Jim Webb May Run As Independent and Elect Hillary Clinton

It's almost like they're all in on this together.

One advantage of being part of the progressive movement is that they're relatively united. They're all pretty much socialists and social justice warriors. They disagree, a bit, on how seriously they should take these plans to re-fashion man in Marx's image, but on the basics of the thing, they all agree.

The opposition to these forces is, on the other hand, fractured. The left isn't really challenged by a conservative movement; it's challenged by a coalition that is merely non-leftist, which includes people who believe in a semi-coherent ideology called "conservatism," but which also includes a lot of people who disagree with conservatism, such Republicans.

I kid, I kid, but no I'm serious.

The coalition of the non-left is "reactionary" in the sense that the coalition is forced to react to the initiatives presented to the American public, and those initiatives are usually developed by the leftist political apparatus and then promoted by the leftist advertising apparatus we call the "corporate media." The coalition of the non-leftist generally disagrees with the left agenda (but not all of it; many people are conservative-leaning on cultural issues but progressive/socialist leaning on economic ones), but often disagrees sharply on what positive agenda to pursue.

Jim Webb running as an independent would attract voters who are anti-leftist but also anti-Republican/anti-conservative. Were he not to run, those voters might vote for the anti-leftist candidate. Of course, those voters might not vote for the Republican candidate even if Webb didn't run; a lot of voters are so sick of both parties they've become non voters.

James Antle notes the appeal of Jim Webb to the extinct species once called a "conservative Democrat," but also notes that when Jim Webb was actually in office, he voted almost down-the-line as a progressive liberal under Harry Reid's direction.

Webb's generally liberal voting record was a source of annoyance to me when he was in the Senate. Even more dispiriting was the way he cozied up to figures for whom he long had contempt, like the Clintons and John Kerry, and downplayed his past conservative positions to ingratiate himself to underwear-clad bloggers.

He means "bloggers on the left," I imagine.

Of course Jim Webb is now doing what he did when he ran for Senate in 2006: Sounding like a conservative Democrat who'll buck the liberal line.

Trouble is, he claimed that all before, and then voted with the Pelosi-Reid clatch.

More: 49% of Democrats are now willing to admit they're pro-socialism.

Can we drop this ruse soon?

posted by Ace at 07:53 PM

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