i agree with the other fellow virginian, who notes that in certain upper-crust circles in my homestate, use of the n-word is as welcome irreverence and not a liability. but, much like kanye west's declaration that "george w. bush doesn't care about black people," it gets the situation only partially right. it's not that george allen doesn't care about black people; george allen doesn't care about ANYONE who isn't in his tax bracket. virginia dems and the progressive media would do well to use the macaca incident to exemplify how out of touch allen is with all his constituents, not just the ones that are a different color. this isn't about racism; it's about consolidation of power for the priveleged.

You can't throw a stick without hitting someone who uses the n-word. The good ole boy racists even consider it a form of endearment for "their" niggrahs. If Allen wants to fit in the club, by God he better say it ... of course with a wink and a smile for political correctness. My opinion as a result is no lower than it already was for him and his ilk. I'm far more worried about his riding around with a severed deer head looking for the ideal mailbox to stuff it into. Now that's disturbing.

I find the idea of stuffing a severed deer head in a random black person's mailbox to be especially disturbing. That is going too far even for a southern racist.

Growing up in North Carolina in the 50's and 60's, I heard the 'N' word often enough - I even remember 'Whites Only' signs on the local laundromat (I asked my mother where she washed the colored clothes) and a large 'The Knights of the Ku Klux Klan welcome you to Fayetteville NC' on Highway 301 leading into town.

The whole deer head incident reminds me of bad memories from the 60's and 70's, especially the 1970 riots in Wilmington, NC. I especially remember talking to a white redneck who said he was going to get his shotgun, go downtown, and hunt some . George Allen reminds me of one of those scary people from back then.

Will they turn up a picture of him planning the bombing of a church in Birmingham? I'm really enjoying this. This isn't swift boating if its all true. If it isn't true then I'll enjoy it more. Can't the Democrats dig up a family and have them claim they were horrified by the deer's head in the mailbox? I'd love that! I'd love to see a Republican's head just blow up in anger over this. After the last few years of 'Liberals banning Christmas,' fake terror alerts, Kerry not even being in Nam, death threats against judges, Ann Coulter and Michell Milken ranting that liberals are terrorists this is really refreshing. Maybe George Allen will committ suicide? Naw, I'd enjoy that too much.

Like the letter writer 'bigfun,' I grew up in central Virginia, and I take exception to the picture of my home state presented here, as well as to the cynical, Lee Atwater/Karl Rove-ish style of reportage employed in this piece.

Sorry, folks, but this IS 'swiftboating.' What's the evidence? The memories of men who went to school with Allen thirty-plus years ago. There's plenty about Allen's record and performance in public life to pick on, with or without 'macaca-gate.' Any way you cut it, trying to dig up skeletons in the closets of political figures--regardless of their party affiliation--just perpetuates the cycle of off-topic, substance-less stupidity that is the real bane of American political life.

As for the 'racism' of central Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley described by 'bigfun': compared to most poor, rural areas with significant African-American populations, central/western Virginia is a racial Utopia. Yes, there is racism in Virginia--just as there is racism in California, New York, and Massachussetts. I am sick to death of the scapegoating of the South for a problem that permeates every corner of our country. Bigfun suggests that Utah looks like a blue state compared to central Virginia. Have you been to Utah, sir? You know why there's no apparent racism there? BECAUSE THERE'S NO DIVERSITY THERE!! UTAH IS 95% WHITE!! African-Americans are the smallest minority in Utah (approx. 1 %), with the exception of native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders. Native Americans are the most represented minority in Utah, and most of them live on reservations. My public high school in Virginia--consistently rated among the best in the nation--is almost 50-50 black/white. I wonder what the breakdown is in California's best rated public schools. If racism is so much worse in the South than in the 'blue states,' why are there still huge swaths of Los Angeles where a white man dares not tread? In which state did the term 'racial profiling' originate? Which state's richest city's police department was nearly destroyed by a videotape of cops bludgeoning a helpless black man? Come to think of it, where did George Allen learn to love country music, snakeskin boots (ugh--so tacky), and--allegedly--using the 'n-word'? I can assure you, it wasn't in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Virginia is hardly perfect (hey--we elected George Allen Governor--twice), but ours is one of the most progressive states in the country on issues related to racial division. We elected the first black governor in U.S. history; our flagship public university is one of the nation's most diverse; on Monument Avenue in Richmond, next to the statues of Confederate generals Lee and Jackson, stands that of Arthur Ashe, the only Virginian born in the 20th century to be so honored.

Playing to the racist insensitivity of western Virginia rednecks doesn't win elections in a state where the population is overwhelmingly concentrated in areas with highly diverse populations. I despise George Allen--who, let's remember, was raised and socialized in CALIFORNIA--but Virginia is not 'red' because of racism, but, rather, because of the military-industrial complex in eastern and northern Virginia and the strength of the religious right across the state.

I have to confess that I have had a biased towards George Allen ever since the time when I was about 10 or 11 years old and went by his parents house in the Dogwoods Subdivions of Mclean VA to raise support for McLean Youth Football. I rang the door bell and from an upstairs window a college age George Jr. yelled down at me..."What the F**K do you want?. I responded by telling him that I was raising support for McLean Youth Football by selling boosters. He told me to "get the f**k off my property". Mind you, his father was the coach of the Washington Redskins at the time and I was about 11 years old. I thought that a football family like the Allens would be delighted to support youth football in their home community. I guess I was wrong. So I must say that I have always been concerned about this man holding elected office because I sense he is a very angry individual.

Mark