Thursday, September 14, 2006

Allen v. Webb - Virginia has an interesting Senate race - both the Democrat and the Republican are claiming to be the heir to Ronald Reagan. I'll have more to say, I'm sure. For now, here's Webb's ad claiming to be following Reagan and Allen's response.

Or as Hotline lablels it, Allen's first negative ad. As Hotline properly notes, Allen's ad is flat out wrong when it describes Webb as serving the Reagan administration for only 10 months -- that was his term as SecNav. He served much longer in the administration as I recall. Also, the ad indicates Webb resigned for opposing Reagan's policy. As I recall, that's absolutely right -- Reagan promised a 600* ship navy, then backed away. Jim Webb resigned in order to hold Reagan accountable.

Having said all that, what surprised me most about Webb's ad is that it describes him as "...Soldier, Scholar, Leader..." and then Webb says he approved this ad. I don't think so. Webb was a member of the United States Marine Corps, not a soldier. It may seem like a semantic point, but it's not to the Marines.

So who will I vote for? I haven't decided yet... Allen was the 2nd best governor Virginia has had during my time here. I also like Webb. more to come...
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*Edited from my original mistaken recollection. As Rod pointed out in the comments, President Reagan originally proposed a 600 ship navy, not the 500 I had originally recalled.