Background on Webb-Bush

A lot of people think Jim Webb may have overreacted to the President Bush when he asked about his son Jimmy at a recent White House function.

I've gotten a tip on the background to this confrontation, and it appears that Webb may have under reacted.

As President Bush is well aware, a couple of weeks before this dinner the tank riding next to Jimmy's in Iraq was under fire and three marines died.

My sources are telling me that the way President Bush approached Webb with his tone, it appeared he was asking the question of how Jimmy was doing in a mocking manner, while he was certainly aware of the tragedy that had hit his unit a few weeks earlier.

Webb has every right to be livid as the Commander in Chief should not be talking about service members in Iraq in a condescending manner like that. I hope everyone can understand what Webb is going through as a parent with death striking Jimmy's unit that closely, and President Bush should have been a lot more sympathetic to Jim's feelings as a parent.

And Jim, thanks for showing the restraint not to knock Bush out when he did that.

Comments

[phriendlyjaime]

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

wooooooooooooooWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

I love exclusives!

[Doug]

I'm going to scoop you Ben:

"Allen caught and arrested for soliciting a transexual prostitute"

Not that there is anything wrong with that.

Stark files assault charges

rather, Stark files civil suit seeking damages for assault

[phriendlyjaime]

OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BUSH IS AN ASSHOLE!!!!!!

MORE OF AN ASSHOLE THAN EVER BEFORE!

[Doug]

no no, stark is so yesterday. It's someone killing kittens, I bet.

[phriendlyjaime]

How despicable. I am appalled and disgusted.

[Doug]

Oy. Sorry now I was glib and joking about this before.

Ugh, I feel sick to my stomach.

[phriendlyjaime]

You SHOULD feel sick. A US Senator has a child on the front lines, and all Republicans and the POTUS can do is mock him. Sick, sick, sick.

[hrconservative]

The President would not do this. Whoever gave you this "tip" (i.e. gossip) is mistaken.

[Terry]

Wow, when I first started to read this, I thought you were going to say Webb's son had been killed.

[phriendlyjaime]

OK, I have to ask-how the heck do you know what the president would or wouldn't do?

[hrconservative]

How do you?

[phriendlyjaime]

I don't. But we all read the numerous papers that told the story, and now we have this, yet YOU KNOW HE WOULDN'T DO IT.

[Not Larry Sabato]

HR, what do you think the question meant then? Bush was obviously briefed when the marines next to Jimmy were killed- how did he think Webb would answer the question of "How's your boy"?

[hrconservative]

I know he would not in a mocking manner

this is all based on his "tone" ... that's incredibly subjective

[phriendlyjaime]

Oh, and btw-if he did, what would your oh so important and viable opinion of the president be?

[LAS]

Gee, HR, how about from his past history? Let's see--joking about the missing WMDs while our soldiers were in harm's way? Taunting the insurgents to "Bring it on!" before he beat a hasty retreat.

Examples of him being a major asshole are just too numerous to mention.

[hrconservative]

NLS, it sounds like the normal small talk, and I have never seen the President not care for the soldiers that are in harms way.

The President did not ask Webb in a mocking manner, despite your "tip". (gossip)

[hrconservative]

Saying "Bring it on" is your big explanation, LAS?

Pitiful.

[hrconservative]

Phriendly, hypothetically, in another universe far far way, if the President had done that, he should apologize to Webb and his son.

I believe it happened about 0% though.

[Bruce]

"As President Bush is well aware"
"he was certainly aware of the tragedy that had hit his unit a few weeks earlier."

How do you or your "sources" know what the President knows. Do you really think the President knows who is in every unit that has taken fire?

It may be that Pres. Bush was mocking, but it seems extremely unlikely he would do that - especially with other Senators there as witnesses.

But I can not understand how you can KNOW these things Ben. Did you see his briefing paper? Were your sources the staff who briefed him before he met Webb? As someone who has done briefings for Cabinet secretary's myself, there is know way I could have found out this level of detail on the unit of a Senator's son.

Let's be clear on what we KNOW and what we BELIEVE. They are very different.

[Not Larry Sabato]

HR, you are missing the point. It wasn't small talk like you might have with Webb- because Bush KNEW THE ANSWER TO THE QUESTION (which is he is under fire). That alone makes the question totally condesending.