Every once in a while, and election comes along that restores my faith in Democracy. Not simply because my candidate won, but because the more qualified and honorable candidate won.

Jim Webb’s victory over George Allen is one of those elections.

Will George Allen’s lame attempt to criticize Jim Webb’s writings backfire? Webb has opened a small lead in Virginia.

Allen has exposed himself in this race as being unworthy of holding public office. His campaign hit a new low when they pulled passages from Webb’s novels out of context to imply that Webb was promoting deviant sex and demeaning women. Fortunately, this pathetic attack was exposed by the Webb campaign and by the press.

Webb is an intellectual and a man of character. There are too few people like him in American politics. Allen is an empty suit that simply repeats conservative talking points. He seems incapable of expressing an original thought.

This is one of the most important races in this election cycle. Webb will bring fresh thinking and a moderate voice to the Democratic Party. He will also be an important asset in the Senate as we debate how to deal with the debacle in Iraq. Let’s hope he pulls it out.

The GOP slime machine has been in full force this year, but the Democrats have been fighting back with rapid-response counter-punches. Democrats like Sherrod Brown are benefiting from this strategy.

It will be interesting to see whether the latest wave of disgusting ads and allegations in the Tennessee and Virginia Senate races backfire against Republicans.

Here’s the video of Jim Webb’s recent appearance on Hardball. He’s on a roll.

Since Dan Abrams took over programming at MSNBC, I’ve noticed two changes - lame documentaries on the schedule after 10 PM and very little coverage of the Iraq War.

It’s not quite as bad at CNN, but coverage of the deteriorating situation in Iraq no longer seems like a priority for the mainstream media. Once the war in Lebanon started, it seems like they shifted their correspondents, and all their coverage, to that conflict, but then never brought them back. Perhaps it’s a cost issue. Perhaps they’re too obsessed with ratings. Either way, they are abdicating their responsibilities . . . again.

I wonder if Abrams watches “Hardball” with Chris Matthews. Matthews blasted the media tonight for ignoring the carnage in Iraq, and pointing out how this is playing into the GOP’s strategy to distract the public from the war.

Speaking of Matthews, Jim Webb was on tonight and gave the best interview I’ve ever seen him give. Matthews tried to get him to discuss George Allen’s current problems with the truth, but Webb scolded Matthews and made him focus on the issues. He gave a very clear explanation of what needed to be done in Iraq. I hope Virginians were able to see this performance.

VoteVets.org has a powerful new ad targeting George Allen and his failure to vote for improved body armor for our troops in Iraq. The ad is very simple yet very effective.

The organization is raising money so they can continue to show the ad and to create similar ads targeting other Senators who voted against this important protection.

The bottom line is this - when our government sent these troops to Iraq, many of them were not given the ncessary body armor to protect them. Many soldiers had to purchase this body armor on their own because the government would not foot the bill. Many units also did not have armored humvees.

This is a disgrace, and it undermines the chest-thumping claims of patriotism by the Bush Administration and the GOP cheering section. It’s time to hold them accountable.

Jim Webb has closed the gap in Virginia. This ad might help him score a huge upset and help the Democrats take over the Senate.

This is the only conclusion I can come to after reading the ridiculous column Mr. Davis wrote for the Wall Street Journal. His basic thesis - that liberals are also capable of “McCarthyism.” He came to this conclusion after campaigning for Jo Lieberman in the Connecticut Senate primary.

I came to believe that we liberals couldn’t possibly be so intolerant and hateful, because our ideology was famous for ACLU-type commitments to free speech, dissent and, especially, tolerance for those who differed with us. And in recent years–with the deadly combination of sanctimony and vitriol displayed by the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter and Michael Savage–I held on to the view that the left was inherently more tolerant and less hateful than the right.

Now, in the closing days of the Lieberman primary campaign, I have reluctantly concluded that I was wrong. The far right does not have a monopoly on bigotry and hatred and sanctimony. Here are just a few examples (there are many, many more anyone with a search engine can find) of the type of thing the liberal blog sites have been posting about Joe Lieberman:

• “Ned Lamont and his supporters need to [g]et real busy. Ned needs to beat Lieberman to a pulp in the debate and define what it means to be an AMerican who is NOT beholden to the Israeli Lobby” (by “rim,” posted on Huffington Post, July 6, 2006).

• “Joe’s on the Senate floor now and he’s growing a beard. He has about a weeks growth on his face. . . . I hope he dyes his beard Blood red. It would be so appropriate” (by “ctkeith,” posted on Daily Kos, July 11 and 12, 2005).

• On “Lieberman vs. Murtha”: “as everybody knows, jews ONLY care about the welfare of other jews; thanks ever so much for reminding everyone of this most salient fact, so that we might better ignore all that jewish propaganda [by Lieberman] about participating in the civil rights movement of the 60s and so on” (by “tomjones,” posted on Daily Kos, Dec. 7, 2005).

• “Good men, Daniel Webster and Faust would attest, sell their souls to the Devil. Is selling your soul to a god any worse? Leiberman cannot escape the religious bond he represents. Hell, his wife’s name is Haggadah or Muffeletta or Diaspora or something you eat at Passover” (by “gerrylong,” posted on the Huffington Post, July 8, 2006).

• “Joe Lieberman is a racist and a religious bigot” (by “greenskeeper,” posted on Daily Kos, Dec. 7, 2005).

And these are some of the nicer examples.

This might be the dumbest argument I’ve ever seen from a well-known pundit. He’s comparing the vitriol we regularly hear from prominent right-wing idiots like Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage and Ann Coulter to the stupid and offensive comments of . . . . ANONYMOUS POSTS on liberal blogs. Is he joking? Can he be this stupid? Limbaugh, Savage and Coulter have millions of supporters and defenders on the right. Who is out there promoting or defending these hateful statements from anonymous posters? The answer = nobody!

He has the nerve to call this “Liberal McCarthyism?”

The only point Lanny has proven with his silly column is that there are jerks on the Internet who like posting crude and hateful comments on blogs. The same type of comments can be found on liberal blogs and conservative blogs. Sites like DailyKos.com regulary have flame wars where readers trade insults through the posts. They are not serious political commentators - just people looking for a good fight online.

His failure to highlight hateful speech from any prominent bloggers or commentators on the left in this column demonstrates that the left has been very respectful in most of the commentary involving this race - despite their burning desire to get rid of Lieberman.

This isn’t exactly what Joementum needs going into the Democratic primary.

A new poll has James Webb within 10 points of George Allen in Virginia. As I said many times previously, Webb has a real shot of pulling off a major upset in November. Hopefully this poll will add to the buzz.

James Webb, a former Republican, will now take on George Allen in November. This is big news for the Democrats. Webb has a strong military background yet he was against the Iraq War from the beginning. He’s not a career politician, and that will be an asset in a year when the voters are sick of politicians.

Joe Klein points out that Jim Webb presents a great litmus test for the Democrats. Will Democrats be willing to accept a former Republican Secretary of the Navy as their nominee for the Virginia Senate race?

Let’s hope they do. We need more men like Jim Webb to consider the Democratic Party. He’s a hawk on defense, yet he saw the folly of the Iraq War and had the guts to oppose it, unlike many Senators and Congressmen who were too worried about being labeled soft on defense.

He also gives a great answer when asked why he’s switching back to the Democratic Party:

“When I started studying Andrew Jackson, I realized that I was really a Jacksonian populist Democrat,” Webb tells the crowd. “Jackson believed that you don’t measure the health of a society at the apex but at the base. I believe that too, and that’s why I’m a Democrat.”

Klein ends his peice with the following:

Liberals hunt down heretics, Michael Kinsley once wrote, while conservatives happily chase converts. Webb is a convert in a party that mistrusts converts. His candidacy is a litmus test for a party that loves litmus tests.

Again, he nails it. Liberals have to stop being so dogmatic and realize that ideological purity is a recipe for electoral disaster. After six years of George Bush, maybe they’re ready to win again.

James Webb’s campaign to unseat George Allen in Virginia is starting to get the attention and support of many national Democrats, including Minority Leader Harry Reid:

Senate Democratic Leader Harry M. Reid and other top Democrats yesterday announced their support for Senate candidate James Webb, signaling the national party’s growing belief that the antiwar crusader and former Navy secretary is the party’s best bet against Republican incumbent George Allen in Virginia.

Webb is fighting for the Democratic nomination against former technology lobbyist Harris Miller in the June 13 primary, the kind of race that national party officials usually stay out of. But Webb, a former Republican and an early critic of the Iraq war, is attracting national attention as someone who could spoil Allen’s plans for an easy reelection in November and a presidential bid in 2008.

I don’t know a thing about Harris Miller. He’s probably a good candidate and would represent the Democratic party well if elected. But he won’t be elected. He probably doesn’t have much of a chance against George Allen.

Webb, on the other hand, has a chance. Webb has a strong military background and he came out against the Iraq War when most people in the country were blindly following the incompetent Bush administration. He has credibility on this issue, and he can make this a high-profile race. He should be the nominee.

The fight between Howard Dean and Rahm Emanuel over how the Democratic National Committee should be spending its money demonstrates the difficulties facing the Democrats as they try to restore the party to power.

Both men have valid arguments. Howard Dean is spending money in all 50 states in a long-term strategy to rebuild the party from the ground up. This strategy makes sense, and he should stick to his guns.

On the other hand, Rahm Emanuel sees the huge opportunity this fall to retake the House and Senate. He wants Dean to conserve resources so they can weather the inevitable GOP onslaught in tight House races. Emanuel doesn’t want to lose this opportunity. He’s also correct.

Unfortunately, even with solid fundraising, there’s only so much money to go around. Emanuel will probably lose this argument.

That said, the Washington Post article points out the Emanuel’s House committee has roughly the same amount of cash on hand as their GOP counterpart, and Chuck Shumer’s Senate committee actually has more money than their GOP counterpart (run by the hopelessly incompetent Elizabeth Dole).

On a more humorous note, the Post article is worth reading just for its description of Emanuel:

Emanuel, a recreational ballet dancer with the vocabulary of a longshoreman, has for 15 years fashioned a reputation as one of Washington’s most aggressive figures — first as an operative on Capitol Hill and in the Clinton White House, and after 2002 as a representative from Chicago.

Priceless.

Get ready for hurricane Karl. Howard Fineman reports how Karl Rove’s strategy for the 2006 elections will be to demonize the Democrats and scare the crap out of voters. Democrats should be worried. Rove is at his best when he’s fighting in the gutter, and he will do everything in his power to avoid a Republican meltdown in November.

That said, this strategy might backfire. Voters are obviously tired of Bush and the GOP, and they’ve heard all this about the Democrats before. Rove in essense will be doubling down with this strategy, and it could lead to even bigger GOP losses.