CNN's Cafferty shreds George Allen

By the way, vis-a-vis the Iraq policy and how well that's not working. A hundred and ten bodies found in Baghdad in the last two days.

Other things going on. Virginia Senator George Allen and his opponent James Webb faced off in the last of their four debates last night. The voters are grateful that's over. They hammered away at each other on the issues they think will help them win. Well, it's a close race that could decide which party eventually controls the Senate. For the Republican Allen, those issues are taxes, gay marriage and support for President Bush's war in Iraq.

Suddenly for Allen, it's all about the issues. In a recent TV ad, he asked voters to focus on the issues instead of questions about his character. You see Allen doesn't want voters to focus on his character because it's becoming more and more apparent in recent weeks that he may not have much.

There was the time he called an Indian-American volunteer from his opponent's campaign macaca and welcomed him to America. Allen's been accused of using the n word to refer to blacks. He denies ever doing that. He's been in the Senate for six years, but voters just learned a few weeks ago that he's Jewish. He claims his mother never bothered to tell him. Sure.

And the Associated Press reports that for the five years, Allen has not bothered to tell Congress about the stock options that he got for being a director of a high tech company in Virginia. Allen says he didn't report the stock options because he saw them as worthless. When his lawyer was told that Senate ethics require the stock options be reported, regardless of their value, his lawyer said he was unfamiliar with that provision....

Here is the question: Virginia Senator George Allen says voters should choose on the issue instead of his character. Is he right? E- mail your thoughts to CaffertyFile@CNN.com, or go to CNN.com/CaffertyFile -- Wolf.

The responses to his question on the flip...

CAFFERTY: The question this hour: Virginia Senator George Allen says the voters should vote for him based on his stand on the issues, as opposed to his character. The question we asked is, is he right? Benjie in Texas writes: "In my humble opinion, issues and character go hand in hand. Look at our do-nothing Republican Congress. They're trying to ban every freedom we have under the Constitution and Bill of Rights, while their character in the Foley scandal, the Abramoff scandal, the Tom DeLay scandal, and others too numerous to list, speak volumes. Where is their character when it comes to telling the truth?"

Millie in Tennessee: "Funny how their thinking has evolved since they went after Clinton, when character was everything, and brains and policy were nothing of importance. My, how times have changed. Republicans wear any shoe that fits, no matter what its condition. If it will get them to their objective, it doesn't matter how much it smells."

Kevin in Virginia writes: "He's half right. Maybe that's centrist. He's right we should look at the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan and the Ninth Ward in New Orleans and the government's supersized spending and debt spree. He's wrong when he says we shouldn't look at the character of the nuts that got us here."

Alyn in Dover, Delaware: "I'm sure Senator Allen would not like to be judged on his character, since it appears that he doesn't have any. This man is totally unfit for public office."

And Harold in Virginia writes: "If Senator Allen runs on the issues, he will lose. If he runs on his character, he will lose" -- Wolf.

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