WOMEN'S ISSUES: GEORGE ALLEN VS. JIM WEBB

I'm going to have to comment on one of the issues raised by Tim Russert Sunday as he interviewed Virginia Senatorial candidates George Allen (R-Incumbent) and Jim Webb, the Marine Corps veteran and Vietnam War hero Democratic challenger. The issue was, who has dissed women more re the armed forces?

As Virginia governor Allen opposed opening the Virginia Military Institute to women, saying it would be "ungentlemanly" for women to be treated as were VMI cadets (I have to ask, what were the practices that women couldn't withstand them? Was there some kind of hazing that even young men shouldn't be subject to?). Webb, as Navy Secretary, raised questions as to the deployment of women in combat positions.

Although Webb had questions about incorporating women into rifle battlions and the like, he incontrovertibly expanded opportunities for women in the Navy.

Neither man was a world-beater in forwarding the cause of women in the military, though Webb in his powerful position as SecNav was able, and did more, than Allen as governor and then Senator.

But as a woman, and a feminist, I have to assert strongly that I am not JUST a woman, I am an American. So while feminist aims somewhat influence my political leanings, I am first and foremost just a non-gender-related citizen. Allen is a Bush-clone cowboy who endorses the disastrous Bush administration policies almost without demur. Webb is a war hero who has a Marine Corps son just deployed to Iraq, a Reagan appointee and former Republican who switched to the Democratic Party because of his opposition to the Iraq War (notably BEFORE the invasion), an anti-politician who has engaged in the process because of his strongly held beliefs that the Rethugs are completely out of it.

It's time for some anti-politicians who have military experience (isn't it interesting that that almost all back the Democrats?) to join the Congress.

Tags: George Allen, Jim Webb