Nice column by George Will
It was nice to see George Will's comments about former Navy secretary James Webb's run for the Democratic nomination in Virginia to unseat the supreme ass, George Allen, who is informally seeking the GOP nomination to succeed another GOP supreme ass, George W. Bush. Will is a traditional conservative, which means he hates FDR and reveres the folly of GOP governance in the early 20th century until the failure of their ideology forced the American people to pull their heads out of their collective asses to unseat the callous laissez faire GOP conservative government , which proved to be a failure in times of economic emergency as experienced during the Great Depression.
No way I could ever claim to despise Will because there are times when he's the sole reasonable voice of the bankrupt conservative movement. Former Secy. Webb came to my attention when he first ascended to the secy. post, then when he resigned in protest over reductions in the navy(and I'm certain somehow or other, Bill Clinton's responsible for Reagan's missteps--Webb's perspective). Webb saw the folly of the conservative view that an invasion of Iraq was comparable to Japan, Germany, and Korea in terms of possibility for success in American nation-building, but Will describes the differences between the nations. Japan was a success because we didn't have to invade the Japanese main island and the emperor surrendered. It helps that Japan is a largely homogeneous population, like Germany, and Korea. Korea is a different case of success because the U.S. supported anti-democratic elements for decades until the Soviet fall in the early 90s. ROK has only been a true democracy since the 90s(I felt the need to reiterate that point for those of you who accidentally read this blog and have no actual historical knowledge, like 90% of all self-described conservative Republicans).
Webb's Scots-Irish heritage is similar to mine, except I have a bit of native American blood, so I appreciate his feisty, combative nature. He voted for John Kerry in 2004, though, as Will recounts, Webb would never shake his hand 20 years previously over Kerry's VVAW days protesting the war in Vietnam. Webb fought in Vietnam in the Corps and was wounded, as Kerry was wounded fighting with the navy. Conservatism and supreme failure in governance are synonymous after Bush's disastrous 5 years as president. I have to appreciate Will's intellectual honesty. Regardless of some of the hard-headed dumb things he says on Sunday morning, he's a good man and worthy of a read each time you stumble across one of his columns.
No way I could ever claim to despise Will because there are times when he's the sole reasonable voice of the bankrupt conservative movement. Former Secy. Webb came to my attention when he first ascended to the secy. post, then when he resigned in protest over reductions in the navy(and I'm certain somehow or other, Bill Clinton's responsible for Reagan's missteps--Webb's perspective). Webb saw the folly of the conservative view that an invasion of Iraq was comparable to Japan, Germany, and Korea in terms of possibility for success in American nation-building, but Will describes the differences between the nations. Japan was a success because we didn't have to invade the Japanese main island and the emperor surrendered. It helps that Japan is a largely homogeneous population, like Germany, and Korea. Korea is a different case of success because the U.S. supported anti-democratic elements for decades until the Soviet fall in the early 90s. ROK has only been a true democracy since the 90s(I felt the need to reiterate that point for those of you who accidentally read this blog and have no actual historical knowledge, like 90% of all self-described conservative Republicans).
Webb's Scots-Irish heritage is similar to mine, except I have a bit of native American blood, so I appreciate his feisty, combative nature. He voted for John Kerry in 2004, though, as Will recounts, Webb would never shake his hand 20 years previously over Kerry's VVAW days protesting the war in Vietnam. Webb fought in Vietnam in the Corps and was wounded, as Kerry was wounded fighting with the navy. Conservatism and supreme failure in governance are synonymous after Bush's disastrous 5 years as president. I have to appreciate Will's intellectual honesty. Regardless of some of the hard-headed dumb things he says on Sunday morning, he's a good man and worthy of a read each time you stumble across one of his columns.
posted by AR1836 at 10:44 AM
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