R. Emmett Tyrell has a good piece on Webb's history of, er, eccentric behavior, dating back to his short tenure as Reagan's Sec. of the Navy.
This guy is a loose cannon of the worst sort, and I think history shows the President deserves the benefit of the doubt with respect to who turned that exchange in an unpleasant direction.
I found the choice of example (Webb versus Bush) to be interesting as a means of illustrating Noonan's point. Once again, she's found a way to make this Bush's problem, or at least used an example that she portrays as uniquely his fault, to illustrate her sense that we lack "grace".
That she dislikes Bush is hardly news. The extent to which she will stretch to make her antipathy for Mr. Bush clear is.
Yes, and I suspect that most people smart enough to penetrate her persiflage will also be smart enough to reject her premise.