Academic

EARLIER, I MENTIONED JAMES WEBB?S PIECE ON AFFIRMATIVE ACTION AND RACISM, and a reader from Virginia?

By Glenn Reynolds

EARLIER, I MENTIONED JAMES WEBB’S PIECE ON AFFIRMATIVE ACTION AND RACISM, and a reader from Virginia emails:

What you’re seeing from Webb is the beginning of his 2012 re-elect campaign. He knows he won in 2006 for one reason: macaca. If not for Allen’s fateful stumble, it wouldn’t even have been close. Since then, he’s managed to vote for ObamaCare, Cap and Trade and a ton of other things that are hugely unpopular in Virginia.

A colleague of mine got a 20 minute live-operator poll from Webb last week, testing different messages related to Cap and Trade. Webb knows which way the wind is blowing, and he’s afraid that Obama will be a huge boat anchor in 2012. Add in the fact that Allen is considering running again, and it’s little wonder he’s beginning to say to eye-opening things.

It’s a matter of survival.

Well, especially now that the press has concluded that using embarrassing video without the full context is some sort of breach of journalistic ethics. . . .

Meanwhile, reader Bruce Goldston writes: “Let’s not get so worked up over Sen. Webb’s comments on race and affirmative action programs. Its very likely that his Op Ed was calculated by the White House as an attempt to stop the hemorrhaging of white voters and to bring enough of them back into the democrat party’s fold to rescue their candidates in November.” Hmm. Possibly, but I have to say I find the first explanation more convincing.

UPDATE: Moe Lane predicts disaster: “Senator Webb seems to have forgotten that he has a ?D? after his name these days, which effectively means that this entire article is thoughtcrime that will pretty much guarantee him a messy primary in 2012. Progressives do not appreciate thoughtcrime, particularly in their converts: they bought Jimmy Webb in 2006, and they expect their purchases to perform as expected.”

Full post as published by Instapundit.com on July 23, 2010 (boomark / email).