Ahhh, it’s so dirty John,  … this charge is particularly silly and I happen to be somebody who supports Republicans … condemning it is something more conservatives should do . . .

It looks desperate, it looks pathetic and it looks so immature.  I mean, can we grow up?  This is fiction.  It’s made up.  It’s not something we should be cheering.

On Friday, Allen drew attention to sexually explicit excerpts from Webb's novels from the past 30 years, arguing the words were demeaning to women. In response, Webb noted a 2000 book by Allen's sister, Jennifer, that described her brother's crude and brutish treatment of women.

© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

The Webb Excerpts [John Podhoretz]

Sometimes I'm embarrassed to be on the Right. The outbreak of cynical Babbitry on the part of the George Allen campaign in using sentences from novels written by James Webb against Webb makes this day one of those days.
Posted at 5:18 PM

(I posted this late last night on another diary but I wanted to be sure you saw it)

Lost Soldiers [Kathryn Jean Lopez]

Would this be a bad time to mention that John McCain wrote a blurb for it ?

A novel tactic [Rich Lowry]

The Allen campaign is now attacking Webb's novels! How absurd.

As Chris Matthews said this morning, these books have been on the shelves for YEARS and they are FICTION! 

Anyone see current poles?
 

“You ought to read what George Allen’s sister wrote about him if you want to read about attitudes toward females,” he said, alluding to an autobiography by Jennifer Allen in which she describes her brother as a bully who once dragged her upstairs by her hair because she had defied her father at bedtime.

Let's remember GOP icon Strom Thurmond for a minute here:

from Wikipedia--

Shortly after Thurmond's death on June 26, 2003, Essie Mae Washington-Williams publicly revealed that she was Strom Thurmond's illegitimate daughter. She was born to an African American maid, Carrie Butler, on October 12, 1925, when Butler was 16.

One other point. 

"Approximately 22% of females and 27% of males have had intercourse by age 15, and about 76% and 85%, respectively, by age 19 (Alan Guttmacher Institute, 1998). Many factors have been linked to the early onset of sexual activity among adolescents, such as peer influences, level of educational achievement, community characteristics, gender, race, and parental influences (Brewster, 1994; Furstenberg, Morgan, Moore, & Peterson, 1987; Miller, Norton, Curtis, Hill, Schvaneveldt, & Young, 1997). "

  http://findarticles....

BTW my grandmother was married at 16; of course that was in eastern Europe and they had a different culture than the country club set.

McCain and Warner should "fire" Allen.

http://electioncentr...

TN-SEN: GOP Producer Of "Bimbo" Ad Gets Ax From Wal-Mart
By Greg Sargent | bio

"Bimbo"-gate has claimed its first casualty. Terry Nelson, the top-flight GOP consultant who was political director of Bush-Cheney 2004, has lost his gig as a consultant to Wal-Mart because of his role in helping produce the "bimbo" ad targeting Dem Harold Ford, Jr. Nelson had been hired a month ago by Wal-Mart to help the company develop its new voter-registration drive, but because of Nelson's role in producing the racially-charged ad, Wal-Mart found itself targeted by severe criticism from Jesse Jackson and others who demanded that the company fire Nelson. Wal-Mart media relations director David Tovar just issued a statement saying that Nelson had "sent a letter to Wal-Mart ending its working relationship with our company. We believe this is the right course of action." Moral: It's not good for business to attach your name to ads like the "bimbo" spot.

Our country needs to know that when honorable people step forward and offer their service to our country by running for office, there is a limit to the degradation and character assasination they might endure at the hands of dirty political tacticians.

(Senator McCain, you know this better than anyone.)

Help restore honor to the process of electing our leaders.  Help ensure that qualified and honorable persons will step forward.

Campaings of character assasinations are killing our great nation.

Speak up for Webb.  You know he would for you.

As far as Im concerned, John McCain is no better than George Allen.  He proved that during the 2004 presidental campaign when he attached his lips to Bush's rear end, and he continues to do so now. 

One has presidential aspirations, the other is afraid of losing a committee chair.  Both depend on support from George Allen and support from George Allen's core supporters (the Falwell, Robertson wing of the GOP).

As distinguished as these Senators are, their professional ambitions are going to trump any concerns that they have about civil and decent behavior, or reigning in an out of control colleague. 

The key focus should be on the handful of undecided voters who will determine the outcome of the election.

Btw, my sister-in-law, who sat on the fence in the primary, and was considering sitting out the election, is now firmly behind Jim Webb.  George Allen's attacks are only going to harden Webb's support.  Most thinking people are disgusted by what Allen is doing. 

Obviously Allen doesn't condone Freedom of Speech, he doesn't understand the differences of other cultures, and he chooses to promote the Adolf Hitler school of writing - "write what I tell you to or else."

And women of Virgina - aren't you smart enough, mentally and morally - to know what's a work of fiction?  To know George Allen is the one insulting you by denying you the chance to chose what to read, what to think, and how to vote.
If George Allen equals "the real world of Virginia"- then he needs to be drop-kicked out of the Commonwealth and into the real world of the unemployment line.

George Allen Takes Senate Race From Macaca Quicksand To Gutter
Robert Paul Reyes

October 28, 2006

Sen. George Allen, still wiping the Macaca stain from his cowboy boots, took the bitterly contested Virginia Senate race to the gutter.

***
A novel depicting the horrors of war is not likely to include characters like "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm". War is hell and it brings out the best in a few and the worst in most.

The Bible chronicles how the tribal deity of the Israelites commanded them to completely wipe out their neighbors. Jehovah also gave the Jews permission to rape the females of their vanquished foes.

The point is that great literature, like the King James Version of the Bible, often contains disturbing passages.

Here's an example of great art depicting a rather unpleasant scene from the Old Testament:

Anyone know what scene it depicts?

I'll give you a hint.  It's in Genesis, chapter 19.

Does anyone know?

Include me in any petition to Sen. Warner.  He had the guts not to endorse Oliver North.  But, if he allows this to go unchecked, he has lost all his moral authority.  I am appalled.

"Mr. Allen, yes we all know that sex and violence both reside in that area of our brains responsible for basic survival.  We also know the extreme pressure of combat will cause these traits to manifest in otherwise unthinkable behaviors. In fact, there are sad stories reported by the press as recently as a few days ago, about our young troops falling victim to these very stresses of war. Yes, Mr. Allen, hasn't anyone told you:  war is horrible, horrible !  Awful beyond ways you and I would never know.  But, this is another reason why Secretary Webb-- who, clearly understands these horrors- was an early and outspoken critic of the war in Iraq!" 

"Mr. Webb has been there, he understands the horrors, he understand the trememdous pressures on average families, too. And Jim Webb is showing us - showing Virginia families, men and women, the way forward."

Signed,
A mom next door.
 

"Since 2003, President Bush has laid out nine different plans for victory in Iraq, none of them serious and none of them workable. And most seriously, this incompetence has hindered our ability to fight international terror," Webb said.

At the *very least*, you ought to have added a to that comment :)

Of course Warner is "in seclusion" from his office till well after the Elections... He's not running for himself this time but he's shilling for elephant-holes like Allen. And don't hold your breath waiting for him to do the "right thing", because I wouldn't like for you to turn -- *literally* -- blue... :)

We have to face the fact that the man has lost his moral compass and sold his soul to his party's politics. Nobody could be more sorry than I am -- he was the one who handed me my naturalization certificate at Monticello 20 yrs ago, along with congratulations -- and I was very happy to see him behave as a man of honor all those years after. But that's all in the past; he's befouled himself (as has McCain) when he caved in on the torture act.

Sigh... I do hope he *will* retire when this term is up; obviously, trying to function in this "new politics" environment is too much for a man his age. I also hope that we can replace one Warner with another :)