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'Born Fighter' Settles Down To Collegial First Term
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Candidate
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| Contributor | ArmyDem |
| Last Edited | ArmyDem Mar 20, 2008 10:17pm |
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| Category | News |
| Media | Newspaper - Washington Post |
| News Date | Saturday, March 22, 2008 04:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Sen. Webb Is a Surprise
By Anita Kumar
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 21, 2008; Page A01
Even before Virginia Sen. James Webb was sworn in, the decorated Marine was known for his confrontational, sometimes antagonistic style.
There was that retort at the White House when President Bush asked about his son serving in Iraq ("That's between me and my boy, Mr. President"). His fiery Democratic response to the State of the Union address on national television ("The president took us into this war recklessly"). And his testy exchange with Republican colleague Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.) on a Sunday morning talk show ("Lindsey's had a hard month").
Some of his supporters wondered how effective Webb would be in the collegial Senate, where personal relationships count for everything. But after a little more than a year in office, Webb has surprised many people in both parties with a tactful, patient style that has raised his profile among freshman senators.
To "bury the hatchet" with Bush, as he put it, Webb even initiated a private chat with his Marine son, Jimmy, and the president in the Oval Office after Jimmy returned from Iraq. His son's combat boots, the ones Webb wore on the campaign trail to symbolize his "Born Fighting" theme, are now put away, enshrined in glass in his office lobby.
"The [Republican] campaign strategy . . . was to say that I was going to have a temper all the time. . . . This is a guy who doesn't get along," said Webb, 62, of Arlington County. "But I know how to work in this environment." |
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