George Allen's Former Campaign Manager Calls Him an "Idiot"
By: Lowell
Published On: 4/17/2008 2:08:35 PM
During the fall of 2006, I kept wondering what the George Allen campaign was really thinking about his "macaca" remarks (not to mention the "Jewish heritage" debacle and much more). Well, now we have a better idea what Allen's campaign manager, Dick Wad(hams), was thinking.
[Dick] Wadham's most recent Senate campaign prior his return to Colorado ended largely due to a public misstatement from incumbent Sen. George Allen, R-Va.
During a June interview with The Daily Sentinel's editorial board, Wadhams said he pressed Allen to decide if he wanted to run for Senate or in 2008 for president: "I said, 'On top of it, senator, you, in heat of an election campaign, you might say something stupid that we could avoid.' "
Wadhams said that critical mistake came when Allen, in a moment publicized in the press and on the Internet, used the racial slur, "macaca," during a public rally.
"Macaca happened, and it was just like handing The Washington Post a nuclear bomb," Wadhams said last year.
Pressed this week, Wadhams distanced his current campaign from that of his former bosses.
"There's only one idiot named George Allen," Wadhams said of the former Virginia senator and governor.
Classic. And classy, too -- gotta love how Dick Wad(hams) throws his former employer under the bus.
Comments
He's right though (DanG - 4/17/2008 2:26:43 PM)
There's only one idiot who said the word. And we don't know how much say Wadhams had in the "how do we deal with this" process.
It wasn't just a word (The Grey Havens - 4/17/2008 5:33:27 PM)
It was the incompetence of managing the press.
It was the arrogance of blaming the victim and "playing" dumb.
It was the spitefulness that led them to believe that regular Americans would believe their ever-changing storyline.
It was the downright douchebaggery of calling to apologize to the guy only AFTER!!! polling started to drop.
Wad(hams) and Felix slit their own throats and like the two damned brothers in Dante's Inferno will eternally harbor rage while battling in a sea of their own hate.
pitiful
A Bum Is A Bum Is A Bum (Lee Diamond - 4/18/2008 1:24:37 AM)
They're all bums, but who cares? Wadhams has another losing campaign. Meanwhile, Virginia's big moment could be coming if we win Virginia in November.
I too believe passionately in Obama.
Virginia is on a roll: Shifting the state government in 2001 & 2005, winning the Senate in 2006 and hopefully being there to help make Obama the next President. Va is certainly not a state that can be taken for granted.
Who or what is the Grey Havens anyway?
What a snake (Catzmaw - 4/17/2008 2:41:06 PM)
Frankly, it makes me feel a little sorry for Allen.
feel sorry for George? (pvogel - 4/17/2008 3:43:39 PM)
I am sorry you feel that way. Allen, G. knew exactly what he was saying, and he rightfully took the fall for it.
Dick Wadhammer sails on, unscathed.
He took a fall for it, but Wadhams' comments (Catzmaw - 4/17/2008 5:15:58 PM)
were disloyal and demeaning to someone whose cause he advocated. He's a two-faced twerp. It would have been okay if he'd said that in reviewing the matter he's decided that Webb's a better Senator, or if he'd said that Allen did not run a good campaign, but to call your former employer an idiot - that's low, very low. If he was such an idiot why was Wadhams so willing to take his money?
Wadhams loved the Washington Post. . . . (buzzbolt - 4/17/2008 5:00:14 PM)
Wadhams loved the Washington Post every time it printed his favorite quote,
"The Webb Campaign is a joke"!
There's only one idiot named George Allen .... (ub40fan - 4/17/2008 9:34:34 PM)
.....and a few mercenary scum bags who worked hard to get that "idiot" elected to high office.... at the expense of a true patriotic hero and honorable man. Actually they give Scum bags a bad name.
allen sure is an idiot (notwaltertejada - 4/18/2008 1:05:30 AM)
had he not uttered that word he would be sitting in the senate today and possible on his way to becoming the next president of the united states...oops.
Actually... (ub40fan - 4/18/2008 7:17:34 AM)
no one knows that for sure. It's the excuse that everyone points to in hindsight. But in fact the result of the election may have been just the same .... a democrat winning by a small margin in a very red / blue state ... like Tester & McCaskill.
Agreed. (Lowell - 4/18/2008 12:35:38 PM)
People make a big mistake when they argue that "if Allen hadn't said 'macaca,' he would be in the Senate today." That's both a wild oversimplification and an insult to Jim Webb and to the 10,000-strong "ragtag army" that fought for him in 2006.
...could have been different. (notwaltertejada - 4/18/2008 9:06:29 PM)
of course no one on here would have voted for him anyway...but it is possible that .4% of the voters would have had there not been the macaca flap. there may have been a different result such as with corker/ford. we don't know what could have been for sure but macaca certainly hurt him.
Wadhams and Dick Morris = Scum (heywaitaminute - 4/18/2008 8:25:58 AM)
When a professional works for someone seeking public office the race is not about them and they owe discretion and loyalty unless criminal activity is involved or the candidate publicly attacks them. Wadhams and Dick Morris have the same limelight-seeking ego-driven problem, they think they are the smartest people in the universe and but for their previously popular clients (Allen and the Clintons) they would be nothing. Whether left or right, a candidate deserves to be treated professionally by their employees and former employees. If the employee quits, he/she should remain professional and honorable. One reason our country has sunk to a new low in civility is the open and often rewarded betrayals throughout the system. This behavior reflects much more negatively on the employee than the employer.
Say what ? Allen deserves to "be treated professionally" ? Pro noose displayer ? (Tom Counts - 4/18/2008 4:11:13 PM)
I'm no fan of George Allen's of course (Lowell - 4/18/2008 4:17:57 PM)
...but, what Dick Wad(hams) did was really unprofessional. Imagine if Steve Jarding or Mudcat Saunders were out calling Jim Webb an "idiot?" Right, you can't, because those guys are professionals and would never do something like that. Let's just say, there's a reason why I call him Dick Wad(hams).