Sen. Macaca's past is catching up with him

[Lindsey]

Salon.com (http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/09/24/allen_football/) nails George Allen:

Three former college football teammates of Sen. George Allen say that the Virginia Republican repeatedly used an inflammatory racial epithet and demonstrated racist attitudes toward blacks during the early 1970s.

"Allen said he came to Virginia because he wanted to play football in a place where 'blacks knew their place,'" said Dr. Ken Shelton, a white radiologist in North Carolina who played tight end for the University of Virginia football team when Allen was quarterback. "He used the N-word on a regular basis back then."
Sort of ironic, in light of Allen's obsession with football metaphors, that this is coming from his old football buddies.

--Lindsey

[Judy G. Russell]

Sort of ironic, in light of Allen's obsession with football metaphors, that this is coming from his old football buddies.I still wish we could get away from this sort of crap in campaigning though...

[Lindsey]

I still wish we could get away from this sort of crap in campaigning though...
Sometimes you have to fight fire with fire.

Actually, I might have some sympathy with what you are saying if I thought that Allen's sentiments had changed over the years. I don't think the evidence supports that. And I think we've had quite enough of people like Jesse Helms, Strom Thurmond, and Trent Lott in the Senate.

(And actually, the N-word was not the worst of it. There was a story about a hunting trip, also during his college days, in which Allen cut off the head of a deer and stuffed it into a randomly selected mailbox in a black community. I grew up with rednecks; nobody that I know did anything remotely like that.)

--Lindsey

[Judy G. Russell]

Sometimes you have to fight fire with fire.I agree. I just don't hafta like it.

Actually, I might have some sympathy with what you are saying if I thought that Allen's sentiments had changed over the years. I don't think the evidence supports that. And I think we've had quite enough of people like Jesse Helms, Strom Thurmond, and Trent Lott in the Senate.Agreed. And I'd like to get them all out, and out of public life, forever.

(And actually, the N-word was not the worst of it. There was a story about a hunting trip, also during his college days, in which Allen cut off the head of a deer and stuffed it into a randomly selected mailbox in a black community. I grew up with rednecks; nobody that I know did anything remotely like that.)That's really disgusting...

[Lindsey]

I agree. I just don't hafta like it.
Yeah; I'd rather see the elections be about the issues. But Republicans have been playing the race card for a long time now, and it's about time it bit them in the ass.

Allen has only himself to blame that the question of his racial sensitivity has become a campaign issue. It would never have come up at all had he not seen fit to taunt that young Indian-American at a campaign rally -- and done it when he knew he was being filmed, and that the very person he was taunting, and who was doing the filming, worked for the Webb campaign. I think he has disqualified himself for public office on the question of sheer stupidity if nothing else.

Meanwhile, Larry Sabato, of all people, had joined the chorus of former UVa classmates saying that Allen is not coming clean with his constituents. (Sabato refused to discuss his source, or even to confirm whether or not he had any personal knowledge of Allen's use of racial epithets as a college student, so it's hard to judge just how he knows what he says he knows, but I don't that Sabato would stick his neck out like that without being pretty sure of what he was saying. He did vouch for Ken Shelton, the radiologist in North Carolina who related the story about the deer head.) Video of Sabato's appearance on "Hardball" here (http://video.msn.com/v/us/msnbc.htm?g=a47f2f67-9cd7-4a19-9005-d348f825f79a&f=00&fg=copy). News stories about another witness here (http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/09/26/allen_football/) here (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/25/washington/26allencnd.html?hp&ex=1159243200&en=4060f10fe26a0b7e&ei=5094&partner=homepage) and here (http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=w060925&s=lizza092506). (That last may require a subscription.)

--Lindsey

[Judy G. Russell]

I agree that Allen has shown himself to be pretty darned stupid.

[Lindsey]

I agree that Allen has shown himself to be pretty darned stupid.
He apparently was a pretty bright student at UVa, but there is a difference between school smart and people smart. He did fine when Republicans were riding high, but now that the going is tougher, people are beginning to ask, "What has he been doing for the last 6 years, anyway?" Until he started dropping hints about running for president, you just never heard about him at all. There was absolutely nothing on his web page about issues, and his list of sponsored legislation was full of fluff like this:

S.RES.45 : A resolution commending the James Madison University Dukes football team for winning the 2004 NCAA Division I-AA National Football Championship.

S.RES.102 : A resolution commending the Virginia Union University Panthers men's basketball team for winning the 2005 National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II National Basketball Championship.

S.RES.129 : A resolution commending the Virginia Retail Merchants Association on 100 years of service to the community.

S.RES.283 : A resolution recognizing the contributions of Korean Americans to the United States and encouraging the celebration of "Korean American Day".

S.RES.307 : A resolution to recognize and honor the Filipino World War II veterans for their defense of democratic ideals and their important contribution to the outcome of World War II.

S.RES.361 : A resolution honoring professional surveyors and recognizing their contributions to society.

S.RES.413 : A resolution commending the Virginia Wesleyan College Marlins men's basketball team for winning the 2006 National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III National Basketball Championship.

--Lindsey

[Judy G. Russell]

Fluff is exactly the right word for that sort of thing.

[Lindsey]

Fluff is exactly the right word for that sort of thing.
I imagine it also lays the ground for campaign contributions from the grateful recipients and their friends and family. :cool:

--Lindsey

[Judy G. Russell]

I imagine it also lays the ground for campaign contributions from the grateful recipients and their friends and family. :cool: Ain't that the truth...