I apologize, but I am here at work and do not have the time to sift through 100+ posts. The bottom line is, these are allegations being leveled by one person willing to be named, against the contrary recollection of EVERYONE ELSE on the UVA team interviewed for the article that Allen did not habitually use the "N" word and was not otherwise a racist. Given the weight of the evidence, I am not willing to conclude that George Allen is or ever was a racist, so there is consequently no reason for me to believe that he is "still" a racist. The bottom line is that it is absolutely astounding that, contrary to the treatment Allen is getting for allegations of harboring racist attitudes, Byrd is given such a free pass when he was a Grand Dragon of the freaking Ku Klux Klan!!!!! If any Republican had Byrd's profile (which is infinitely more hideous than any elected Republican's could possibly be) would he ever even be given a chance to atone??? It seems as if all one needs to do to "atone" for a racist past is have a "D" next to his name and say nasty things about George Bush and all is forgiven! The very presence of Robert Byrd in the Democratic Party, in my book, is as effective a retort as there is against any charge that Republicans are racist. Any political party worth a damn would excommunicate such a racist bastard from its ranks.

The thing I find funny is that people think the "macaca" comment was racist. It was stupid, to be sure, but it was not racist. It has all the earmarks of a semi-dim person trying to make up a funny, foreign-sounding name on the spur of the moment, which is what Allen was doing.

You silly Salon types salivate over things that mean absolutely nothing to the average voter. You thought "macaca" marked the death of Allen's candidacy; didn't happen. You think the unsupported charges of one man will unseat him; won't happen, especially since Allen has others who said he never said any such thing.

Give it up. Run on the issues, you morons.

And yes, Byrd was given a free pass by the Dems for decades. Don't forget Clinton appearing in blackface and afro wig at the fundraiser, too.

I was acquainted with George between 1978 and 1981 when we both lived in Charlottesville, VA. I attended parties, football games, rugby matches, etc. with George. He routinely referred to black people as "niggers", "coons" or "boy". When watching a football game on TV one time, every time a black football player would make a touchdown for the opposing team George would yell, "Let's have a necktie party for that boy!" Necktie in this instance meant "lynching". For those skeptics out there who don't or can't believe how racist George is I recommend you get in touch with people who went on rugby tours with him in the 1970s. Ask them about his behavior on the trip to Paris when he called black Parisians "Nigger" to their face. On the tour to Mexico George came up with a series of "What's greasy?" jokes. "What's greasy and drives a chariot? Ben-Hurnandez". "What's greasy and rides a horse named Trigger? Roy Rodriguez". And so forth. Mexicans were "spicks" and "greasers". Go to the Virginia Rugby website and track down players from the 1970s; they will confirm all of this information. His obsession with race, and apparent hatred of minorities, was pathological in nature. This mental cruelty manifested itself in physical cruelty towards animals, as well. He was in the habit of wearing cowboy boots back in those days and one day I watched him kick his dog, Calhoun, who was nursing pups at the time, half way across his law office when she didn't obey quickly enough. This is the same law office where he had a huge Confederate flag on the wall next to his desk. George is not fit to represent the American people in public office of any sort. He is a racist to the core. I imagine George decided to settle in Virginia in order to be close to Richmond, which was the Capitol of the Confederacy. He should be ashamed of himself for not admitting to what so many people know and witnessed about his behavior. However, I don't think he's capable of an emotion like shame. Anonymous

Since his name keeps coming up in this discussion, let me say what I think of him. I truly think he's one of the worst Senators in the Congress and I'd absolutely love to see him get unseated. People respect incumbents too much in this country, for no reason other than, "He's our guy and we like him." Yes, I oppose Senator Byrd, absolutely. He is a bigot. He opposes gay marriage and was one of only two Democratic Senators to vote for the federal marriage amendment.

Right, Robert Byrd is not one of my heroes. I'd love to see him unseated. Of course, everyone knows about his serious involvement in the KKK. Not as many people know about his use of the word nigger as recently as 2001. At least he apologized for it. There is discussion of that here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Byrd

He also supports mountaintop removal in West Virginia and in my opinion, that's the worst thing about him.

Your ignorance of history is showing. There has been quite a discussion in these letters regarding Robert Byrd. Maybe you should have taken the time to read a few before you posted and made yourself look even less informed.

Briefly, the difference between Byrd and Allen is that Allen is STILL a racist. Byrd has a despicable past, but has done much to make up for it. Maybe if you were better informed you would know that. And if Allen is such a great guy, where are the letters telling us about that? I put the challenge out there, so far nobody's taken me up on it.

I have good information that, 25 years ago, Micheal Scherer laughed at a gay joke. How could this man possibly be writing for such a virtuous, fair-minded, intellectually honest publication like Salon? It just boggles the mind! I'm perfectly appalled, outraged!