Beneath Contempt...

It is rare indeed that I am actually disgusted by something the Instapundit links to approvingly, but this is unreal.

I have generally liked Reihl World View and he has provided some insightful blogging like this very recent piece.

But this puke-tackular piece is utterly beneath contempt. The title is deeply misleading...THE WAR CRIME IN JIM WEBB'S PAST WTF!?!?!?

No, in case you were wondering, Jim Webb did not commit a war crime. He got the sentence of a black marine serving a life sentence for following orders (illegal orders to be sure) reduced....but that is only mentioned several lines down Reuters style.

Read the whole thing...

There. Now that you've disposed of your barf bag...

I'd just posted on why I am leaning against a vote for Webb. In a nutshell Webb has allied himself with the looniest most reactionary wing of the Democratic Party. People who's arguments have about as much merit as Reihl's post here. Now, having said that, I must defend Webb from this ill-thought-out hit piece.

Reihl says that there is a logical disconnect between defending a war criminal and opposing the idiotic asylum for the people who contributed to the post'75 SE Asian Democides by serving on the 'Canadian front'.

Well, NO there isn't. There were extenuating circumstances with the green private following orders straight out of stateside training. The people who fled to Canada forced others to serve in their place. They turned their back on their country and history has proven them wrong over 3 million people were slaughtered because they got their way.

Reihl suggests that Webb is narcissistic, how he arrives at this conclusion is unclear, but it seems to be in part because he has shifted political parties...well more than once...and the second time in the "wrong" direction. This happened over years and may well be because Webb has genuinely changed his views. This doesn't make him narcissistic. One other thing about narcissism...ANY person who thinks they can make a difference in Washington is a tad narcissistic...a little bit of it is a job requirement for any high elected office.

Also disturbing is that this gives credence to a genuine jackasses defenders. The commenters at Reihl's site are already calling it a "Swift-Boating" which is a tad duplicitous as most of the Swifties arguments (aside from their first TV ad) had merit. This is just incoherent ramblings and a deeply dishonest headline.

Webb is not just a Democrat but a Democrat who is the darling child of the Kossacks, people who are not far from Robspierre in their worldview. That is enough to give one pause before voting for him.

Jim Webb is also a genuine war hero who served his country in a terrible and difficult war....when others fled (and when it was quite fashionable to do so). He had the hearbreak of seeing the sacrifice of so many of his shipmates pissed away as those 'others' got their way and all that those men died for was buried in killing fields and reeducation camps. He has stood for what he believes in and defended those cast out from society. He is a hero and should be honored.

We don't have to vote for an appointee of Kossaks, but to not give due credit and engage in baseless defamation is to lower ourselves to the level of the lunatic left.

I'll have no part of it.