I don’t know why anyone is suprised at this. My democrat friends tell me that in most states, in order to register as a repulican, you must read aloud, either over the phone or in the presence of 2 party officials, a laundry list of racial, ethnic and religious slurs. And use the n-word in a full sentence. It makes you part of the club. Oh yeah, you have to tell a dirty gay joke too.

eagles5 on September 25, 2006 at 10:52 PM

I was thinking the same thing as flyboy and I’ve been out 21 years. There are times when I had much too much to drink and only God knows what I said. However, I would venture a guess that anyone I said it to would have no idea either. I mean who remembers every single word they said in college. It never ceases to amaze me that the Dims have Robert Byrd-KKK member in their ranks and I would venture a guess he said that word more times than anyone in the Senate.

Catie96706 on September 25, 2006 at 11:30 PM

If some of my roomies rememberd the things I said about women during my college days.73-77, and got on TV to tell everyone,I would never ever get a date again. Well, maybe….nah .

bbz123 on September 26, 2006 at 12:08 AM

If he really said “n1gger,” I admire his capacity for anger, and surely a capacity for anger is something we need the rulers to have in our time.

Kralizec on September 26, 2006 at 12:45 AM

I absolutely believe is WAY different from “I heard him say”…

Sorry… sounds like hearsay to me…

Romeo13 on September 26, 2006 at 1:51 AM

I guess some people can claim things were said and happened in their past and some can’t.

RW_theoriginal on September 26, 2006 at 2:21 AM

Larry Sabato is a DEMOCRAT pollster - he has been predicted a DEMOCRAT victory in the last ad nauseum elections

He is trying to win back what little credibility he has left (remember his editorial - stick a fork in em the Republicans are done) after his matter of fact opinion pieces all this year

Ow, the University of Virginia requires him to maintain his thin veneer of impartiality

Watch that he goes as a fulltime political hack after these elections

EricPWJohnson on September 26, 2006 at 5:09 AM

George Allen said a certain word 40 years ago! Stop the presses!

I wonder which end of the spleef Sabato was toking from at the time.

Coronagold on September 26, 2006 at 7:05 AM

All these things are so predictable. It was only a matter of time until the charges were leveled. If candidates do not know this, then they shouldn’t be in politics.

Having said that, why do candidates not come out from the gate with a pre-emptive strike? Make a statement that my opponent will try to convince you that I am a racist, a bigot, a homophobe, a jooooo! Tell them that’s what seperates me from him. He will make these charges and accusations, because if he were to run on ideas, he would lose. So he must resort to smears and ad hominem attacks in order to attract votes.

When the opponent makes those charges, immediately put out a public statement recalling the original date, and how this was predicted, and the proof that that’s all the opponent can come up with.

Let’s face it, Webb and the others want to position themselves as the party of let’s get our troops out of Iraq, and deploy them to..Guam? Nothing he can do or say will convince me to vote for him. Bringing up such nonsense is petty.

Don’t vote for me (Webb), vote against Allen because he said nigger.

rightside on September 26, 2006 at 8:19 AM

Alen was in college over 30 years ago. In the 1960’s and 70’s saying nigger was not the taboo it is today.
I heard Weezie on the jeffersons say it to George. I heard it on Chico and the man. I heard it on all in the family. I heard it on Mother Jugs and Speed. It was just a word. People used the word, often in a deragatory sense. But it was JUST a word. in the late 70’s to present the word was stigmatized. Now if you say it or type it then you forfeit all rights to the first amendmnet, and deserve to be hung until dead dead dead. Thus the word gains more power. (course this does nbot refer to hip hop, rap stars or people without a melatonin deficiency)

So Allen may have used a common word at the time. Big deal! All this chatter does is derail any decent dialogue about the issues. The MSM and Web are using this to obscure the fact that Web is a misogynist who fought hard to keep the “inferior fairer sex” out of the milatary, and whom has no platform to run on, other then he wants to be president some day.
The ONly reason this is coming up is because using Allens Jewish grandmother against him seems to have backfired.

Wyrd on September 26, 2006 at 9:47 AM

This speaker actualy points us to a larger debate…

EVERYONE wants to believe they are indepedent, and a free thinker… many wishe to believe that they are NOT partisan, but are centric… problem is… who decides if they are centrist or partisan?

Do we take their word for it??? or is this a judgement left to the community at large? Or one person?

This whole process of who is right, left, and center, can be very misleading at times.

Just like the press… I’m sure they believe they are middle of the road America! Of course they haven’t been out of the office for so long that they have no idea… but I’m sure the truly believe it.

Romeo13 on September 26, 2006 at 10:28 AM

Who Cares??????????????????????//

dallas94 on September 26, 2006 at 10:57 AM

Maybe Allen was referring to “white niggers“.

Does anyone have an idea where in the bible it says that slavery is OK? I know Moses was against slavery, so who was for it? I am not very well versed on the Bible. Someone help me out here.

BTW, good find Terp Mole.

BlueStateBlues on September 26, 2006 at 11:43 AM

Patterico said it well with his first story on the allegations when they appeared in the NYTimes. Allen is hosed. Even if you think the charges are trumped up, even if you think it doesn’t matter cause it happened before you were born, the WaPo and company care about the behavior of Republicans thirty years in the past, and they will continue to raise it int he subtle MSM way they do with things like this.

“Allen, who came under fire recently due to comments he made as an underclassman….”

“Allen’s statements belie an insensitivity to minorities, as evidenced by….”

If Romney or Giuliani implode in the next few months, we should call it the National Review cover jinx.

Ennuipundit on September 26, 2006 at 12:02 PM

I attended UVa in the ’70s.

Larry Sabato was an all-out liberal that was always trying to stir up trouble to no avail - the campus was pretty conservative. That being said, I think his students thought highly of him. Since then, he has become, at least superficially, more centrist.

I cannot imagine that football player George Allen would have had many social encounters with a geek like Sabato. I also doubt that there were many people, white or black, Republican or Democrat, from that era that did not use the N-word at some time, especially in the South. As I recall, Jimmy Carter’s mom used to use it as if it were the appropriate classification for black people. So my guess is that Sabato probably has reliable information that Allen used the N-word on at least one occassion. Big deal. Give me some information that he had or has actual hatred towards blacks and I’ll start listening.

Jethro on September 26, 2006 at 12:24 PM

Hmmm 30 years ago….yeah lets not overlook that and if he was drunk, well based on the Mel Gibson logic many offered, why that makes it written in stone.
Sends all the little cry babies to their rooms, grow up, grow some backbone….tell me what you are going to do for the country now….not some name you were called that made tears well up in your eyes.

MarkB on September 26, 2006 at 1:38 PM

YOU’RE ALL A BUNCH OF FRIGGIN’ RACIST enablers! All you’re doing by supporting Allen, is proving you’re no better than liberals who supported Clinton or whomever else was providing the scandal of the moment.
“What’s the big deal, everybody used the n-word”? You didn’t use it in MY NEIGHBORHOOD or your white ass would’ve been kicked all over the street!

Because of the evolution of the White race, from UNCIVILIZED RACIST SLAVE HOLDERS, to Uncivilized Jim Crow practitioners,to Civilized “Hey these are people too”, practitioners, Blacks have long had to endure, passive racism. White friends, whose parents were racists, having to conceal their associations with us, being killed for dating White girls (Yusef Hawkins anyone?), you know the drill. I thank God for their courage in even HAVING associations with us and placing themselves in danger either for love or for friendship. But George Allen was NOT one of these courageous people. He was a sidelined sniper, you can’t seriously read the details of the accusation, the talk of the “deer head” etc, and not believe it happened! For the record, the guy said this was shortly after the Godfather came out, so all the work that guy did to “disprove” when hunting season is or isn’t is a waste of time. The GODFATHER was a topic of CONVERSATION FOR OVER A YEAR AFTER IT’S RELEASE, hence the BEST PICTURE OSCAR! Hello! So clearly, the hunting trip could have been in Nov. just eight months after the movie was released. Be that as it may, George Allen is a frigging liar!

Does anyone out there really believe his “Macaca” explanation? Hey, look, I’m the guy who wrote on this site and others, to “Give Allen A PASS” on Macacagate, UNTIL I heard his ridiculous explanation! I was under the assumption that, having a French Tunisian mother, he most likely heard the word before he attached any meaning to it and in SOME places, it’s not especially RASCIST, it just means, “DUMBASS” “NITWIT” or “KNUCKLEHEAD”. Like many things that are not inherently racist, they are turned racist if the subject happens to be a person of color, and the perpetrator happens to be conservative! I’m not stupid, I know liberals like, “every inch of my Glorious naked Body”, thanks Rush.

BUT Allens explanation threw all of my GOODWILL out the window! “I JUST MADE IT UP?” So, for the benefit of the people to whom he was speaking when he said, “Look at this Macaca”, he was SPEAKING IN TONGUES? Using DESCRIPTIVE words that no one, NOT EVEN HE HIMSELF KNEW THE MEANING OF? How stupid would I have to be to believe that? Whatta ya think I am, a liberal?

DID THEY MAKE UP HIS “FASCINATION” WITH THE CONFEDERATE FLAG TOO? He’s admitted this, so how are you enablers gonna spin that one? As with most things it is useful to consider the “times” as you enablers put it, not to excuse inexcusable behavior, but to “shed” light on the situation. Well, the context for his love affair with the racist flag was the perihelion of the civil rights movement. The country had just come out of a very contentious period where issues of race dominated the news day in and day out. Maybe one of these numbskulls in college TODAY, who uses “dude” every third word, could get away with saying “He didn’t know what the confederate flag MEANT TO BLACKS”, but not a guy from the south in the seventies! BULLSHIT. He was REBELLING, and he was BEING PROVOCATIVE, like a lot of racists who thought that treating us as human beings was taking away their power! AND THEN THERE IS THE STRANGE FASCINATION HE HAD WITH NOOSES? This is another thing he claimed not to understand the “racial significance” of. Really ? A NOOSE? So in summation, we’ve got a WHITE GUY from the south, who most of you aren’t even shocked would have used the n-word, who just happens to love the Confederate flag and NOOSES and who, while on the PSYCHIC HOTLINE, just happens to “make up words” that just “happen” to have racist connotations, but, “he’s fine”, “no problem”, “keep it moving folks”, “nothing to see here”?

And to those who point out the Dems love affair with Grand Kleagle Bird, the “everybody has a racist on board, so what’s the big deal,” argument, probably shouldn’t be your lead off hitter. For the record, NONE OF YOU REPUBLICANS, protested Birds elevation to leadership based on his racist past, you were too scared to do it then, so shut the hell up now.
ALLEN IS DONE STICK A FORK IN HIM.

Soothsayer on September 26, 2006 at 4:12 PM

Up Yours soothsayer!Your holier then thou attitude is complete BS. I can just image your “moral” background. This he said, she said crap is just that - crap. Even if he did say it so what? A “Racist”??? What is it? What are suggesting specifically about G Allen? Just what are you saying exactly he would or wouldn’t do? Let us define what that means and then start asking questions of all. Black, white or otherwise? You want to talk about racist and racism? Just look around. Are you paying any attention at all to the illegal immigration debacle. Let’s talk about racism. “Go back to Europe”. “This land is stolen”. Are you outraged at that? Let’s talk about LaRaza and MEChA. How about people like Raul Grijalva or Joe Baca and the Hispanic caucus? Who’s interest do they represent? Lets talk about the NAACP and black leaders. Let’s talk about Jesse Jackson or AL Sharpton. How about Maxine Water or Cynthia McKinney and the black caucus? Who is working on behalf of who’s interest here? Where is your indignation now? Let just find out who is “qualified” to throw stones? You live in some sort of make believe world?

Altura Ct. on September 26, 2006 at 5:52 PM

I’ll respond to both simultaneously, I must say I found both of your responses to be troubling. But then feeble intellects rarely grasp the obvious.

Your holier then thou attitude is complete BS.Altura Ct. on September 26, 2006 at 5:52 PM

I’m accused of being “holier than thou”, for demanding that the guy who runs for President doesn’t have a history of racism. How stupid is that? Is there a dirth of politicians prone to racial statements that I missed? Once you get past KKK BYRD, I’m hard pressed to name one. You act like this is completely normal, if so, it doesn’t say much for you or those you associate with.

The next guy says …

You assume that if someone used the N-word at any point in their life, that person is a racist for life. That’s BS. Jethro on September 26, 2006 at 6:11 PM

Clearly my post pointed out more than Mr Allens offhand use of an offensive term, I clearly listed his UNBELIEVABLE explanation of the “macaca” incident, his affinity for the Confederate flag and his inordinate affection for NOOSES! That’s a THREE-FER!

How many men do you know that carry NOOSES around? Have you ever even SEEN a noose? Is this normal behaviour where you come from. Take time out from screwing your sister to answer, Buford. You people are beyond insepid. ESPECIALLY SINCE YOU SAID…..

I even wrote him a letter specifically stating that he was spineless and that I would not be supporting him for President.

Well, what the hell are you getting on me for? All I did was agree with you.

WHY’D you think he was “spineless”? Because he didn’t proudly proclaim his use of the N word? Or could it be that you were bothered by the wealth of info coming in about the senators views on race? If you were, you prove my point. If you were upset that he was “spineless” because he “apologized” for Macaca, or because he tried to present folks to say he wasn’t a racist…I’m confused. Is his prior use of the N-Word something he should be PROUD of in your world?

I just don’t think that someone should be labeled a racist for remarks made 30+ years ago, especially when that person has a public record of service spanning that time with no evidence of racism.

First of all I would actually agree with that. But no one’s labeling Allen a racist for ONE incident,THIRTY years ago. When he was hanging a noose off of a ficus tree in front of his OFFICE, or proclaiming his LOVE for the Confederacy, George Allen was a grown man. Believe me, had he tossed around a few N-word cookies in college, I would relegate that to “locker room” talk and be done with it. But the confederate flag AND a noose? They must grow the black folk pretty stupid in your parts, not to be alarmed at this, eh? lol.

Uhhh.. Read ‘em and weep pally.

U.S. Senate candidate George Allen wears his conservative heart on the sleeve of his cowboy shirt and makes no bones about his commitment to law and order.
Visitors to his old law office near downtown Charlottesville used to see a grim and graphic reminder of his view of criminals.

Dangling from a ficus tree in the corner was a noose, a reminder that the Republican politician saw some justification in frontier justice. ( As you can see, this was not a one time thing.)

And here’s how Allen’s own campaign manager described it in a Washington Post story during the campaign:

Christopher J. LaCivita, Allen’s campaign manager, said the noose was one item in a collection of cowboy memorabilia that Allen displayed in his Charlottesville law office in the early 1990s.

Far from being a racially charged symbol, the noose was an emblem of Allen’s tough stance on law-and-order issues, LaCivita said.(Riiiiiiiiiight, remember this is from a guy from the SOUTH who thinks a noose is FAR from being a racially charged symbol) roflmao.

This defense was echoed by Allen himself according to a Virginian-Pilot report in 2000:

The NOOSE on a tree outside his law office, he has said, symbolized his belief in strong punishment for violent criminals and was not meant to have racial overtones.
When Allen was asked after his news conference about the Confederate flag, he said he no longer displays it, and that he is a flag collector. ( Notice how he went with the “quick cop?” He just said he “no longer displays it’. He didn’t even try the “It’s historical or heritage or the usual dodge, he hoped it’d go away. Not.)
Later, an Allen spokesman said the noose was part of an “Old West,” law-and-order motif for Allen’s former law office, and it had nothing to do with racial issues.
Lasso, noose, what’s the difference? I can’t believe Allen thinks people are this stupid.

(Even the guy doing the research ain’t buyin what you’re sellin’.)

What are suggesting specifically about G Allen? Just what are you saying exactly he would or wouldn’t do?

I’m suggesting that he’s a racist piece of crap who got caught on tape making a racial slur, which led to his racist past being discussed. Including the incident that neither of you care to remember, the DEER HEAD in the BLACK FOLKS MAILBOX! So, now we’re left with a guy who used the N_Word on multiple occassions, hung the confederate flag in his office, next to a tree upon which he HUNG A GODDAMNED NOOSE!!!!!

Look man, ANTI-AMERICAN COMMIES hide out in the democratic party, and there are RACIST ASSHOLES hiding out under the cloak of conservatism. What he would or will not do is of no concern to me, he isn’t going to get the chance to do anything. Why take the chance? There are plenty of guys in the Republican Party that I agree with that I don’t know anything bad about! (Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney (provisionally), Rudy G (providing he drops his pro-choice stance), even McCain would be better than a NOOSE CARRYING, CONFEDERATE FLAG WAVING, NIGGER AND MACACA CALLING, MAIL BOX STUFFING RACIST!!!!!!!!! The rest of the tripe you brought up about this land being stolen blah, blah, blah, I couldn’t give a rip about and is immaterial to the discussion of George Allens racism.

Lets talk about the NAACP and black leaders. Let’s talk about Jesse Jackson or AL Sharpton. How about Maxine Water or Cynthia McKinney and the black caucus? Who is working on behalf of who’s interest here? Where is your indignation now? Altura Ct. on September 26, 2006 at 5:52 PM

Another stupid statement that has nothing to do with anything. The only thing it does is show you for the RACIST you are! NOBODY reading any of my posts could POSSIBLY think, that I have anything but CONTEMPT for Waters, Sharpton, Jackson, or Mckinney, but because I mentioned that I was black, I must give credence to these idiots? What part of me being conservative do you not understand? I couldn’t give a flying fart about any of them.

You could not possibly know if abolitionists used derogatory terms for blacks, or were otherwise saints in all walks of life.

FINALLY a point. I agree. I can’t know what was in the hearts or minds of those who are long dead. But lets’ examine the evidence, shall we? You say that BECAUSE Allen used the N-word etc, that DOESN’T make him a racist, does he actually have to USE the noose for him to be one or what? As a black man who grew up in America I would have to be pretty damned stupid to overlook a NOOSE in racial conversation, now wouldn’t I? Your capacity to not be alarmed by same is appalling but I digress.

I think common sense would be on my side in assuming, that ABOLITIONISTS who bucked society by seeing us as human beings, risked their lives and possessions to hide us in their homes, and then spirited my ancestors off to an underground railroad, talked like they walked! I mean, it makes no sense to save us from people who called us NIGGERS before they HUNG us and then to turn around and call us NIGGERS while they were freeing us. Maybe I’m just looking on the bright side, but jeez!

Again, if it was just a few N bombs thrown around once upon a time, I would chalk it up to “youthful indiscretions”, a subject I know plenty about! But it’s not just that guys, it’s not. Just like I don’t think the Swift Boat Vets would have broken cover after years of silence to bring a lie, I don’t think these men would either. These are, as were the Swift Vets, REPUTABLE MEN! Not democratic hack friends of Paul the Forehead Begala!

If someone had said, thirty years ago, “I hate Jethro and Altura” or “Jethro and Altura are less than human, in fact they are dogs”, ( which is tantamount to being called a nigger, in case you’re this dense), I hardly believe either of you would be this charitable. Either way, God bless you both with understanding.

Soothsayer on September 27, 2006 at 1:45 AM

[Soothsayer] YOU’RE ALL A BUNCH OF FRIGGIN’ RACIST enablers! All you’re doing by supporting Allen, is proving you’re no better than liberals who supported Clinton or whomever else was providing the scandal of the moment.

Don’t think the comments are intended to be meanspirited, but I agree they are enabling. And the level of disinterest in the matter is embarrassingly selective. Sorry to say I doubt board members would be singing the same tune if this controversy were over a Democrat candidate with presidential ambitions.

“What’s the big deal, everybody used the n-word”? You didn’t use it in MY NEIGHBORHOOD or your white ass would’ve been kicked all over the street!

Even before the late 70’s? Or did the rage start suddenly, once the term was “stigmatized”?

Does anyone out there really believe his “Macaca” explanation? Hey, look, I’m the guy who wrote on this site and others, to “Give Allen A PASS” on Macacagate, UNTIL I heard his ridiculous explanation!

No, I preferred my explanation at the time: What he really did is combine the words “Mohawk[m]a” (the nickname given by the campaign, and the only part of the Allen story I believe) and “Titicaca” (the lake Mohawkma should go jump in).

Seriously: my conjecture still remains that Allen’s campaign did give the annoying pest the nickname “Mohawka” or “Mohawkma”, that Allen [half-]heard it and substituted his own nickname “macaca” on the spot, knowing it wasn’t the right nickname but feeling entitled to use the slur instead because they were being hounded by the guy (in that charming, self-righteous way that some white folks use the N-word “only” when they are the victim of some “outrage” by a black), and continuing to use it from that point on (at least in private company).

Then he fumbled the ball in public - perhaps intending to use the “right” nickname, perhaps not - but because he was so used to thinking of the guy as “macaca” it came out that way instead.

RD on September 27, 2006 at 11:12 AM