Allen Criticizes Webb's Novels

By Warren Fiske and Dale Eisman, The Virginian-Pilot
October 28, 2006

U.S. Sen. George Allen has unleashed an unusual attack against Democratic challenger Jim Webb, spotlighting sexual scenes in Webb's novels that Allen said show "a pattern of disrespectful treatment toward women." Allen's accusations came as the Republican senator insisted to reporters on Friday that "this campaign ought to be about issues, ideas and a proven record."

Webb responded by citing the critical acclaim given to many of his works and faulting Allen for extracting "a few sentences" for political gain. "They go after character assassinations," Webb said of the Allen camp. "They try to drive wedges among people on various emotional issues."

The mixture of literature and politics is the latest twist in a hotly contested race that has remained fixed on questions about the candidates' sensitivities to race, gender and ethnicity.

Allen, a Republican, declined to say Friday whether he's read any of Webb's six novels.

"I'm busy in the midst of a campaign," he said during a stop in Harrisonburg. "I've been reading initiatives and ideas and I'm trying to motivate people and inspire people."

Allen added: "From those excerpts I have read, they are certainly demeaning to women.... The people of Virginia can judge those writings, and he should explain his writings."

Robert Holsworth, a political scientist at Virginia Commonwealth University, said Allen's attack of the books is a "high-risk" strategy.

"It may have the political effect of motivating his social-conservative base to turn out at the polls, but it also has the potential of turning off a lot of people who say, 'Hey, these are works of art,' " Holsworth said.

Allen's campaign on Thursday released the excerpts and a statement to two conservative media outlets: the Fox News Channel, and The Drudge Report, an Internet site that posted the releases online. It's not clear if any other organizations were sent the releases.

"Webb's novels portray women as servile, subordinate and promiscuous - and assign his female characters base, negative characteristics," said a statement attributed to Chris LaCivita, a senior Allen consultant.

Allen's release, according to The Drudge Report, had one-paragraph book excerpts of eight sexual scenes or descriptions of women, one scene involving two men and another involving a father and son. They were taken from five novels written by Webb since 1978.

The first excerpt cited was a scene from the 2001 book "Lost Soldiers" in which a poor Vietnamese man, on a slum path, puts his son's genitals in his mouth.

Webb, during a radio interview Friday morning on WTOP in Washington, defended the brief scene.

"It was not a sexual act," he said. "It was an observation that I actually saw when I was a journalist in a slum in Bangkok where an individual picked up his child and did that in front of 100 people. The duty of a novelist is to portray the world as it is, and, to me, it was an example of illuminating a surrounding that had nothing to do with sex."

Kristian Denny Todd, a spokesman for Webb, said later that Webb never heard an explanation for the act but believes, because no one else who saw it regarded it as unusual, that it is a part of some cultures.

The Allen campaign has been studying Webb's books for some time. In late August, the campaign compiled a 47-page report that listed all literary mentions Webb had made about sex, women, blacks, Jews, Catholics, the media and veterans. The report, a copy of which was obtained by The Virginian-Pilot, also contained grids dissecting the major characters in most of the novels.

In defending his criticisms of Webb, Allen said: "He can explain why he wrote these passages or created these passages. It's up to the people of Virginia to judge my record. I'm very proud of my record, and I've always said this campaign ought to be based on issues, ideas and a proven record of performance."

The Allen campaign sought to underscore one of its constant charges this fall: that Webb is insensitive to women. In commercials and at news conferences, Allen has repeatedly cited a 1979 magazine article by Webb in which he rued the admission of women into the U.S. Naval Academy. Webb wrote that the women were incapable of leading men in combat and had turned a Navy dormitory into "a horny woman's dream."

Webb apologized for the tone of the article this fall and said he is now comfortable with the role of women in the military.

Allen has been hurt this summer and fall by stories that he leveled an ethic slur at Webb campaign worker of Indian descent, denied his Jewish heritage and may have frequently used an epithet to refer to black people in the early 1970s - a charge he denies.

LaCivita, in explaining the examination of the novels, wrote, "It seems Sen. Allen, regardless of the validity of an allegation, is held to a different standard - a standard that with just a little scrutiny, Jim Webb can't pass."

Webb said the argument is preposterous.

"Literature is literature," he said. "... Some of it involves places where people have never been that I've been. If you want to show them how the world lives, you have to step forward."

Webb's novels generally deal with war and international intrigue. Several of his books have received glowing reviews and are taught in universities.

"Lost Soldiers" contains a dust-jacket rave written by Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who called it, "a novel of revenge and redemption that tells us much about where Vietnam is headed and where it has been."

John Casey, a novelist and professor of creative writing at the University of Virginia, said authors should not be confused with their characters.

"If a character slaps his girlfriend, it doesn't mean that the author slapped his girlfriend," said Casey, who won a National Book Award in 1989 for his novel "Spartina."