I've had it. I'm tired of his lack of leadership. I'm tired of him not standing up for Virginians. I'm tired of him being a rubberstamp to this administration's anti-Republican agenda. I tired of him not being a member of my party with convictions and principles like John Warner. I'm tired of having a Senator who won't even answer whether he supports Sen. Warner on torture or whether he'll even serve his term. I'm tired of him being pro life but buying stock in an abortion pill company. I'm tired of him blabbing about Jefferson but buddying up to Pat Robertson and his anti-gay crowd. Where is the desire for more freedom, for less government in our lives? I'm sick of his cowboy attitude. I'm sick of him pretending to be some sort of farm hand when he was raised in Southern California. I'm tired of the show - the pretend act for political purposes. I'm just sick of it.
I'm hoping we don't have to deal with him anymore after November. So that's why me and many of my fellow principled Republican friends are taking the leap - voting for a Democrat for the first time. Like those Reagan Democrats of yesteryear, we are the Webb Republicans.
And we're tired of George Allen.
Thanks.
As for background on me - I'm a Republican. And I'm voting for Webb.
I'm so glad you are here!
have them join http://groups.yahoo....
or email me at: david.j.montoya@gmail.com
If you're worried about "liberals" may I point out that the Republicans have pulled the political spectrum so far off-base to the right that what was the center now appears leftist, but its values and character remains the same... moderate.
Trade, budget deficits, national security, foreign policy and getting our nation back.
I have for years thought if one could cut through the corporate sponsored rhetoric, one could build unity and consensus on issues between the two sides on what needs to be done. I sure hope this happens at least, for I just don't see getting corruption out of Washington without it.
If you're worried about "liberals" may I point out that the Republicans have pulled the political spectrum so far off-base to the right that what was the center now appears leftist,
By Michael Scherer
Sept. 24, 2006 | WASHINGTON -- Three former college football teammates of Sen. George Allen say that the Virginia Republican repeatedly used an inflammatory racial epithet and demonstrated racist attitudes toward blacks during the early 1970s.
"Allen said he came to Virginia because he wanted to play football in a place where 'blacks knew their place,'" said Dr. Ken Shelton, a white radiologist in North Carolina who played tight end for the University of Virginia football team when Allen was quarterback. "He used the N-word on a regular basis back then."
A second white teammate, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he feared retribution from the Allen campaign, separately claimed that Allen used the word "nigger" to describe blacks. "It was so common with George when he was among his white friends. This is the terminology he used," the teammate said.
A third white teammate contacted separately, who also spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of being attacked by the Virginia senator, said he too remembers Allen using the word "nigger," though he said he could not recall a specific conversation in which Allen used the term. "My impression of him was that he was a racist," the third teammate said
Can you imagine being the family who found the deer head in the mailbox?
Shelton said he also remembers a disturbing deer hunting trip with Allen on land that was owned by the family of Billy Lanahan, a wide receiver on the team. After they had killed a deer, Shelton said he remembers Allen asking Lanahan where the local black residents lived. Shelton said Allen then drove the three of them to that neighborhood with the severed head of the deer. "He proceeded to take the doe's head and stuff it into a mailbox," Shelton said.
Shelton said he also remembers a disturbing deer hunting trip with Allen on land that was owned by the family of Billy Lanahan, a wide receiver on the team. After they had killed a deer, Shelton said he remembers Allen asking Lanahan where the local black residents lived. Shelton said Allen then drove the three of them to that neighborhood with the severed head of the deer. "He proceeded to take the doe's head and stuff it into a mailbox," Shelton said.
Just looked it up and the Godfather (horse's head) came out in 1972. Allen already had some history with mail boxes.
The folks around Bumpass may well remember this incident. But guess what? It would be surprising to see someone come out and say that they had a deer head in their mailbox.
Nevertheless, it's very probably part of the community oral history, a history which leads to "staying out of white folks' business" as a basic rule of survival even today in some rural communities.
This is the sordid part of our history that so many people work hard to move past. We cannot do so if we don't discuss it in an authentic way. And we cannot do it if we keep electing racist "leaders."
Communities, especially rural communities, tended to be segregated back then (see article). I had family near there (Cuckoo) and Bumpass was really in the sticks.
Not that the victims wouldn't have cared, just that they probably feared retaliation if they made a big deal of it.
Rural black people back in those days would have felt extremely threatened by a carload of white boys. So even if they saw them put the head in the mailbox, they may not have reported it.
Some boys from my neighborhood laughed about what they did when Martin Luther King was killed a few years before. They drove into black neighborhoods in Richmond and when they saw a black person on the street said, "Did you hear, Martin Luther was shot!" just to see the reactions and make fun of them. They did this for entertainment.
Though most kids were disgusted at such behavior, it really was NOT all that uncommon back in those days for young men to include racial harassment as part of "joy riding."
The hell with George Allen. He needs to be voted out of office, that's for sure. Bottom line, those people had to be terrified.
The Republican for Webb wrote:
I'm tired of having a Senator who won't even answer whether he supports Sen. Warner on torture
Well now... It seems that Senator Warner has made things easier for Allen and spared him having to worry about things like moral issues and honor, which are as far above Allen's head as they are above Bush's. After all the hoo-hah, Senator Warner has *folded* (like a limp-spined Dem) and has come up on the side of the so-called "compromise".
Let's not torture them; we'll use "enhanced interrogation techniques" instead. And we'll not break the Geneva Conventions. At least, not "egregiously". And, in case this still breaks all laws of decency, we'll give all the torturers a retroactive pardon as well, so the croks are all in the clear, should the elections flip the balance.
Since when has the Congress taken over the power of the Church in granting absolution???
Bush tortured, Jesus wept.
Just as I had been very proud of him a week ago, I am now terribly disappointed in Senator Warner. I think he's the last of the Mohicans... Er... Republicans in Congress that I still had some respect for and now it's all gone.