WAS TODAY'S DEBATE BETWEEN JIM WEBB AND GEORGE FELIX ALLEN THE END OF THE ROAD FOR MACACA?

Even the extreme right wing Allen partisans are gnashing their teeth and rending their sackclothes over Allen's pathetic performance at today's "Meet the Press" debate. As partisan a hack as Dean Barnett-- on Hugh Hewitt's fever swamp of neo-fascist wingnuttery-- seems to feel that if enough Virginia's make up their minds based on today's debate, there'll be one more Democrat Bush and his rubber stampers have to contend with after January. "For conservatives wishing for Allen to retain his seat," writes Barnett, "their best hope is that Virginians were otherwise occupied this morning or that the state’s NBC outlets were having technical difficulties... Webb outclassed Allen in every aspect of the clash." In fact, Barnett was so impressed with Webb and so dismayed with Allen's maladroit bumbling and sheer stupidity that he ends his story with an acknowledgment that although the Far Right he shills for is desperate to hold on to the Virginia senate seat for partisan reasons, "I can imagine far worse things than having a man like James Webb in the Senate."

I haven't spoken to a single person who watched "Meet The Press" this morning who would disagree that James Webb would make a far better senator, for Virginia and for America, than the weak, pathetic Allen. Even progressives uncomfortable with Webb's moderate political stance on most issues have no doubts that he would make a far better legislator than the racist imbecile who Boo Man calls "the Village Idiot of the U.S. Senate."

Although a few ultra-right partisans are trying to put on a happy face, most people would agree with the analysis offered on Webb's Born Fighting Campaign Blog that he wiped the floor with Allen. "The contrast in leadership and command of the issues was repeatedly on display today in the second debate between Jim Webb and George Allen with Webb showing a detailed command on a host of issues while Allen continuously dodged moderator Tim Russert’s questions. While Webb offered a detailed plan for how to deal with the Iraq war and said he would support Senator John Warner’s interrogation legislation, Allen would not say whether he felt we needed more troops in Iraq; he refused to take a position on Warner’s legislation; and he refused to say that had he known weapons of mass destruction would not be found in Iraq, he would have taken a different position on the war."