Prior to reading Kathy G's post, I'd heard that Webb had said some unflattering things about women, but had dismissed it as just another example of right-wing character assassination. I'd rooted for Webb when he ran against Allen, and cheered when he won. I'd heard interviews of him and was impressed by his intelligence and candor. I still think he has a lot of positives, but I was shocked at some of the things he's said that were cited in the blog post, and even more shocked at how recent some of those quotes were. 1997 was not that long ago, and at that time, Webb said that efforts to ensure fair treatment for women in the military are illegitimate (because, he claims, they are driven by egotistical feminist social engineers). That's crazy talk. I'm sorry, but it just is.

please, no Clark. This from a guy who supported him in '04 for the Dem nomination. He's too close to Clinton

This is a positive for the VP choice. Hillary got a lot of votes. Lets keep that in mind.

1) The Senate seat. I understand you don't care whether the Dems have a strong hold on the Senate. That's fine, but I, and a lot of Democrats like me, do care.

The more important is the second point: what you refer to as "making some fairly outrageous and offensive statements". Webb wasn't misogynist because he held traditional opinions about single-sex militaries; he was misogynist because he said some really horrible things. Similarly, other things he said weren't just "wingnutty", they were also both offensive and, more importantly, wrong.

I think Webb has sterling qualities that weigh strongly on the other side of the balance, and I think he' grown since the time in which he was being so offensive. But it is a political weakness, especially given a strong core of Clinton irredentists being trained to resent Obama and to see sexism in his candidacy. Obama should not go so far as to include Clinton on his ticket, but he similarly should be careful to avoid unnecessary additional incitement to her supporters.

1. Webb didn't do any better among white, non-college educated voters than you would expect from any other democrat.
2. Webb has low approval ratings in VA. He has low visibility because he doesn't really do much outreach to voters.
3. Webb has problems with women in the military not just combat roles, as his 1997 Weekly Standard article (Kathy G. linked to it) clearly indicated.
4. Webb is more centrist than Obama. Is that what Obama really wants for his 3rd and 4th term?
5. Webb voted for telecom immunity.
6. Webb supported Allen as recently as 2000, and has turned to the Dems since the Iraq War.

My goodness, that's "word for word" why the entire liberal voters and their media - much of the independents - and some of the GOP, messiah struck, ought to be concerned about Obama. He's a Photoshop candidate from hell, not heaven. Then again, much of America doesn't think those places exist anymore.