Egad, The New Republic is going after Jim Webb, saying that he is definitely not a liberal. Hear that? Not a liberal, even if Katrina vanden Heuvel likes him. Webb is in fact a "reactionary," a backward, bigoted Scots-Irish nationalist. Yes, let us throw in the ethnic angle. Jack Ross (Brooklyn Jew with Bundist ancestors; yes I can play the ethnic game too) tells me that the piece is a nighttime raid on Obama's left flank:
Now why do I have a feeling that if we were talking about Trent Lott or Tom Coburn that TNR wouldn't be so interested? Instead, we're talking about the
persistent sponsor of a bill asserting the authority of Congress with
regard to war against Iran and who can forge an alliance between Obama and the one force in America that can thwart the Israel Lobby – the military.
As
for the surface case here, notice that its only the most right-wing
Democrats who still call themselves "liberal", and who care about
"liberalism" in an ideological or movement sense.
