I lived in Northern Virginia and was involved in politics when he ran for governor in 1993. He ran one of the meanest statewide campaigns I can recall, full of truly vicious innuendo about his opponent, the former attorney general and the first woman to run for governor in the state, whom his supporters -- naturally -- derided as a lesbian, especially around the "good Christian folk" he sought to attract. Allen was followed around by a cadre of particularly repellent thuggish young supporters who earned the name of "Hitler Youth," and who gloried in physically attacking and bloodying campaign opponents. I witnessed the aftermath of some of these attacks after one debate and a rally. Based on his facial expressions and body language, Allen thought those incidents were really cute and great fun. He was always a nasty bully at heart, and it played out in the way he governed.

In one of Allen's earliest public speeches as governor - either in his inaugural speech or his first speech to the legislature -- Allen stunned his audience and the press with his promise to Democrats, who then still controlled the General Assembly, that he was "going to push their soft teeth down their whiny little throats," or words very close to those. His comments were widely reported in the press, including the Washington Post. But, until recently, he always seemed to get a pass from the media, relying on his phony folksiness to gull people into believing the best of him. He was also never viewed as particularly bright.

Everything I've seen reported about Allen, from the macaca incident to the racism while at UVA, fits entirely in character with the redneck good ol'boy pseudo-cowboy Confederate flag-worshipper I got to know and despise as governor of Virginia. He always played to the lowest common denominator and appealed to the basest, most segregationist instincts of my fellow Virginians. I was truly appalled when he was elected to the Senate.

I met George Allen once when I was a high school kid in 1979. He attended a county fair in the part of Virginia where I was born and raised -- even then he had political ambitions, though I forget exactly what office he was running for. My dad is and was a farmer, and at one point he gave a sheep-shearing demonstration, and I well remember glancing over at George Allen while this was taking place, and the look that crossed his face -- a look that said, "My God, what a lot of inbred rabble I'm forced to be around." His sense of disgust was palpable and, to me, instantly recognizable; I'd seen quite a bit of this kind of thing from affluent out-of-staters attending the University of Virginia. Afterwards I told my dad that Allen was a snotty prick who didn't deserve his support, but, a diehard Republican (not to mention a Redskins fan), he refused to believe me.

Obviously, since I'm white, none of this means Allen's a racist, but I can definitely say, based on the look I saw that day, he's a classist. Even the yearbook photo accompanying this article, positively oozing pea-brained arrogance, can tell you that much. Yes, people can change, but that guy? I don't see it happening.

You know a certain class,with good reason,saw themselves as untouchable.

They knew from childhood they were the better people and had to lead the

way of the lower classes. And they really did some good works.

So if you were to call Allen an arrogant and ignorant snob,that would work for me.

Allen does, indeed, share the wilful and pride swollen ignorance of Dumbya. This is hard for me to say, but I actually think Gee Dubb is a better person than Allen. In the land of the blind, the one eyed bigot is king. But the fact that Allen is a spoiled prick and full of snotty priviledge doesn't mean he's not racist as well. Everything in his history screams racist. A noose, for Christ's sake, and a confederate flag, and the choice of the arcane, insider slur "macaca" just last month? It smells like a racist cracker to me. With these reichwingers, it's not either/or; it's and. You get smugness and bigotry all for the same price (paid for by Jaggoff Abramoff or Helliburton).

After the 'Macaca' scandal, Allen dropped in the polls-fast. This will help.

All of you complaining that you want 'clean,' 'pure' politics: Swiftboating killed John Kerry. 1001 random lies killed Al Gore. Michael Dukakis had an exaggerated Willy Horton scandal to deal with.

The point: Republicans beat Democrats ALL THE TIME by trumping-up graphic charges. In this case, the charges are TRUE. And since the 'macaca' incident, which like this, is racially-related, led to Allen dropping in the polls, it would be dumb to not push it.

Until 1) negative campaigning stops working or 2) the Republicans stop engaging in it, Democrats are going to lose repeatedly at the polls.

Which is your higher principal: 'squeaky-clean' campaigns that lead to racist, braindead Republicans like George Allen running our country into the ground, or streetfight-style politics that allow good Democrats to help our country?

I pick the latter. Results matter.

There's a huge difference between, "I don't remember ever using that word," and "I never used that word." The latter is a categorical denial. The former is an admission that it's possible that his accusers may be telling the truth. The "I don't remember" also gives him some wiggle room down the road if others come forward and further substantiate the allegations on the record. Allen's "I don't remember" speaks volumes. It is also worth mentioning that both the deer's head incident and the "macaca moment" are extremely discrete, specific incidents. These are not allegations made by people who say, "I seem to recall him being a racist but I can't give you specifics. Rather, you have an observer who was so shocked by a specific incident and repeated racism that he remembered it for 30 years. In the more recent moment, you have Allen himself using an obscure, very specific epithet for someone from a specific part of the world against someone who appears physically to be from that part of the world. In both instances, Allen's response seems to be similar. "I don't remember..." and "I didn't know this nonsense word actually meant something." Each response is just a variant of "I'm playing dumb."