UPDATE: Bush still a jerk (prev. "Oh so THAT'S what was on the menu!")

From the WaPo:

In Following His Own Script, Webb May Test Senate's Limits
By Michael D. Shear
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 29, 2006; Page A01

At a recent White House reception for freshmen members of Congress, Virginia's newest senator tried to avoid President Bush. Democrat James Webb declined to stand in a presidential receiving line or to have his picture taken with the man he had often criticized on the stump this fall. But it wasn't long before Bush found him.

"How's your boy?" Bush asked, referring to Webb's son, a Marine serving in Iraq.

"I'd like to get them out of Iraq, Mr. President," Webb responded, echoing a campaign theme.

"That's not what I asked you," Bush said. "How's your boy?"

"That's between me and my boy, Mr. President," Webb said coldly, ending the conversation on the State Floor of the East Wing of the White House.

snip

If the exchange with Bush two weeks ago is any indication, Webb won't be a wallflower, especially when it comes to the war in Iraq. And he won't stick to a script drafted by top Democrats.

"I'm not particularly interested in having a picture of me and George W. Bush on my wall," Webb said in an interview yesterday in which he confirmed the exchange between him and Bush. "No offense to the institution of the presidency, and I'm certainly looking forward to working with him and his administration. [But] leaders do some symbolic things to try to convey who they are and what the message is."

.............................................

A few weeks ago, I reported that Senator-elect Jim Webb (D-VA) was in attendance at a private reception at the White House for incoming freshman members of Congress. At that point I had no other information except that there was a reception, and Jim Webb and other were invited and attending.

According to The Hill, things between may have gotten a bit heated between Senator-elect Jim Webb and President Bush:

Son also rises in testy Webb-Bush exchange
By Emily Heil

President Bush has pledged to work with the new Democratic majorities in Congress, but he has already gotten off on the wrong foot with Jim Webb, whose surprise victory over Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) tipped the Senate to the Democrats.

Webb, a decorated former Marine officer, hammered Allen and Bush over the unpopular war in Iraq while wearing his son’s old combat boots on the campaign trail. It seems the president may have some lingering resentment.

At a private reception held at the White House with newly elected lawmakers shortly after the election, Bush asked Webb how his son, a Marine lance corporal serving in Iraq, was doing.

Webb responded that he really wanted to see his son brought back home, said a person who heard about the exchange from Webb.

“I didn’t ask you that, I asked how he’s doing,” Bush retorted, according to the source..

Well that certainly doesn't seem like a very appropriate or presidential response to me, I must say. If I were Jim Webb, I might be a little irritated with that comment made by a man who has no problem with other people's children going to war. I would have loved to have been a fly on that wall. Good thing somebody was.

Webb confessed that he was so angered by this that he was tempted to slug the commander-in-chief, reported the source, but of course didn’t. It’s safe to say, however, that Bush and Webb won’t be taking any overseas trips together anytime soon.

“Jim did have a conversation with Bush at that dinner,” said Webb’s spokeswoman Kristian Denny Todd. “Basically, he asked about Jim’s son, Jim expressed the fact that he wanted to have him home.” Todd did not want to escalate matters by commenting on Bush’s response, saying, “It was a private conversation.”

A White House spokeswoman declined to give Bush’s version of the conversation.

Hmmmmm. Well, obviously I know nothing about the source, but the fact that neither parties are elaborating on the story lead me to believe that exchange may have happened. And if it did? Well, I really can't blame Jim Webb for his reaction. I don't fault him for the answer he gave Bush, nor for the way he felt after being basically spat at by the man responsible for this atrocity. They may not want to talk about it, but I am, again, proud that Jim Webb is my new Senator.