Senator Allen Follies: Week II

For those of you who haven't been following the latest MSM anti-Republican flap, Virginia Senator George Allen, fighting in a surprisingly close re-election campaign against ex-Reaganite-conveniently-turned-Dem James Webb, dissed a weirdly-clad opposition political operative a couple of weeks ago in a way that may or may not have been "offensive." The Washington Post's reliably objective (NOT) and ironically-named Mike Allen, after trashing the Senator's allegedly feeble grasp of culinary terminology, recaps the incident:

...Allen certainly did not help himself two Fridays ago when he made fun of a Webb campaign volunteer who was following him around. Such workers are called "trackers," and both parties use them. But Allen pointed to the dark-skinned volunteer -- a Virginia native of Indian descent -- before welcoming him "to America and the real world of Virginia" and calling him "Macaca." The word can be a slur (it literally means a type of monkey), but Allen aides said it was a play on "mohawk," for the 20-year-old's partly shaved head. Webb's campaign soon posted the embarrassing clip on YouTube.com, producing a spate of front-page stories.

Whatever Allen meant, he should have learned long ago that as a Repub, you can't even give the appearance of insensitivity in this environment. Now it's open season, as this latest Post article proves, as it goes on to cite the existence of an even more shocking skeleton stashed in Allen's political closet:

Allen's indiscretion reinforced one of his fundamental vulnerabilities: his past embrace of the Confederate flag, which he says was a manifestation of youthful rebellion. The New Republic's Ryan Lizza provoked astonished murmuring in GOP circles with a May article about "George Allen's race problem." The 5,000-word evisceration revealed that Allen, at age 17, had worn a Confederate flag pin for a yearbook photo at his high school in Palos Verdes, Calif. Allen's office confirmed to Lizza that it was a rebel flag, and said it was possible that he also sported the Stars and Bars on his Mustang, as classmates had recalled.

The horror, the horror!

Obviously, Allen's reward for his recent dubious slip has been wall-to-wall derision from the local and national media, as they continue their neverending quest to help the clueless Dems retake the Senate this year. Clearly, Allen has a "race problem."

Dems, of course, don't have "race problems" and don't need to endure this kind of scrutiny. Hearken back to WV Senator Robert Byrd's interesting comments to Tony Snow on Fox News, recapped here by Michell Malkin:

The ex-Klansman showed his true colors when asked by Fox News Sunday morning talk show host Tony Snow about the state of race relations in America. Sen. Byrd warned: "There are white niggers. I've seen a lot of white niggers in my time. I'm going to use that word. We just need to work together to make our country a better country, and I'd just as soon quit talking about it so much."

Now rewind the tape. For the past two weeks, George Allen has been dogged on the campaign trail for his apparent "macaca" gaffe and has apologized numerous times in public, trying to get the flap behind him. His reward: a relentless media shark-attack to which has been added a revival of an ancient story about Allen's sporting a Confederate flag pin in high school. The media inference: obviously Allen is a racist and this obviously should disqualify him from even running again for the U.S. Senate.

But Bobby Byrd, the former Klansman, skated away from his obviously racist remarks with barely a murmur from the MSM. And no apology. Proving once again that being a Democrat never means having to say you're sorry.

Repubs from George Allen to Rick Santorum need to remind themselves that they are under 24/7 attack by the MSM which will show them no mercy if they stumble on the podium or in their personal lives. It's a handicap that Democrats never have to worry about.

As Malkin puts it, referencing Byrd:

If this ex-Klansman were a conservative Republican, he would never hear the end of his sordid past. "Ex-Klansman who opposed civil rights and black justices" would appear in every reference to Sen. Byrd. And even the "ex-" would be in doubt. Maxine Waters and Ralph Neas and Julianne Malveaux and Al Sharpton and all the other left-wing bloodhounds who sniff racism in every crevice of American life would be barking up a storm over Sen. Byrd's latest fulminations. Instead, the attack dogs are busy decrying latent racial bigotry where it doesn't exist, while the real thing roams wild and free in their own political backyard.

(Note: You may have to register to read the online Washington Post link.)