Frank Schaeffer: I should be supporting Allen. Instead, I'm leaving the party.
07:52 AM CST on Wednesday, November 1, 2006
I'm a Christian, a writer, a military parent and a registered Republican.
On all those counts, I was disgusted by an e-mail I just received that's being circulated by campaign supporters of Republican George Allen, who's trying to retain his Senate seat in Virginia.
The message goes like this: "First, it was the Catholic priests, then it was Mark Foley, and now Jim Webb, whose sleazy novels discuss sex between very young teenagers. ... Hmmm, sounds like a perverted pedophile to me! Pass the word that we do not need any more pedophiles in office."Democrat James Webb is a war hero and former Marine, wounded in Vietnam and winner of the Navy Cross. He was writing about class and military issues long before me and has articulated the issue of how the elites have dropped the ball on military service in his classic novel Fields of Fire. By the way, that's a book Tom Wolfe calls "the greatest of the Vietnam novels."
Mr. Webb's son is a Marine in Iraq. That's an uncommon fact in this era in which most political leaders' children act as if it is only right and proper that it's someone else's war to fight.
Mr. Webb also happens to be running against a desperate opponent supported by people who circulated the stupid e-mail, something that reminds me of a 2000 smear campaign aimed at another war hero, John McCain.
I never served in the military. It was my son's unexpected volunteering that connects me to the military family and to my country. And I've been voting Republican for years. My late father ? Dr. Francis Schaeffer ? was an evangelical theologian, friend to Jerry Falwell and White House guest of Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford and the first President Bush.
I have nice handwritten letters from various members of the Bush family, including Barbara, thanking me for my books on military service. So I have every reason to stay in the Republicans' good graces. (It's nice to be complimented on television by the First Lady.)
But enough is enough. I've had it with Republican smears.
The Webb e-mail is the embodiment of the cynical Republican strategists, some of whom must know the difference between fiction and nonfiction. Was Agatha Christie a murderer because she wrote about murder?
According to the Allen camp's logic, God would be a pedophile, too. After all, we Christians believe God inspired the Bible. And God-the-author chose to include the "sleazy" story about Lot offering to send out his young virgin daughters to be raped by the men of Sodom.
The Bible has masturbation scenes, rape, [censored] and God's favorite man ? King David ? warming himself with a young virgin in his old age. He's the same man God tells us committed murder after he indulged his peeping Tom fantasies.
Lucky for God-the-author that He's not running against George Allen.
I just got back from a visit to Parris Island and was struck again ? as I was on the proud day of my son's boot camp graduation there as a Marine in 1999 ? by the moral credibility of the drill instructors and selflessness of the recruits.
Our political leaders should learn from them. In fact, our future leaders should be them. We need to compare today's leaders to those of the past, who earned credibility beyond the reach of cynicism and irony ? and cheap smear tactics.
People like Mr. McCain ? who is "for" the war in Iraq ? and Mr. Webb ? who is "against" the war ? should be respected no matter one's politics or ideas about the war. Why? Because they paid their dues.
My wife and I have reached the tipping point. We plan to go to town hall to dump our Republican voter registration and reregister as independents. I don't care anymore what party someone is in. These days, what I care about is what they're made of.
Wartime demands leaders with character and moral authority. The political party smearing Mr. Webb proves it has neither.
Frank Schaeffer is the author of "Baby Jack," a novel about Marines. His e-mail address is [email protected]
What we've got here is failure to communicate. Some men you just can't reach, so you get what we had here last week which is the way he wants it. Well, he gets it.
Like I said before, I could care less if a candidate has served in the military or not. I could care less if in the past they have shown racist tendencies, sexist tendencies, or wrote books about child porn, or whatever. Im gonna vote for who will do the job the way I feel it should be done. All this crap, especially someone else's opinion, means nothing to me.
It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.
-Teddy Roosevelt
Thats great. You'll notice the guy didn't say he was leaving the Republican party for the Democratic party. He just is fed up with the way, the attacks, that some are doing. It probably be better all around if more people did that (on both sides of the fence).
What we've got here is failure to communicate. Some men you just can't reach, so you get what we had here last week which is the way he wants it. Well, he gets it.
You maybe right. The man has good points. No denying it. I still feel Allen is the right man for the job. Just because he does a smear campaign (which Im against, but there is enough on both sides to where finger pointing and saying one does it more than the other is laughable) doesn't mean that he cant do a good job as a Senator.
It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.
-Teddy Roosevelt
I'll agree with you on that. I've thought that Allen has done a decent job. Nothing great, nothing horrible. My biggest beef with him has been being an all but rubber stamp for Bush. I understand the need to back your political party (if your Allen, you need to support Bush) but I would like a bit more out of the box thinking, something that Allen hasn't done. That being said, I understand why Allen wouldn't, as it is/was pretty common knowledge that he was viewing a 2008 run for the White House. I don't really think that Allen saying Macaca or having confederate memorabilia (sp) is that relevant, just like I don't think Webb writing novels that depicted what he seen as relevant. Since neither candidate has really expressed a lot of 'what they will do' and instead turned this into an election based on 'are you happy with what Bush has done', then thats what I'm basing my vote on. I've read what both of them are "for" and "against" and honestly neither does much more or says much more than typical party rhetoric.
What we've got here is failure to communicate. Some men you just can't reach, so you get what we had here last week which is the way he wants it. Well, he gets it.
Other than changing the method of operation in Iraq which is must, I have liked what Bush has done which is a reason why I like Allen. Many of the same common denominators. I loved Bush's idea on Social Security. Im really dissapointed though with the spending. I dont know who to blame more, Bush, or the House, or who. The deficet is a whole animal in and of itself.
It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.
-Teddy Roosevelt
[ QUOTE ]
I loved Bush's idea on Social Security
[/ QUOTE ]Best thing about him...but he sat thru the window... what should we do now.
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