Thirty years ago nobody I associated with except my father -- God rest his soul -- used 'nigger' as an epithet. I wouldn't, however, be so troubled by that if Allen was not still using racist terms, and I think his explanations of where 'Macaca' came from are amusing at best.

Now as to stuffing the deer's head into the mailbox of a black family, that's not just a hate crime. It's a sign of deranged sensibilities, and I don't think it's something you get over. I wouldn't want someone like that to be my senator, but the people of Virginia will make up their own minds.

Allen is a knuckledragging smirking racist asshole, a wannabe southerner of the Bushit school. He's a California kid who moved to where the racial climate was in sympathy with his inner bigot. In other words, he's a typical modern day republikan "leader", winking at coon jokes and slinging slurs when he think's no one's watching. So he's a liar, too.

Most of us would agree that the ability to judge people, and issues fairly would be a requirement of any person elected to serve the public. We want to know if our elected official will be swayed in his judgement by prejudice, or will have a clearer, reasoned approach to making decisions that will affect our lives. Sen. Allen insists he is not biased- yet there are some examples of bigotry in his official actions, and in his other public and private actions. Since Sen. Allen has not explicitly acknowledged his own racism, in the context of his rejection of it- his constituents may feel they're not getting the truth. If Sen. Allen did casually use racial slurs, and if he did target a black family for an act of bloody vandalism- then these would not be harmless, college pranks, or excusable attitudes. Behavior like this would have to be acknowledged, and explained by Sen. Allen in order to provide voters in Virginia the opportunity to make an informed choice about their next Senator.

Lets replace that Confederate Flag lapel pin with a Swastika lapel pin, and lets also replace his "alleged" negative attitude towards blacks with an negative attitude toward Jews instead. Still feel that the past is irrelevant? In other words if he were being accused of being a former anti-semite how far do you think is political career would have come? Such hipocracy! Especially since slavery was much more detremental to blacks than anti-semetism is/was.

UKnoWhoIAm.

In response to Techieguru's contention that Senator Allen's college-era history of racist behavior and remarks are irrelevant:

Sir, a public servant's public and private behavior clearly remains in play if his views are chartable in his public record. Senator Allen's recent "come to Jesus" moments ring hollow in his attempt to sandpaper an image tarnished again and again by his consistent references to the Confederacy. I applaud Mr. Shelton's effort to bring to light what is important for all of us to know about our elected officials.

This report puts Sen. Allen's current behavior -- the macaca incident -- into context. Now we have established a long history of racist behavior. No one can argue that he's changed since his college days, not since the macaca mess. Similarly, one cannot say that the macaca incident was an isolated incident. The man is a bigot, and apparently one of very long standing.

Having grown up in the heartland of Allen country, the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, a geographical region that makes even Utah seem faintly bluish by comparison, I know that Allen's flask of racism was always one of his biggest political assets, so long as he only brought it out and passed it around with a certain crowd of people. Based on his behavior and the legendary macaca comment, this story doesn't surprise me at all. Actually this morning I found myself wondering when "old friends" of Allen would materialize to tell us what a racist jerk he used to be back in the day. That when is now!

Anonymous wrote “Plus, w/respect to the "30 years ago" argument, when is it fair to consider it? 20 years ago? 10? 5? An 85 year old German woman who had been in the US for 50 years was just deported recently. She had worked at a concentration camp for a year or two *60* years ago. If she's held accountable for a heinous racially-motivated act, he should be too...”

I have thought about this a lot in different contexts. But here is the thing…that woman worked at a place where people were being dehumanized and exterminated. WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE DEER HEAD INCIDENT, Allen just voiced opinions and had a racist attitude. Not a crime. The former is a crime against humanity, while the later is not in itself hurting anyone. If he really did stuff a deer head into a mailbox of a black family because the family is black, well that’s a hate-crime and it should not be overlooked unless he is punished and/or has owned-up to his actions.

I believe that people should be held accountable for a crime until they die and/or until they have been held accountable for their actions. But the key here is "actions". That he was a racist earlier in life is not something that should be focused on. That he seems to be a racist asshole now is what should be brought to light.

Allen is a racist. He should not have used that word in college. But he did, as did millions of other whites then. Even if it was the supposedly enlightened early 1970s. No one should have been using that word then, but frankly, writing that Allen was racist in front of some people 30 years makes for thin and accusatory reportage.

HOWEVER, his *contemporary* behavior DOES indicate that he is a racist. Macaca???? There are simply no other interpretations than racism, ignorance, and intellectual bankruptcy. The focus of the story *should* be that he hasn't changed a bit in 30 years. This refusal to change his ways--not just who he was back then--is what makes this man unfit for office, . The issue is that he hasn't grown a whit and therefore does not belong in a leadership position in this diverse nation.