Hosted by Washington Post Metro Political Editor Robert Barnes
Btw, on the blogs this story is not dying--I thought the clip of 100 or so links a day would have gone down, but as of noon today--430 blogs are linked to this story.
The comments section on the Post article are worth looking at too--especially some of the later ones. There are a couple bigoted comments, a few apologists, but the main thing that I'm seeing is outrage and disgust. I don't think this issue is going away for Allen.
He's got the Republicans worried. I had dinner last night with the head of the party in this area and he refused to talk about the election. I used to tease him and we'd joke about Webb, but now his wife told him he could not talk politics at dinner. That makes me think he is REAL worried. Webb's got to get some free coverage on TV, but I don't know how.
This is not coming from Northern Virginia, this is coming from the Valley- Bush and Kilgore country. It's so nice to read things like this.
For the latest on how hot this issue still is. I see "jonbenet" just edged "macaca". But the incident still gets 2 out of the top 5. For fun, going to "macaca" will get you some fascist sites defending Allen.
Look at this lead in- I love seeing Webb mentioned right up front:
Aug. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Republican George Allen is an easygoing, tobacco-chewing good ole boy who doesn't often go off on tangents in his Senate re-election campaign against James Webb, Ronald Reagan's former Navy secretary and a Vietnam War hero.So it was surprising that he went off on a riff -- and a mean one at that -- in a small town in southwestern Virginia last Friday, setting off a firestorm of criticism that's kept him off his game for almost a week.
She goes on to detail his racist history. Unfortunately her conclusion plays to what I've heard a lot nationally:
Outside a few places in the South, longing for the days of the Confederacy is something to be ashamed of. And nowhere is singling someone out for ridicule humane, much less presidential. Virginia might decide to send someone like that back to the Senate, but I doubt the country wants to send someone like that to the Oval Office.
I hate to hear that about Virginia. But overall I like the article and especially its opening.