Webb sorry for 1979 article (Va. Senate race)

[underpants]

Good move IMHO. Do it quick and get over it. Even this article in the T-D points out how Webb handled things vs. Allen's Macacca delay excuse apology non-apology apology


http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149190613022

Within two hours of the broadside, delivered at a news conference organized by GOP incumbent George Allen, Webb apologized. He said he is now "completely comfortable" with women in the armed services.

Webb quickly apologized.

In a statement issued by his campaign, the former Navy secretary and Republican-turned-Democrat, said, "I am completely comfortable with the roles of women in today's military."

Webb also said, "To the extent that my writings subjected women at the Academy or the active armed forces to undue hardship, I remain profoundly sorry."



The speed with which Webb apologized was in contrast with Allen's handling of fallout from his calling Webb aide S.R. Sidarth "Macaca," a genus of monkey and word used in some cultures to demean dark-skinned people.

More than a week passed before Allen apologized to Sidarth. The episode revived an image of Allen as racially insensitive.

[brentspeak]

1. Ancient history.

Go Webb!!

:kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick:

[ShortnFiery]

2. Yes! I have a Jim Webb sticker on our van along side my Army one.

I ask every acquaintance I know who's not Right Wing, are you going to vote for Webb?

Jim Web will win if my little part of VA (usually conservative but not Right Wing) is representative of the rest of the state.

Go Jim Webb! :applause: :patriot:

[Fenris]

3. So Allen had to reach back to 1979 to find anything?

Webb must be super-clean. Allen, on the other hand...

[rodeodance]

4. i really think many will see through this--This is really deperation on

Allen's part.

[BootinUp]

5. Good response.

Not familiar with his record on the issue, but sounds like he has come around a little in the past 27 years.

[Virginia Dare]

6. Great move!

His feelings were not out of step with the vast majority of the men in the military at that time, however they were wrong and it shows a lot of integrity for him to show it.

Allen, on the other hand as Governor of Virginia wanted to keep women out of VMI back in the mid-90's. This was much later than most other military academies had been doing so. He only backed down after the Supreme Court ruled against the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Let's hear his apology for that?

[FSogol]

9. LOL, Ladies and Gentlemen start your apologies. n/t

[underpants]

10. Will Russert say "you know since you brought it up....

it was only 10 years ago that YOU...."

Oh would that be funny.

They have a debate on MTP on Sunday you know.

[Virginia Dare]

12. Yes...

normally I avoid that show like the plague, but I'm definitely TIVO'ing it in hopes that Webb is gonna wipe up the floor with Felix's smirking mug.

[RamboLiberal]

16. Webb needs to trot out Allen's attitude on VMI

I'm female and lived through all the crap in the 70's when women were trying to gain acceptance to the military academies. Doesn't surprise me that Webb being a Marine and a Nam vet thought there was no place in the Academies for women. But he's shown he can change.

Difference with Allen and VMI is that they were trying to be the last bastion. Women had proved with a decade of history at West Point, Annapolis, and the Air Force Academy that they did indeed belong.

[underpants]

18. Exactly VMI was the big grand last stand

and it didn't work none of their crap works. Time wears them down and public opinion breaks them-the same is true for every part of the progressive movement. No matter how much people love to claim victory and say this is a conservative nation we aren't -the polls show that on every issue as does history. They have nothing to stand on.

ON EDIt-look at the civil rights movement they were armed to the teeth and killing with little or no worries...didn't stop us. So they tried to outlaw intermarriage...didn't work. So the tried to taboo intermarriage...slowly that is eroding..SLOWLY. The same is true for the feminist movement (in what ever form you personally like) and the same will be true for civil unions. Time and pressure time and pressure- it does wonders.

[FSogol]

7. I hope when Webb is asked again about this, he mentions that

it happened in 1979 and that his opinion has changed in the last 27 years. It's called growing.

[rocktivity]

8. He said it twenty-seven YEARS ago? NO ONE was a feminist 27 years ago!

Five female U.S. Naval Academy graduates yesterday said 27-year-old writings by Democratic Senate nominee Jim Webb critical of women in the military encouraged harassment of women at Annapolis.

Within two hours of the broadside...Webb apologized. He said he is now "completely comfortable" with women in the armed services.

Are they KIDDING? The women's movement was barely out of the gate in 1979--I'm sure he wasn't the only Naval Academy instructor who shared his sentiments. Time has taught him--and entire generations of men--that women CAN fight.

:headbang:
rocknation

[underpants]

13. Eh it had been going since the early 60's really

but as is pointed out in post #6 this was very new to the military and they were still reeling from Vietnam.

Women were getting into all kinds of formerly verboten territories and the service academies (plus VMI) were seen as the last impenatrable actual castles of the old way. Only 3 years in him having this opinion was not rare at all....truth be told it still isn't but that is a whole other issue.

I just love that there was no hmmming and hawing. His campaign knows what they are doing. Every peep from Allen gets an immediate and overwhelming response. Other Dems really need to learn from this.

[Virginia Dare]

14. Feminism among military circles...

didn't come until much later.

I remember debating the Equal Rights Amendment in high school (late 70's), and that was one of the primary reasons people gave (both male and female) for not supporting it. Women would be drafted and would have to serve in combat. It was a shocking proposition at that time.

I contended at the beginning of the Iraq War that once women started coming home in body bags people would lose their stomach for it, but I was proven wrong, people don't seem to be giving it another thought.

[underpants]

15. I think that is more of the "at least its not me" thing

oh also tell me if you think the old ways of thinking played a part in the following



I think that part of that was the whole "me must protect the women" but I hope I am wrong.

Either way they really have come a long way. I would offer a story from my own experience in the Army but we didn't have any women in my unit.

[Virginia Dare]

17. Yes, it was the whole Jessica Lynch thing..

was definitely a calculated PR stunt.

I had a roommate who was a Captain in the Army. To make a long story short, she was pretty much driven to a nervous breakdown by her superiors, many of whom didn't approve of her position. This was in the mid-80's.
It was a shame too, because she was really dedicated to the Army, and she would probably have gone a long way if she had a better emotional consitution.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

21. There's Jessic Lynch in front of an American flag...

...and then there's Felix Lynch (rope) in front of a Confederate flag.

[Captain Hilts]

24. Well it started with the aboliton movement, then suffrage, then birth...

control, then the right to serve on juries...

It's been going on a LONG time.

[onenote]

20. how old are you? You need to study history.

"No one was a feminist 27 years ago"? "the women's movement was barely out of the gate in 1979"? Wow, those may be two of the stupidest statements I've ever seen on DU. Tell that to Gloria Steinem, who began publishing Ms. magazine in 1972 to great success; tell it to the late Bella Abzug, who ran for Congress in 1970. Tell that to those who fought for the Equal Rights Amendment, which was passed by Congress and sent to the states for ratification in 1972 and met with initial success, only to falter over time.

I could go on and on...

[shortcake]

34. Thanks

I was beginning to think I was the oldest person here.

[jbnow]

29. I was in college in the 70's...it was well underway

In fact I'd say most of the fight of the movement took place in the 60's.

By the time I came of age I just walked through doors they had opened. (Since I didn't want to be in a combat zone)

But I'd agree that women in combat was it's own issue and few were for it in the 70's...many aren't for it now. They are still technically banned from direct combat units, such as infantry or armor, so it is no shame to have felt that way 27 years ago.
I bet women appreciated that back when there was a draft.

[Parisle]

11. 27 years ago is a long time,...

---- And considering the almost unbelieveable military heritage of Webb's family, his remarks were not as shocking then as they seem now. But the larger point is whether or not equality-minded women want a republican- or a democratic majority in Congress,... and that should not be hard to answer.

[zbdent]

19. Maybe, along with the apology, he should have said

that he had since "evolved" in his position ...

[DinahMoeHum]

22. Remember, Webb's campaign is managed by Jarding and Saunders

the guys who engineered Mark Warner's victory for Governor.

They are also the authors of "Foxes in the Henhouse"

www.foxesinthehenhouse.com

(snip)
Among other things, Jarding and Saunders urge Democrats to:

Quit turning their noses up at the culture of rural America and talk to people where they live.
Learn how to count when going after votes.
Show some passion and retaliate when Republicans assassinate their characters.
(snip)

Given what has just happened, Webb did the right thing here. He want after the accusation immediately, and, hopefully, killed it.

He has a better-than-even chance of winning this race with Jarding and Saunders aboard.

:kick:

[Captain Hilts]

23. Time and experience have proven him wrong. Let's move on. nt

[humbled_opinion]

25. My first Navy Commendation Award was signed by this most

distinguished secretary. One of the better Secnav's ever.

[MODemocrat]

26. Dredging up an article nearly 30 years old?

That's really showing desperation. I read that the republican party is paying millions of dollars to a
group to "dig up dirt" on the Democrats. For crying out loud, is this the best they can do?? :+ :+ :+ :+ :+ :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring:

[JerseygirlCT]

27. Good for him nt

[sofa king]

28. Wow, that worked really well.

Not only does he get it out of the way, but the contrast in behavior automatically drags the other guy's abhorrent behavior straight back into the limelight.

Let's hope doing the right thing pays off for once.

[Vinca]

30. It's pretty bad when Macaca has to go to the rosetta stone for dirt.

Isn't a person allowed to change their mind every quarter century if they want?

[onager]

31. Marine logic

Good to see this out of the way, but I'm a little surprised Webb thought that way, even in 1979. He's a former Marine (and so am I). Women Marines certainly existed in the Marine Corps of that era.

I've always loved the logic the Marine Corps used when it was faced with Women Marines attending some of its formal social functions.

At one point in time, women were not allowed at some of these wing-dings. (Even though the worst unpleasantness they faced was the possiblity of being bored to death.)

Whoever is in charge of Social Protocol at Headquarters Marine Corps came up with a simple solution: Women Marines could attend because they are considered Marines first, and women second.

:rofl:

Once at Camp Pendleton, I was strolling along with a chauvinistic Marine in my unit who had decided he would not salute Women Marine officers. He didn't think they deserved it, etc.--the usual bullshit.

We walked past a Woman Marine Captain. I saluted, he didn't.

She stopped him and proceeded to deliver a truly awesome ass-chewing, laced with profanity the like of which I have seldom heard. And I spent nearly two years as a Drill Instructor.

After that, his arm snapped up mighty quick in a salute whenever he met a WM officer.

[AlCzervik]

32. looks like Allen bought a way back machine, maybe he could turn it

back to the fifties and see if Webb ever got detention in grammer school.

[IndianaGreen]

33. Webb was Secretary of the Navy

ships would have to be redesigned to accommodate women, and that was the issue back then.

Even today, there are no women serving in subs, and if you watch Discovery Channel's series on Alaska crab fishermen, there is still a strong superstition about women in ships.

Webb is okay in my book, and "Macaca" Allen is still a racist!