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Webb Watch

By W. James Antle, III on 5.18.09 @ 10:09AM

Virginia Sen. Jim Webb is starting to position himself to the right of President Obama on national security issues. He now opposes a timeline for closing Guantanamo Bay, opposes trying terror detainees in the United States, and opposes releasing the 17 Chinese Muslims in Virginia. The administration position he defended -- continuing military commissions for trying detainees -- was considered a departure by its more liberal supporters.

Webb is up for re-election in 2012, but given his record there may be more going on than political considerations. Although he became a darling of the netroots for opposing the Iraq war, he has always been more hawkish than the average Democrat and left the party the first time on national-security grounds. He has continued to defend both the Vietnam War and the honor of Confederate war dead. Webb's opposition to the Iraq invasion was always more on realist than Michael Moore-ish grounds, including his concern that regime change in Iraq would make it more difficult to contain Iran.

Incidentally, Webb's Gitmo comments on "This Week" struck me as quite reasonable: the focus has been on the facility, but the real area of concern ought to be how inmates are processed and what procedures we are using to determine guilt or innocence. It's never terribly bothered me that potential terrorists are incarcerated somewhere that isn't the United States. But we should have an effective process that possesses international legitimacy to keep us from indefinitely holding innocent people.

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John G.| 5.18.09 @ 11:18AM

Webb should be commended for taking a pragmatic approach to the Gitmo issue. And your post is dead-on in noting the difference between the Left's seemingly obsessive stance on the prison itself and how prisoners are allegedly mistreated, versus how they are handled going forward (ie, being released onto American soil).

It should be interesting to see how this plays out. The liberal blogosphere considers Webb as one of "its own"---in other words, it was the blogs that made the press notice George Allen's (Webb's 2006 opponent in the general election) now infamous "macaca" moment, which eventually led Webb to overtake Allen. The left to this day sees this as a turning point in their cause.

But as the left derides conservatives for insisting on ideological purity, one could argue that the LACK of ideological purity in the Democratic party is already showing signs of cracking under the pressure.

This should be real interesting.

Jumpin' Jimminy| 5.18.09 @ 2:02PM

Webb, the supposedly blue dog democrat has never once failed to disappoint.

jwmatney| 5.18.09 @ 2:10PM

James Webb is one of two reasons while I have continued to be registered as a democrat. He has the character (Annapolis and serving in the US Navy has that effect) to resist the maggots now controlling the democratic party. He has seen these type of traitors before (Frank Church) who would emasculate the intelligence services for political gains resulting in out country being in danger.