JIM WEBB: Clinton visit may net half-million
2006-10-20
Source: Richmond Times-Dispatch
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rss feedFormer President Bill Clinton, saying the nation is moving past its deep divisions over the Vietnam War, saluted Democrat Jim Webb yesterday for his service and for his courage in challenging Republican Sen. George Allen.
"I value his service to our country," Clinton told reporters about Webb, a decorated Marine veteran of Vietnam combat, and Clinton thanked Webb for "the sheer audacity it took for him to make this brave race for the United States Senate."
"I'm encouraged for my country that we're here together," Clinton added, standing beside Webb at a former Clinton adviser's home in Arlington, minutes before Clinton left to headline a private Webb fund-raising event in nearby McLean.
Though they have had different views in the past, Clinton said he and Webb share a Scots-Irish lineage and hardscrabble upbringing, and the nation seems to be healing from the years it was torn apart over Vietnam.
"Those times divided us. Maybe we're finally putting it behind us, as a country," said Clinton, who opposed the war and avoided the draft.
Webb concurred, quoting friends who said a wall had existed between those Americans who fought in Vietnam and those who did not. "On 9/11, that wall came down for me," Webb said. "I lost my anger about Vietnam."
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