The American Spectator

p> BUYER’S REMORSE br> Re: James Bowman’s Proud to Be a Boor and R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.’s The Gentleman From Virginia : /p>

I used considerably stronger language than “cad,” “boor,” or “jerk” in describing Webb and his conduct when I viewed the news report on TV. Let’s just say that my anatomical references, spoken at a decibel level that made my dogs cower, certainly fell outside the pale of the speech my Southern mama would endorse. If Webb was attempting to avoid the President as he declares, the surest way to do it was not to go to the White House where the man lives! Since he chose to show up, common decency requires that he behave in a manner something better than a gutter snipe. Surely, it was an innocuous inquiry from the President, actually a very kind one from a man whose courtesy has surely been tested a great deal more than Webb’s. And I wonder if there will be any Secret Service investigation of Fightin’ Jim’s assertion that he was ready to “slug” the President, as has been reported?

p>I suspect Virginia voters are suffering from some serious buyer’s remorse about now. George Allen, whatever his flaws (and I think the bulk were media creations), is probably looking really good about right now. In the meantime, Webb, Kerry, Charles Rangel, and the contemptible John Murtha are probably the best advertisements the Republicans have going for themselves right now. While as a partisan I am not particularly unhappy, as an American I cringe. Is a politician of Webb’s ilk what we have descended to? Six years will be a long time to endure his antics. Granted, the Republic will survive, surely … but I am not sure about my blood pressure. br> — Warren Mowry /p>

First it was George Will, with his schoolmarmish attack on Jim Webb’s encounter with President Bush and excruciating deconstruction of Webb’s use of two words (“literally” and “infinitely”) in his Wall Street Journal article. Then it was R. Emmett Tyrrell, with his breathless recounting of a meal in a “classy eatery” with Webb circa 1983. Now we have Mr. Bowman weighing in and attacking Webb for making a “public fuss about his military record” and using it to “intimidate others”, claiming that Mr. Webb attacked Mr. Allen for “cowardice.”

Mr. Bowman writes about honor. Tell me, Mr. Bowman, is it honorable, when recounting a story of someone’s alleged boorishness, to leave out a critical piece of information about the encounter in order to enhance the allegation? When President Bush tracked down Webb, who was avoiding him, and asked “how’s your boy?” Mr. Webb is reported to have replied “I’d like them home, Mr. President,” to which Bush replied “I didn’t ask you that. I asked how’s your boy,” to which Mr. Webb replied “that’s between me and my boy, Mr. President”, and walked away. In his column Mr. Will left out the churlish “I didn’t ask you that” and claimed that Mr. Bush had politely inquired twice about the “boy” and was rebuffed. What element of honor requires that Mr. Webb discuss a family member with the President? What element of honor allows a host to demand that a guest answer a personal question when the guest does not wish to do so? In what way was Mr. Bush being “caring” when he persisted in asking an unwelcome personal question? And where was Mr. Will’s unctuous concern when Vice President Cheney responded to a Democratic senator’s offer of a handshake with “Go f**k yourself”?