Republican turned Democrate throws down the gauntlet...

[psi29a]

source

RICHMOND, VA. — Republican Sen. George Allen attacked his Democratic challenger's opposition to a flag-burning amendment, and James Webb retaliated by calling Allen a coward who sat out the Vietnam War "playing cowboy at a dude ranch in Nevada."

"While Jim Webb and others of George Felix Allen Jr.'s generation were fighting for our freedoms and for our symbols of freedom in Vietnam, George Felix Allen Jr. was playing cowboy at a dude ranch in Nevada," said Webb strategist Steve Jarding in the statement Tuesday.

...

"People who live in glass dude ranches should not question the patriotism of real soldiers who fought and bled for this country on a real battlefield," Jarding said.

Webb left the Republican party over Bush's handling of the war in Iraq. He has written novels informed by his Vietnam experience and a recent non-fiction book "Born Fighting."

Allen is a first-term senator mentioned as a possible 2008 presidential candidate. While he was a student at the University of Virginia, Allen worked summers at ranches in the Southwest.

Holy shit, some democrats are growing backbones. Turn up the heat mon!

[vtwahoo]

Holy shit, some democrats are growing backbones. Turn up the heat mon!

At the risk of again falling into the realm of paranoia, my gut feeling is that Webb knows that he's going to lose and is thus doing his best to damage Allen's credibility for the 2008 Presidential election.

That being said, it's about bloody time.

[MrFelony]

well he seems like a more badass democrat than most heh

[Shisho]

Is he for or against burning flags? The whole argument to me is stupid, because the proper way of disposing of a flag is by burning it. So you can just be like "Hey I was just retiring the thing."

US Flag Code. TITLE 4 > CHAPTER 1 > Sec. 8(k). It states:

"The flag, when it is in such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem for display, should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning"

I really don't see what the big deal is with burning a piece of cloth with colors on it. Ironically I bet these people who are against flag burning are confused when gangsters kill each other over gang colors.

I mean if you want to restrict something symbolic (such as burning a flag), you are restricting freedom of expression without a doubt. The hypocrisy of the whole debate amuses me.

Also fighting in Vietnam wasn't fighting for American freedoms. Maybe abroad they were fighting for South Vietnamese freedoms. He was serving his post, I'll give him that.