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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
. . . because it will be tagged as another 'liberal media attack.'
The question really is how many racists still live and vote in Virginia?
A story like this will not lose Allen any votes from that constituency, nor will it gain him any from the left.
It is obvious that James Webb is the candidate with more character and the safe bet for a good US Senator.
It remains to be seen if the people of Virginia will ultimately realize this.
Another republikan cracker exposed. Here's hoping it costs him his seat in November. Something tells me the Allen 08 express just blew another tire. What Allen himself blows is another issue entirely.
I am sure such people exist, but my personal experience is once a racist, always a racist. Some people compensate and others hide it better over time, but generally it seems pretty deep-seated.
The "macaca" incident pretty much says it for me WRT Allen. Not so sure about Byrd who seems genuine in his progression - Helms, not so much.
He's a Californian who calls himself a real Virginian.
Embraced the Confederate while saluting the Stars and Stripes.
A neocon Christian who hid a Jewish bloodline.
Uses colorful language to describe other people of color.
This has all the symptoms a mental disorder right? I mean, this can't be normal.
Because obviously the best way to decide who your Senator should be is to find out what he did 30-50 years ago in college. I mean, it's not like any of us would be embarrassed or ashamed of anything we did in college, right?
Judge him on what he does now, not what he did. Unless it's criminal activity that has bearing on his fitness for office, what someone did in college doesn't matter. What they wore in high school doesn't matter, either.
I understand that this article is trying to establish a history of racism, but it's not doing a very good job. Get current, please.
you guys were racists in college
and are all better now?
Call anybody "macaca" lately?
Get real.
The press needs to dig a little deeper and expose one of George's high school exploits. He vandalized his/our own high school before a football game with a black high school(Morningside HS) to make it appear that the black high school had done it to stir up racial discord.
...too bad in many places it might actually , HELP THEM.
Finally though, I can look at the reporting even in the mainstream media on these close, contested races and feel like people are being held accountable. Our side is being aggressive and using those barely fair tactics which Republicans have used almost exclusively to divide voters for the last 20 years. Democrats can win in the South, especially against jerks like Allen who even the most conservative of voters find hard to condone.
Swiftboating is lame. Shame on Salon for participating.
George Allen is asshole #1 in my book, regardless of whether or not he used the "n-word" back in college. The very idea, however, that shadowy figures from 30 years ago are coming forward and regurgitating this filth - true or otherwise - turns the stomach.
Disappointing.
Its trying to establish that Allen is a racist based upon his attitudes and actions 30 years ago. Even if he was racist back then... people change. People can grow. Or devolve sometimes too.
And lets say that everything said and implied here is true...he was a big racist bully in college and he still is a big racist bully now. Allen supporters won’t make the connection between then and now, so they will see this as an attack piece, and hence ignore the content of this article.
Man, when Salon does original reporting, boy do you drop bombshells. I very much enjoy that you've (apparently, at least) shown all your work.
I don't agree that this is Swift-Boating. There's no question that George Allen is racist and thus unfit for higher office. The evidence before this article was already plentiful, and he has not said or done anything since his alleged awakening that convinces me that he has any real new grasp of history or change in attitude.
Maybe I'm optimistic, but I hope that this new information convinces at least some voters who hadn't already been turned off by his past demonstrations of white supremacy--or his policies, more than sufficiently objectionable in themselves.
No one is focusing on another disturbing aspect of this guy's nature: he cuts off a deer's head and shoves it into a mail box? That goes way beyond using racist language. That is downright malicious. A family out there in Virginia is probably still scarred from that experience.
I accept that people can change. A lot of people change deeply held views during and after college. However, given Allen's recent behaviour, I have a hard time believing that he has changed his views about minorities. I suspect that what he has learned is that openly racist people don't get elected to high office, so he had better be quiet about his true beliefs. Racially tolerant people don't behave the way he has behaved.
Does it matter? Yes. The republican party has been playing both sides of the fence when it comes to racial issues. They work very hard to convince minorities that they support them, but at the same time make it quite clear to their many racist white supporters that their support for minorities ends on election day. Anybody who cares about civil rights should be infuriated about the behaviour of the republican party that Allen exemplifies.
the Republicans always attach great importance to the 60s but interestingly enough in this particular area they act like it never happenned. Prior to the 50s and 60s racism was THE system and almost every politican accomodated it to some degree. Modern conservatives by contrast have done so either by conviction or because they specifically wished to appeal to a racist constituencey. Since the 1960s it has been possible to partipate in political life and be an anti racist IF you want to.
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
219 Democrats and one Republican join in favor of the legislation, which passed by a narrow margin
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Salon headlines in your mailbox
