Reply #13: I think you may be missing my point just a bit

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

I am just suggesting that one of the fastest sources of information available happens to be blogs. A lot of times, they are running days ahead of the MSM or whatever you want to call it (please, let's not segue into THAT discussion). It's pretty hard to find a "credible and impartial source of information" nowadays. However, in the immortal words of Jon Stewart - "The FACTS have a liberal bias."

I am not asking people to spout mindless talking points. But, I am always impressed by how quickly people can research and support or rebut something based on the FACTS.

Case in point about the hapless wretch sent out to defuse this Webb flap - if she had spent five minutes reading the aforementioned blogs, she would have known:

1. It's a Novel

2. Sometimes things in novels,just as things in life, are not pleasant. A novelist uses events as a way of examining the human situation, as James Webb does in his novels depicting the REALITY of war. James Webb has particular credibility in this instance as he has fought in war for this country.

3. War, death, sex, rape, incest, murder, abuse are all common topics in any number of books. Why did Lynn Cheney write about wagon train Lesbian love? Why did Scooter Libby write about girl/bear sex? Is Jim Webb any more or less depraved than these two prominent Republicans?

4. His book was critically acclaimed

5. John McCain endorsed this book

6.Is a serious, critically acclaimed war hero Secretary of the Navy more able to serve in the Senate than someone who appears to have a troubling history of racial intolerance? And by the way, has George Allen commented publicly yet about the widely reported story about the deer's head in the mailbox of a African- American family?

7. If George Allen wants to discuss novels, he should join a book club.

I don't think anyone of the ideas above can be attributable to a single blog or person. But they all arise from the synergy of the discussion. Think if Miss Hapless Wretch had waded into the fray with the points above as opposed to her "yeah, it is kind of disgusting . . ." That's what I'm talking about.