Posted on 12/27/2014 1:37:14 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
I’ve been dismissive of Jim Webb’s prospects for winning the Democratic presidential nomination. But Jacob Heilbrunn’s column on Webb, and Steve’s commentary on that column, made me take another look.
On second look, I still don’t see Webb getting very far.
Will female Democrats favor Webb — currently in his third marriage and the author of what some might consider a sexist novel — over Hillary Clinton? Not likely.
Will African-Americans favor Webb — so proud of his Scotch-Irish heritage — over the wife of “our first black president”? Not likely.
Will white southern Democrats favor Webb? Arguably. But he’s going to be running as a left-wing populist, and many white southern Democrats remain moderate.
Will wealthy Democrats back Webb? No. They can forgive populist rhetoric if they know it’s insincere, but they can’t be sure that Webb doesn’t mean what he says.
Suppose, however, that Hillary Clinton’s campaign implodes. In this scenario, we can expect Elizabeth Warren to enter. Warren would then become the favored candidate of females, radicals, and many other leftists. Even the wealthy would probably favor Warren over Webb, since she comes across as less than sincere.
If the scenario I’ve just described sounds familiar to old-timers, it’s because it resembles what happened in 1968. Going into the campaign season, President Johnson was the heavy favorite (as Clinton is now) but many on the left were urging Robert Kennedy to run (as they are now urging Warren to do).
Kennedy lacked the guts to challenge LBJ, but Eugene McCarthy was up for the fight. Though McCarthy didn’t defeat Johnson in the New Hampshire primary, he did well enough to cause Kennedy to enter the race. Soon thereafter, Johnson announced that he would neither seek nor accept his party’s nomination.
I would expect Warren to follow Kenney’s example and enter the race if Clinton were to withdraw or falter in 2016. Warren’s challenge will resemble Kennedy’s in terms of ideology, though she will be nothing like the campaign trail dynamo Kennedy was in 1968.
With Johnson out of the race and with two left-wing antiwar candidates fighting for the nomination, Vice President Hubert Humphrey announced his candidacy and attempted to rally the party establishment around him. Would Joe Biden do the same in 2016? I believe he would.
Whether Webb finds himself in a two-way race against Clinton, a two-way race against Warren, or a three-way race against Warren and Clinton or Biden, I consider him very unlikely to prevail.
I don’t deny that Clinton, Warren, and Biden all have serious deficiencies as campaigners. Webb, though he hasn’t shown himself to be a great campaigner, possesses the authenticity Clinton and Warren lack, and is not a bumbling windbag like Talkin’ Joe Biden.
But the logic of the race in a party where identity counts for so much is badly stacked against Webb.
For me, other than Sarah and Cruz there are NO OTHER candidates.
Kerry’s Viet Nam service is phoney. He received 3 purple hearts and never spent a day in the hospital.
He gamed the system came back to the US and called our military baby killers. He lied under oath before the Senate committee.
His Senate testimony>
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucY7JOfg6G4
He also wrote a book he has tried to repurchase all copies of named:
Winter Soldier.
John Kerry is/was/will always be a Traitor.
The Swif Boat sailors totally exposed him when he ran for Potus.
Warren is going to have trouble with her faux Indian thing...That might fly in Maashole, but it won’t fly in flyover country.
Hildebreast is OLD and now LOOKS OLD. Not to mention her extensive criminal history.
Webb...they’re dreaming. He’s got zilch.
I am pretty sure that in 1968 “Republican” was not a second name for “Democrat”.
No it’ll be 1968 for GOP
A lightweight gets elected
Be patient!
Warren looks like Baraq 2.0 to me.
Webb likely won’t even be John Edwards 2.0
And he had some kind of secret update to his discharge status, likely some kind of jiggering after he became a US Senator, probably upgrading a Less than Honorable Discharge.
Anyone comment on Ernst appointing amnesty supporter and John Cornyn protege Lisa Goeas as her chief of staff?
Do you have a link for this?
The white southern democrat is extinct or has moved off the reservation. Landrieu's loss in Louisiana made it official.
Lisa Goeas is the wife of Ed Goeas who heads up the very establishment Tarrant Group.
Not sure what you mean by ‘anything else’? Lots of FReepers have knowledge of the NFIB and the Tarrant Group. Wondering if there’s been any reaction, good or bad, to Ernst’s choice.
I’m not sure what the questions is. From what I gather, I’m supposed to question Ernst because she hired a woman whose husband heads a polling firm. Well speaking for myself, I looked into it, and Ernst is still my choice.
Like I said, some FReepers have actual knowledge of the NFIB and the Tarrant Group.
Yep, and much much more.
John Fn Kerry is a TRAITOR, unfit to even have US citizenship, much less serve in public office. He is VERMIN.
He may have been gone, but he was not forgotten by the YAF crowd. That same conference featured a mock GOP presidential nominating convention. The fact that he was deceased didn't stop the Wisconsin delegation from nominating Joe McCarthy for president. When they did, half the people in the room began marching around shouting, "Joe! Joe! Joe!"
He's seen war first-hand, and knows what lying scammers our elites are. Iraq and Afghanistan are eventually going to produce even more Webbs than Vietnam did.
The problem is, he has picked the wrong remedy. Socialism is the elites' tool to suppress the middle classes - Webb, like many Democrats, either doesn't get that or has decided that he would rather join 'em than try to beat 'em.
What do you have on them?
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