Webb Democrats: Disappearing?

November 8, 2010 by PaulM Posted in History, Lowell, Politics, Current Events, Election 2010 8 Comments

David Paul Kuhn of www.realclearpolitics.com talks to Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia about why the “Reagan Democrats” are leaving or have left the party. Read his article here.

8 Responses to Webb Democrats: Disappearing?

  1. Righty Bulger says:

    Thanks for posting this Paul. Webb very eloquently explains what people like me can’t seem to explain. Or maybe its that the message doesn’t sound as convincing coming from folks like me, as it does when coming from the inside. Either way, Webb is the type of politician I would vote for any time. Reminds me of a guy named Tsongas.

  2. PaulM says:

    I respect Webb’s independent minded-ness. He doesn’t fit into any off-the-shelf mold. And he’s a writer, after all, an author. For two minutes last year, I thought Obama might surprise everyone and pick Webb for VP.

  3. DickH says:

    Sorry, but I think this is all a bunch of revisionist BS. Sure, when Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act the Democrats, as Johnson predicted, “lost the south for a generation.” In the 1970s and 80s, the Democratic Party flailed around, making itself a patchwork quilt of interest groups, but that ended with the election of Bill Clinton who shoved the party to the center which is where it has stayed ever since.

    How is health care reform or financial reform or bailouts of Wall Street or the automotive industry even remotely black v white issues? While their solutions may differ, every economist in America agrees that getting health care costs under control is crucial to our future economic well-being. Do we really think that left to their own devices, Wall Street wouldn’t once again lead us into the same type of financial catastrophe we’re now experiencing? Would America be better off without GM and Chrysler? Again, what do any of these things have to do with race?

    If anything, Obama and the Democrats have been too much the accomodationists to Wall Street and Corporate America. There’s been an infuriating transfer of wealth underway in this country, but it’s not been from the middle class to the poor; it’s been from the middle class to the very rich. In the late 1970s, the richest 1% took in less than 9% of the nation’s total income; in 2007, the richest 1% took in nearly 24% of the nation’s total income. That money didn’t magically materialize out of thin air; it came from the middle class. Besides sticking it to the middle class financially, these exploiters have also sold the narrative that the problems of the middle class are because of government handouts to the poor. For whatever reason, many in the middle class have bought that narrative and are now the allies of their exploiters.

  4. Righty Bulger says:

    Its fact Dick, not revisionist history. Its why this former Democrat is now independent and more often than not, Republican voting. There are millions like me out there.

    Liberals are the ones trying to rewrite their party’s recent history of electoral failure. Keep ignoring it and keep losing elections. The Democratic party has become the party of special interest, especially minority special interests, at the expense of white middle class America. Call us racist all you want. We are not racist. We look out for our own pocketbook, just like every special interest group does. It helps that we are the largest special interest group of them all and that we are now wise to the ways of the Democratic party.

  6. Righty Bulger says:

    No Gordon. You’re only showing your ignorance by insulting us and assuming we’re so easily deluded and bamboozled. You’re the one who’s been bamboozled. By your own party, no less. Enjoy the fall from power, my friend.

  7. Greg Page says:

    Another reason to love Jim Webb — he has made prison reform a major cause of his. That’s admirable for two reasons: First, because convicted felons in many states can’t vote, he’s doing the opposite-of-pandering (is there a word for that?); and second, because he’s taking up a cause that’s righteous but not broadly popular. I mean, everyone can be pro-environment, pro-veterans, pro-students or whatever, but who wants to be pro-prisoner? It’s so ripe for an opportunistic opponent to use in a campaign ad, but Webb is undeterred.

    Here’s a great Salon piece by Glenn Greenwald that summarizes the nature of the drum that Senator Webb has been beating: http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2009/03/28/webb/index.html

    Part of the purpose of a prison should be to rehabilitate inmates and give them skills to help them eventually re-integrate back into American society. It shouldn’t be some kind of a Hobbesian nightmare where abuse is a rite of passage…yet for some reason the sexual abuse of prisoners has become an acceptable thing to acknowledge, or even joke about in our culture — Right, Left, and Center.