaders accountable for allowing every American a fair opportunity to succeed.

Honestly, this guy truly *gets* it.

[TexasLawyer]

54. yesssssssssssssss!

Great piece of writing. And to exactly the right audience.

[dermalogic]

55. Great article but

I just think this will play into the MSM picturing our side as the jealous bitter side of politics that just covert the wealth of the rich, when really we're the ones who are protecting the poor.

I love everything about it except the use of class in his argument, it just always ends up being too divisive (in my experience anyway)

I dont want to take away from how great i believe the article is, it is just a really well written, morally clear and sensible article and everyone involved in getting this man elected to the senate deserves a big pat on the back.

[cui bono]

59. I don't see that at all. He's showing how unfair things have gotten,

he's not saying he wants to be one of the rich guys. And how better to describe a class problem than using the word class? That's what it is. I think it's the opposite of divisive. Working class people are made up of all colors, ethnicities, religions, etc... what better way to unite them than to show them that they are all getting screwed by the corporate execs? As it is, the powers that be want the workers to be divided by race, religion, sexual orientation, you name it, anything to keep them from realizing they're all in the same boat and organizing against the rich and powerful.

[tkmorris]

63. I don't agree with that analysis

You see, Webb understands that for the past couple of decades especially there has been outright class warfare in the United States. The rich declared it, and then to head off any dissent coined the meme about class warfare and how it was a tactic used by Dems to create division in America.

Dems had nothing to do with it, unless you count failing to see what Reagan and his political descendants really were doing until it was too late.

There has been an outright war on the working classes for a long time now and if we refuse to acknowledge that, refuse to declare publicly exactly what the issues are, than we will continue to lose this battle. I applaud Webb for having the courage to do it.

Damn, was this a great election cycle or what?

[Cocoa]

67. ridiculous

"I love everything about it except the use of class."

it's ALL about class. It's EXPLICITLY about class. If you don't like the use of class, then you don't like it.

[madfloridian]

56. Here's a direct link. Excellent

http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110009246

[porphyrian]

58. I'll kick that. - n/t

[BelgianMadCow]

60. THIS is the elephant in the room, and I'm glad it caught your & DUs attention

pretty often, threads about poverty and class war get very few replies. This one doesn't and rightly so.

[FredStembottom]

64. This kind of talk is EXACTLY what I have been waiting for

for 25 years!:party:

And I'll give everyone here a preview of the solution: tariffs and the death of diesel-capitalism.

Big tariffs - applied to all imported consumer goods. Ones that make manufacturing in America not only profitable again (the only thing that EVER made it profitable in the first place) but big enough to begin to end the era of burning billions of gallons of diesel to remove manufacturing from our shores in order to exploit near-slavery elsewhere.

[deepthought42]

66. Amazing

:toast: :toast: :toast:

[Cocoa]

68. beautiful

the right wing is holding up Webb as an example of a "conservative" democrat that is going to "cause problems" for the liberal leadership. How are they going to explain this?

[Martin Eden]

69. That's about as well as the case can be stated

K&R to Jim Webb!!!