The letter also contained further content regarding Allen's record, which is also a good topic for correspondence, as most Virginians are insufficiently aware of what Allen has actually done, and not done, as Senator. In the first comment below are links to the contact information for several local news stations, as well as Virginia newspapers, and additional information on Allen.
Your letter or letters, so long as they are politely worded and courteously presented, can make a big difference in this race in Virginia, if enough people participate. The more the facts get out, the more votes Jim Webb will get.
Webb will not only likely make an excellent Senator, but Virginia provides an excellent opportunity for Democrats to pick up a seat, and unseat a rather extreme incumbent who has been a staunch supporter of the current administration's similarly extreme, often questionably thought out, and in many ways anti-democratic policies.
Macaca:
According to your ABC poll of Virginians, close to half (44%) were not familiar with Allen's bizarre "macaca" statement at all. Of those that that were, one third (33%) claimed that Allen's remark was "appropriate." Together, these numbers suggest that a large number of Virginians are insufficiently familiar with the incident.Allen called S.R. Sidharth, a young Webb campaign staffer of Indian descent, whom he barely knew, and who had done him no harm, "Macaca." Twice. He is also now, after the fact, attempting to mislead Virginia voters about it rather than simply own up to it.
But when one considers the facts, Allen almost does not have the option of owning up to it, for the same reason that it deserves more attention in the first place.
He claims that he just made up the "Macaca" word because it sounds like "Mohawk." But if he, like others, wanted to call young Sidharth Mohawk because of his close cropped hair, why didn't he just call him Mohawk then, or, far more appropriately, not single him out at all? Regardless, the only commonality "Mohawk" has with "Macaca:" is that they both start with the letter "m," making Allen's claim somewhat far fetched.
"Macaca" is actually a highly insulting and derisive ethnic term, that also technically means "monkey." While not necessarily widely known in Virginia, it would be like calling an African American, "monkey," -- a tremendously offensive if not revolting insult.
Yet Virginia voters are to believe that Allen singled out an opponent's campaign staffer of dark ethnicity, and simply out of the blue made up a word that is one of the most derogatory insults for his particular ethnicity?
And that is why this story deserves far more, not less, attention. Because it is quite extraordinary. In essence, a U.S. Senatorial candidate used an intensely derogatory ethnic term on someone who had done nothing to him. At his own rally. Twice.
But what Allen said immediately afterwards adds further significance. And it also underscores the misleading dubiousness of his claim that he just happened, by bizarre coincidence, to make up a term that was highly derogatory, and which, by futher bizarre coincidence, was a derogatory term for that young man's exact ethnicity.
After twice calling Sidharth, who is of Indian descent, "Macaca," Allen then stated to this young man, who had been born and raised in Fairfax, Virginia, "Welcome to America. Welcome to Virginia." Repeat; Allen "welcomed" young Sidharth, a lifelong Virginia resident of Indian descent born and raised in our country, to "America." Immediately after twice calling him a racial slur that specifically applied to his Indian enthnicity.
There's nothing appropriate about that for a U.S. Senatorial candidate, regardless of one's own personal beliefs. And that, combined with the fact that almost half of Virginians are unfamiliar with the story altogether, along with the high number who have not been given enough of the facts to know what it means, is why this story deserves more attention.
Again, the more information gets out, the more votes Webb will get. Both from democrats who would have otherwise stayed home, and from independents and republicans who will come to realize that it is time for change. And who will realize that Jim Webb, highly decorated Marine combat veteran and Secretary of the Navy under Ronald Reagan, represents their own values as well as the principles upon which America was built and has prospered, far more than the other candidate, despite, once again, more reams of the same old tired spin insisting otherwise.
So long as letters/emails/phone calls are reasonably and professionally presented, they will have an effect.
Not only is the media more likely to give more adequate coverage to Webb and Allen's records if enough attention is drawn to it via your efforts, but letters to the editors themselves that get published in the many newspapers throughout Virginia can have a more direct effect as well. And there are always Virginia blogs, of all stripes, to sneak in related stories. The "Macaca" story, for instance, trascends politics.
Link cogently explaining the facts relative to the Adminstration's misleading spin -- which Allen has stood behind -- on the surveillance program and democrats. This is particularly relevant given that Allen ironically introduced a bill, S. 2056, to incorprate the same Constitutional Articles and Bill of Rights that this administration is violating, onto our Federal Reserve Notes. Once again, a huge rhetoric/substance gap.
List of bills Allen has introduced while Senator. Note the fixation with kitchen appliances (about a third of the bills), and the impractical, inflexible, "balanced budget" constitutional Amendment: Yet Allen voted against the "pay as you go" budget amendment which would have required fiscal discpline, and which was endorsed by Alan Greenspan and nearly every well known fiscal expert in America outside of the administration -- and Senators such as Allen.
List of Local Virginia Newspapers.
Some direct Virginia newstation contact info is here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Allen's seeming love of all things confederate.
Allen's record on the issues.
Because of the slow and amatuerish mishandling of it by Felix and Dick Wad(hams) this story has metastasized in the main stream press to 'Is Allen a racist?', now that this has occured all other facets of his campaign will viewed through this filter (in exactly the same way that the media's fixation with 'Is Al Gore a serial liar' colored all coverage of him in 2000 and still does to some degree to this day). It doesn't matter if the charge is false (as in Gore's case) or true (as in Allen's case imho).
Now that the frame is in place everything will reinforce/amplify it (the CCC pic and the Marshall award are just the first examples) just as it did for Gore (James Lee Witt, Love Story, Invented the internet memes).
Bad times for the Felix camp (too bad, so sad, buh bye).
one of the reasons that the media has often slanted things to the right (and continued with stories, even incorrect ones, as you note, that hurt democrats) is that the right constantly focuses on this, and then they see signs of progress, instead of sitting back on it, they press forward even harder. that is what dems need to do here, and is why I wrote this, giving an illustration of what could be stated, among other things, to a news station or paper, that appears (and is) reasonably partisan and reasonable.
the fact is, as noted above, almost half of Virginians are not even familiar with the issue...
call up those stations (the links have the numbers listed as well) and ask them to cover the Macaca thing a little more, people are confused on it and a lot dont know about it, and its very relevant because......
Our job as activists is to help as many people as possible know Webb the man and Webb the leader. Their minds are open now; it's far more important to fill that space with positive information about Webb than more negative stuff about Allen (other than the broad "rubber stamp" theme that applies to all incumbents who've gone along with the Bush disasters).