Former Senator Jim Webb, who his still on a book tour pondering the possibility of perhaps declaring his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination has lost another Iowa campaign director:
Rania Batrice, who was brought on in March to coordinate Webb’s Iowa activity, resigned last week. Her sudden departure leaves the potential candidate, who known to bristle at the strictures of traditional campaigning, without a field director in any early primary state.
Webb spokesman Craig Crawford said in a statement only that “our exploratory committee is reassigning staff to ensure people are tasked with opportunities that best serve their strengths.”
Batrice did not return a call for comment.
Despite the spin put on this by Webb’s spokesman, it ought to be clear Mr. Webb’s presidential musings are no more than that, and he is not a serious contender.
Or perhaps he’s decided the best way to gain traction is to get the band back together that helped him beat George Allen in 2006:
Batrice will be replaced by Joe Stanley, who started as a digital staffer on Webb’s 2006 Senate campaign. (He is perhaps best known for uploading the infamous “macaca” video to YouTube.) Stanley had been doing online and social media work for the committee.
Oh, Mr. Stanley is known for much more than that. He’s this guy:
…registered the domain name of “olddominionblogalliance.com” on August 16 via GoDaddy.com’s Domains by Proxy service in order to conceal their identity. The domain was then set to forward to the web site for the North American Man-Boy Love Association (“NAMBLA”), an organization that promotes illegal activity between adults and children, including pedophilia.
And he freely admitted to it:
I pointed the domain to NAMBLA for specific reasons. NAMBLA is an organization that advocates a set of beliefs that turn my stomach. Through misinformation, prevarication, and a false sense of earnestness, they pursue a predatory agenda that brings direct harm to countless innocent individuals. Their primary defense is the first amendment.
It is my opinion that the ODBA conducts itself in much the same way. While the end product is far less repugnant than pedophilia, no fewer individuals are hurt by the organization. The main distinction I can make between the two organizations is that NAMBLA believes in the first amendment, and ODBA only believes in their right to free speech.
Yes, that’s the guy running the show — this week — for Jim Webb in Iowa.
Nice “get” Senator.
