Jim Webb Defends Content of His Novels

WASHINGTON - Jim Webb says Sen. George Allen is trying to "affect the woman's vote" by targeting the graphic portions of novels he's written.

"This is a Karl Rove campaign," Webb said on Washington Post Radio's The Politics Program with Mark Plotkin.

"The Karl Rove campaigns are always divisive. They go after character assassination. They try to drive wedges among people on various issues."

Several conservative web sites, including The Drudge Report, have pointed out several sexually graphic excerpts found in some of the Virginia Senate candidate's novels, including "Lost Soldiers." The sites are raising concerns about Webb's own character and his attitude toward women. According to The Drudge Report, the information comes from a news release provided by Allen's campaign.

Allen's campaign has refused to tell WTOP whether it issued a news release on the matter, but did issue a release Friday morning from Allen's mother, Kay Allen.

That release questions Webb's portrayal of women, saying, "How can women trust Jim Webb to represent their views in the Senate when chauvinistic attitudesand sexually exploitive references run through his fiction and non-fiction writings? More importantly, what type of mind commits these thoughts to paper -- in such graphic detail?"

Webb defends his fiction, saying the novels illuminate cultures about which people may not be aware.

"If you want to show them how the world lives, you have to step forward and do this," he said.

"People should read my novels. A lot of the military novels are male novels," he says. "There are strong female characters in my novels."

Webb did take issue with Plotkin reading parts of one of his novels on the air, saying that doing so wasn't appropriate and that people choose to read his books.

(Copyright 2006 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)