Webb's Response

Read Jim Webb's response. It is one lie after another. I thought it was interesting that he chose the Korean war and the Berlin Airlift as a contrast to the war in Iraq. He said that Eisenhower is a great example because he stopped the Korean war. Except he failed to point out that the war may have stopped, but it did not stop because we retreated. Both of those events were far more risky endeavors at the time than Iraq and have paid substantial dividends. They are also examples of when we stood up to the enemy rather than retreating.

Regarding domestic issues, Webb is like Lou Dobbs. (Maybe some conservatives support Lou Dobbs, I don't know....) Webb thinks CEOs make too much money and opposes free trade. He argued that the middle class is worse off today economically than when he graduated from college in the 1960s. I am not sure where he gets this (I guess thinks like the internet and cell phones, widely owned by the middle class do not count). Maybe the middle class is worse off today relative to CEOs, but relative equality is not always a rational means to judge the success of a society.

He argued that his concerns compare to those of Andrew Jackson. However, he fails to note that many of Jackson's public policy views, which were Jeffersonian in nature (such as not having a national bank), have been repudiated by events and history.

I am not sure what Webb thinks we should do to resolve the issues he sees as problems. He points out that raising the minimum wage is a start. However, I do not believe that anyone in the middle class earns the minimum wage (except for the high school aged children of the middle class).

Read it and comment as you like.