Kerry not the only one mad about McCain's shameful Iraq speech

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We took those comments to Virginia's junior Senator, Jim Webb, who is a Democrat and a Vietnam War Veteran.


In a satellite interview, Webb called McCain a "distant" friend, and said McCain's comments go against what he promised to Webb earlier in the year.


"John McCain pulled me aside on the Senate floor and said to me that he wanted to make sure that this debate as it went forward would not impugn the patriotism of any of its participants," Webb said. "I assured him that I have not done that in the past and I would not do it during this process. I'm very sorry to see that this tone has crept up on senator McCain's speeches."


Webb said he is disappointed in McCain's comments.



My thinking is McCain has very few friends in the Senate these days, especially since he's the one who burned the bridges.

Why would McCain even think the Democrats would question the patriotism of others - which would seem to be what that request would seem. The Republicans do it all the time - but even when we have war heroes running, even triple amputee war heroes, we don't question the patriotism of the opponents. (Of course, Webb did seem to question Kerry's in the past, so he is not being fully honest.)

But, I think you are right McCain may have burned too many bridges - though he could likely become Leiberman's friend.

be the judge whether he's ever questioned other's patriotism in the past. I don't think he's lying. I think he has no clue how nasty his past writings were. But, it's rather water under the bridge for Kerry now. Kerry's eye is on the prize -- ending the war in Iraq, and the past will stay in the past.

Edited to add: my blogger friend was in on that call when Webb was making those comments, and she said you could really HEAR the disappointment in Webb's voice. This is actually getting personal.

I agree with you that he likely doesn't recognize that he did. Just as he seemed unable to let Kerry make his statement on Vietnam the day he announced he was not running without trying to prove that the Vietnam war was popular in the early 1970s.

Like you, I see that Kerry was right to support him - we would very likely not have the Senate without him. He also did a great job in the Democratic response to the SOTU. The one thing that is likely true is that he seems to have a hard time accepting that he was ever wrong - a trait that has led many astray.

On the more pertinent topic, McCain does seem to have really burned bridges. I wonder when he will see that the people he pushed away were more genuine than the ones he pandered to. (If he things the Bushies wouldn't throw him under a bus if there was gian in it he's crazy.)