Webb on the Colbert Report.

I just finished watching U.S. Senate candidate James Webb’s appearance on last night’s Colbert Report. It was pretty good. Webb seemed a bit stiff, but he had a few good lines that got the audience applauding. Stephen Colbert had what was surely the funniest line of the night, in which he (in his role as a staunch Republican) declared Sen. George Allen “dumb as a post,” following it up by pointing out that he means that as a compliment, since he hates intellectuals.

If you missed it, you can catch it on iTunes for $1.99.

Published by Waldo Jaquith

Waldo Jaquith (JAKE-with) is an open government technologist who lives near Char­lottes­­ville, VA, USA. more »

8 replies on “Webb on the Colbert Report.”

  1. Part of the problem with the Left is they deride opponents as “dumb as a post” (and I know Colbert was joking, but I’ve heard similar refrains from my Democratic friends) which not only alienates swing voters but at the same time has the numbing effect of the Lef not feeling that they need to intellectually debate the merits of their opponents policy issues because, well, he’s just dumb.

    I think Peggy Noonan’s analysis of our current President is accurate when she said their are two huge misconceptions of Bush; the first misconception is that he’s dumb (which he is not) and the second misconception is he’s just an average, slap you on the back, how’s it going nice guy. Bush has shown fairly sharp political skills during his presidency (not as sharp as Clinton), with the exception of the DP Ports Deal. He is also an extermely competitive, win at all costs kind of Executive with extreme loyalty as well, who has the tendency to be vindictive towards those that cross him.

    George Allen is not “dumb as a dumbpost”; he has an amazing grasp of policy issues, history and has an extremely keen political mind. He is also one of the most competitive men I’ve evern known; deriding him as a simpleton and a buffon was a problem the Democratic Party did in 1993 much to their peril

    Don’t make the same mistake

  2. George Allen was asked last month by the NY Times what his opinion was of Ben Bernanke’s nomination.

    “For what?”

    Told that Mr. Bernanke was up for the Fed chairman’s job, Mr. Allen hedged a little, said he had not been focused on it, and wondered aloud when the hearings would be. Told that the Senate Banking Committee hearings had concluded in November, the senator responded: “You mean I missed them all? I paid no attention to them.”

    George Allen sure does do a good job of giving us the impression that he *is* dumb as a post. Or maybe he’s just incompetant? There are really only 2 people who I can think of that the left characterizes as morons. That’s George W. Bush and George Allen. Watch either of them speak for 5 minutes without a script and it’s hard to come to any other conclusion. They’re both practically drooling on themselves.

  3. ATA,

    Your attitude towards Bush and Allen are EXACTLY the reason why the Democratic Party has an abysmal track record running against either of these two candidates.

    Conjecturing Allen’s intelligence because he wasn’t paying attention on a single issue either demonstrates a simpleton intelletual level or an egregious example of confirmation bias. Confirmatoin bias is a psychological double standard which is displayed when we tend to seek support for what we already believe, rather than to seek out information that might undermine our beliefs. Confirmation bias helps to account for the persistence of disagreement among the Right and Left, as well as your vitrolic statements post above.

    I happened to see Allen speak at Chamber meeting, unscripted, taking questions from the audience and his grasp on issues ranging from the Supreme Court, foreign policy, trade and national security issues was superb. He is also a much better on the cuff speaker than our current President.

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