Wonderful short e-mail from faithful reader W.W. about my post on George Will’s take on the insufferably boorish bizarro-novelist-turned-Bush-snubbing-neophyte-Dem-Sen. James Webb, whom I’ll bet Virginians are already sorry they elected (see my “James Webb, America’s Rudest Senator,” Nov. 30):
“The president should immediately order Webb’s [Marine] son home and assign him as his father’s military aide. His son would hate his dad for that.”
Heh! And blogger Cacciaguida (law prof David Wagner) points out that Webb isn’t just ill-mannered but positively strange. He cites this excerpt from a recent op-ed of Webb’s in the Wall Street Journal whose theme is (yawn!) widening class divisions in America:
“Still others [i.e. corporate execs he talked to during his campaign and whom he didn’t like] have gone so far as to argue that these divisions are the natural results of a competitive society. Furthermore, an unspoken insinuation seems to be inundating our national debate: Certain immigrant groups have the ‘right genetics’ and thus are natural entrants to the ‘overclass,’ while others, as well as those who come from stock that has been here for 200 years and have not made it to the top, simply don’t possess the necessary attributes.”
Says Cacciaguida:
“[W]hat’s the point of even bringing this up? To imply that corporate America is engaged in a race war against Webb’s beloved Scots-Americans, the folks he wrote about in his book Born Fighting, and on whose behalf he cherishes obvious resentments based on both race and class (“those who come from stock that has been here for 200 years and have not made it to the top”)?
“And just who are these ‘natural entrants’ into the ‘overclass’ — notions that Webb softens by putting them into his villains’ mouths, but which he obviously thinks are in play? Who does Webb think — excuse me: who does Webb think corporate America thinks — are the ‘overclass’? Asians? Anyone else?”
Uh-huh. I predict the clearly short-fused Webb self-destructs within two years. Any bet-takers?