Webb Won't Be VP

The report is here. I'm not as harsh on Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) as some, but he would have been a surprisingly catastrophic pick for someone who superficially is so tempting. It would have been the single choice most likely to (justifiably) re-enflame the wounds of the Clinton/Obama primary fight, primarily by unnecessarily pissing off women who are already annoyed at Obama for back-tracking on reproductive rights. The advantages Webb wins (military experience, appeal to rural and purple-state voters) can be gotten elsewhere. The visceral anger he provokes in the Democratic Party's female base can't.

Prison State

Junior Virginia Senator Jim Webb is talking about prison reform. Good for him. Prison reform is one of those issues that's really pressing, but never gets talked about, because what politician wants to stand up for prisoners rights? But when you read the stories about what happens in our nation's prison cells, up to and including officially-sanction rape, and it becomes evident that somebody needs to take a stand. Because when you can't tell Abu Gharib and Texas apart, something has gone horribly wrong.