VA-Sen: Allen’s Senate campaign crumbling due to racism
Republican George Allen’s re-election campaign for Senate is crumbling, along with his ambitions for president. First there was “macaca.” Then came his defensive response to a question about his Jewish heritage, and his subsequent ludicrous claim that he wasn’t aware of it until now. Now witnesses are emerging to say that Allen repeatedly used racial epithets against African Americans in his younger years, and even shoved the head of a deer into the mailbox of the nearest black person during a hunt.
We’re seeing the real George Allen emerge now, especially in the way defensive, condescending way he is dealing about the questions regarding his past. This is a guy who has been photographed proudly with white supremacists, who has hung a noose in his office, who has spoken lovingly of the Confederate flag.
George Allen is and has always been a racist, and he can’t escape evidence of his true feelings anymore. Oh, he can try to hide by sponsoring useless and ultimately fruitless legislation to apologize for lack of harsher federal response to lynchings, and by providing lukewarm support for a formal apology for slavery. These are nothing but cheap ploys to deflect questions about his true racist past and feelings.
Hopefully Virginia will come to its senses and boot this bozo out office come November.
Staunton News:
George Allen for Senate…
The Staunton News Network picked George Allen as the best candidate for Staunton Citizens. Based on information, plans and ethics, the Staunton News Network feels that James Webb is playing too dirty to even be considered.
While James Webb focuses on …
September 26, 2006, 12:29 pmTrevor:
You can hope all you want, but Allen has plenty of other college friends coming out publicly to his defense. And this is VA. It’s full of racists! I wouldn’t count on that helping the cause for the eletion. I am only hoping this is killing off his desire to run for President.
September 26, 2006, 1:22 pmmark:
I think Allen has enough money to win. Everyone knows he’s a racist, and of course his racist friends would come to his defense.
Webb needs to figure out a way to get Northern VA to vote disproportionately in this election, and I dont think thats an impossible task. Maybe all this muddy race stuff will keep some rural conservatives home? hope so.
September 26, 2006, 2:40 pmDavid Deyo:
Not that it matters much outside of Virginia, but watching the coverage of this issue at the national level has been fascinating. I can’t say I knew much about Allen aside from the most superficial name recognition. I know more now and what I’ve learned has been largely negative. To the extent that Allen’s reputation outside of Virginia is being shaped by the overall pattern of rascism, I wouldn’t put a lot of money on him waging a successful presidential bid.
At the same time, I’ve seen a lot more of Allen’s face in the media than I have Webb’s. Presently, Webb is still chiefly an unknown. As far as I know, Webb presently doesn’t have any presidential aspirations, so what folks outside of Virginia may easily be irrelevant. But if the way these two candidates appear within Virginia is indicated by the way they appear on the national stage, Allen looks like a dubious choice while Webb is a cypher. I’m not sure which is worse, but it seems that Webb could have the easier challenge to overcome at this point. Whether he actually overcomes it is another matter.
September 26, 2006, 4:04 pmmedia concepts:
Well said, thanks. To your first commenter Trevor, I have 2 responses. First, if the campaign’s principal issue remains a he said/he said about whether George Allen is a racist, that cannot possibly be beneficial to Allen. Second, if you are saying that VA has plenty of racists who would prefer Allen because he is also a racist, that is not only pathetic, but not exactly a winning election strategy in the year 2006.
September 26, 2006, 4:24 pmcenterblue:
Webb is not a great campaigner, and he has been chronically underfunded (less than $1million in hand as of June), though that’s beginning to change now that the race has become competitive. I think he’s just been sitting back and letting Allen self-destruct..lol.
September 26, 2006, 10:46 pmcenterblue:
Well, his accusers are not hiding behind anonymity at least…they’re putting their names to their stories and are sticking by them. It will be up to the public, I guess, to judge who is being truthful. But it’s a lot easier to believe a story that is consistent with a candidate’s reputation than the version that runs against it. We’ll see what happens.
September 26, 2006, 10:49 pmTrevor:
I didn’t say it was a GOOD thing, but I’ve lived in Va all my life, and I now how they think.
September 28, 2006, 1:22 pm