TIM NOAH: Why Jim Webb would make a terrible running mate.

UPDATE: Politico: Webb’s rebel roots: An affinity for Confederacy. “Webb, a descendant of Confederate officers, also voiced sympathy for the notion of state sovereignty as it was understood in the early 1860s, and seemed to suggest that states were justified in trying to secede.”

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader David King emails: “Those who are inclined to make an issue of this should be the first to understand Webb’s position perfectly: He supports the (Confederate) troops, even though he is against the (Civil) war.”

Plus this: “In a complex world, one can simultaneously admire Robert E. Lee’s character, J.E.B. Stuart’s generalship, and the courage of those who charged up Little Round Top while damning the institution of slavery.”