Married to a career military officer, I spent 10 happy years in the midst of military men and their families and I found plenty of social conservatives in the ranks. Not uniformly to be sure but I’d say that the standard liberal positions Jim Webb now espouses on abortion, gay rights and affirmative action put him out of step with many of the former military members his supporters think he’ll appeal to. Chuck Robb was also a decorated Vietnam vet and Virginia voters had no trouble tossing him from office — including Jim Webb who endorsed George Allen over his fellow former Marine. When many of Webb’s military fans learn that he’s no longer the guy who wrote “girls can’t fight” there will be some disillusionment among the troops. His old friend Mac Owens recalls that in the past Jim Webb remained so furious over John Kerry’s slander of Vietnam veterans that he once refused to shake the senator’s hand. They are now hugging, literally, and Republicans have the tape.