Webb good. Blue Dog bad.

Apparently I have incredible political influence that I wasn't even aware of, because for the second time today I spotted a post that is clearly, without question, a direct response to something I wrote yesterday. This time it was my insightful critique of The New Republic's collective insanity of the last few years-- that whole Iraq, Lieberman, DLC thing.

It also gives another round of applause to Jim Webb for his tough rebuttal to the POTUS' SOTUP The final 'p' is for pap. And almost gives me a palindrome.

It took Senator James Webb, a former Republican secretary of the Navy, Annapolis graduate, and Marine Vietnam veteran, and gun control opponent to make the most unabashed, unapologetic, and unqualified response to President Bush's ill-conceived policies--not only of the past month, but of the past five years. Thank you, Virginia, for giving us Senator Webb.

The senator had eight minutes in the limelight to challenge Bush's version of the "State of the Union." After his November election, conventional wisdom pigeon-holed Webb as one of the new breed of conservative Democrats. Webb's reply clearly demonstrated that he belongs, as Paul Wellstone liked to say, to the Democratic wing of the party, not to the idea-less, accommodating Clinton-Lieberman-DLC group.

And once again, November was not a conservative victory. You could almost see Virginia as the election writ small-- the smarmy Republican thinking his carefully cultivated folksiness meant a sure thing, only to find that most Americans still have a conscience and vote for people with consciences. And no, I'm not at all tired of seeing embarrassment on the faces of Republican friends and family members. Ironically, while I never uttered a single "I told you so" while visiting for Christmas, I was handed plenty of "I guess you think you're pretty smart." Maybe these well-heeled folks just expect petty and vindictive behavior from their peer group. Me? I'm a uniter.