I promised an update on the George Allen -vs- Jim Webb Senate race. I was hoping for the "best kind of politics" back in February. So how is it going?
George Allen we know. Allen is the Republican incumbent, and a person some consider a potential presidential contender.
Jim Webb we don't know. But we are getting to know him ...
Jim Webb is the democratic challenger for Allen's seat. Webb has a distinguished military record and served as secretary of the navy under Ronald Reagan in 1988.
Webb won the democratric primary over Harris Miller, but the race was closer than Webb's team had hoped for. Still, Webb won. Game on.
The senate race is a couple of weeks old and Allen is the early leader as expected. A USA Today poll has him up 56% to 37%. A statewide poll paid for by the Webb campaign has Allen up 46% to 39%.
I have yet to see any television ads. Those will come later, I am sure.
The race has been uneventful. No mud slinging politics until this past week. The Webb campaign has been waiting for an excuse to position their candidate as a war hero and their opponent as a ninny. They found an opening when the Allen team called Jim Webb a liberal (*gasp*) for not supporting the Flag Protection Amendment.
Here is the quote from Allen's press release. Dick Wadhams, Allen's campaign manager, said this:
“James H. Webb, Jr. continues to demonstrate he is totally beholden to the liberal Washington Senators who dragged him across the line in the Democratic primary”
Which produced the following over hand right from Webb's camp.
"George Felix Allen Jr. and his bush-league lapdog, Dick Wadhams, have not earned the right to challenge Jim Webb's position on free speech and flag burning," Webb spokesman Steve Jarding said in a press release. "Jim Webb served and fought for our flag and what it stands for, while George Felix Allen Jr. chose to cut and run. "When he and his disrespectful campaign puppets attack Jim Webb, they are attacking every man and woman who served. Their comments are nothing more than weak-kneed attacks by cowards.
...snip...
“While Jim Webb and others of George Felix Allen Jr.’s generation were fighting for our freedoms and for our symbols of freedom in Vietnam, George Felix Allen Jr. was playing cowboy at a dude ranch in Nevada. People who live in glass dude ranches should not question the patriotism of real soldiers who fought and bled for this country on a real battlefield,” Jarding said.
The Webb team has demanded that Allen and his campaign apologize. Dude ranch? Felix? Weak kneed? Bush league? Hmm. What is going on here?
Observation #1: What's up with George "Felix" Allen? Are we back in sixth grade now? Making fun of middle names?
Observation #2: Unpatriotic? Go read Allen's press release. Find the word unpatriotic in there. Allen called Webb a name : a liberal. He associated Webb with John Kerry - Ted Kennedy - Charles Schumer. And that demands a below the belt punch calling Allen a coward and demanding a response?
What is obviously going on here is that the Webb team is desperate for some attention and need an excuse ... any excuse ... to position their candidate as pro-military and paint Allen as a wimp. One gets the sense that this "response" by the Webb team was written several months ago.
Apparently, the Webb team feels a need to shake things up ... and this way-out-of-proportion response, filled with insults and demands for apologies, is the way to do it.
This center of the road Virginia political blog gets it right:
I realize this is mostly just the kind of inside-baseball back and forth bickering in which campaign staff's participate, but it's transparently disingenuous. If the Webb campaign has even basic literacy skills, they know full well that the Allen campaign said nothing about Webb's patriotism. Being charitable, their response would be best termed a "diversion"; less charitably, but more accurately, the Webb campaign lied.
This is simply a repeat of the Democrats 2004 campaign strategy to accuse the Republicans of "questioning our patriotism". Ironically, in 2004, it was almost invariably the Democrats who questioned the patriotism of their opponents. Since that particular bit of martyrdom seemed to work — and the media simply transcribed those disingenuous attacks — it's back for another run in 2006.
Transparently disingenuous indeed.
The editors at the Washington Post piled on and accused the Allen team of "bashing" Webb.
Calling Jim Webb a liberal is a bash? Interesting.
Felix?
Oh, well. That does it. Can't vote for a guy named Felix.
I can't express how grateful I am to Mr. Webb's staff for pointing out that essential bit of information.
Posted by: Nephos | July 03, 2006 at 16:46
Jeff:
A couple of observations. First, Allen's attack is, in my opinion, a more effective one because it's subtler and less direct. But it is no less an attack than Webb's counterattack. First, Allen's camp didn't just call Webb a "liberal," and in fact, they didn't call him a liberal at all. Instead, they called him "totally beholden to liberal Washington Senators," which implies several things:
1. That Webb's opposition to the flag burning amendment is not borne of personal conviction, but is simple kowtowing to outside interests.
2. That Webb is not his own man. (Especailly with their use of the word "dragged.")
3. That Webb is not a person of conviction (again, see "dragged").
4. That Webb is more concerned with Washington issues than with Virginia issues.
That's what's so beautiful about the Allen attack: it conveys all of those things in just a single phrase, and makes any counterattack seem over-the-top, which Webb's does.
And your characterization of Allen's press release as a docile non-attack is disingenuous. It's clearly an attack, and even directly calls Webb's integrity into question. "His positions change daily." Come on.
What's mind-boggling to me, however, is how the GOP continues to bait the Democrats with mostly meaningless issues (like this one -- how many times have you seen someone in the US desecrate an American flag?) and how the Democrats continue to fall for it and allow themselves to be dragged into them. Allen's camp baited Webb with the flag issue -- the press release admits as much -- and Webb bit.
Finally, the "unpatriotic" thing simply follows -- let's have a look at the part you snipped out, shall we?On Tuesday, George Felix Allen Jr. and his campaign issued a press release in which the Allen campaign, through Wadhams, implied that Webb’s position in support of the Free Speech Amendment to the U.S. Constitution amounted to a political act and not a defense of our Constitution, which Webb fought for and for which he was highly decorated. George Felix Allen Jr. did not serve.Emphasis is mine. Note that the Allen press release implies exactly that.
Sure, the Webb campaign's response is unsophisticated and direct. When the president or his advisers do things like that, it's part of his folksy charm. When Democrats do it, it's part of "the politics of personal destruction."
Seriously, I think a big part of the reason why the Republicans have been doing so well in elections of late is because they're just so much better at attack politics than the Democrats are.
Finally, I think Webb's barking up the wrong tree by emphasizing his military service -- Republicans couldn't care less about that, as illustrated beautifully in the 2004 election, in which a thrice-decorated war hero was defeated by a guy who couldn't be bothered to show up for a particularly low-risk National Guard gig (no disrespect intended to those who actually serve in the Guard -- many of whom are risking their lives right now, something the guy who's asking them to do it never had to worry about himself...).
Posted by: tgirsch | July 06, 2006 at 00:06
Oh, and how do you figure QandO as "center of the road?" If anything, I'd classify them as "right-libertarian." And their classification of "the vast majority" of the attacks on patriotism as coming from Democrats is laughable. They found five whole examples and that's "the vast majority?" Meanwhile the Coulters and Limbaughs throw out phrases like "treason" willy-nilly, and wax philosophical about the "blame America first" crowd.
More on the "unpatriotic" thing: It's a brilliant political play by Allen's camp, because in effect they did challenge Webb's patriotism -- just without actually using that phrasing. The entire flag debate has been wrapped in discussion of patriotism, as anyone who follows it knows. "Plausible deniability" is the key here.
The other great GOP victory of the last couple of decades has been their success at turning "liberal" into a dirty word -- despite most Americans being liberal on most subjects. That said, most of them don't vote that way, so we get the government we deserve...
Posted by: tgirsch | July 06, 2006 at 00:20
Good analysis. Your strength as a poli-blogger is showing.
Posted by: Mr. Dawntreader | July 06, 2006 at 11:50