Thank God Our Senate Race in Virginia is Focused on the Issues... Not

The Virginia Senate race continues to debate the issues that matter to Virginians -- after all, we're all interested to know which of our candidates used a derogatory racial slur first...

Larry J. Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics, said Tuesday in an e-mail to The Associated Press, "I didn't personally hear GFA (Allen's initials) say the n-word.

"My conclusion is based on the very credible testimony I have heard for weeks, mainly from people I personally know and knew in the '70s," Sabato wrote.

Sabato, a classmate of Allen's at the University of Virginia in the early 1970s, said Monday on MSNBC's "Hardball with Chris Matthews" that he knew Allen had used racial slurs, but declined to say whether he had witnessed them.

Allen, a Republican who had been mentioned as a presidential contender and is now fighting an unexpectedly difficult race for a second U.S. Senate term, had said through a campaign aide that Sabato's claim was inaccurate.

"We're obviously glad that Mr. Sabato clarified his comments," said Dick Wadhams, Allen's campaign manager. "We remain committed to trying to dispel these erroneous stories that have been out there."

Also Tuesday, Allen's Democratic opponent, Jim Webb, declined to say definitively whether he had ever used a racial slur to describe blacks.

"I don't think that there's anyone who grew up around the South that hasn't had the word pass through their lips at one time or another in their life," Webb told reporters.

Webb referred to his novel, "Fields of Fire," which aides said includes passages using the n-word as part of character dialogue. But he added: "I have never issued a racial or ethnic slur."

Asked for clarification of his original answer, spokeswoman Jessica Smith quoted Webb as saying, "I have never used that word in my general vocabulary or in any derogatory way."

She declined to say whether he had ever used the word apart from when he wrote his book.

I'm not sure how Webb's two statements above aren't contradictory, but maybe he's taking lessons from Bill Clinton or something.

As for the charges against Senator Allen, someone needs to explain to me why (a) the statements have never come up before, considering he's run for statewide office repeatedly in the alst decade, (b) why an overwhelming number of past associates and friends are backing him up as never using the term, and (c) whether the Allen campaign will pursue the best tack and aggressively defend itself against these charges.

The original article in Salon had one source who was quoted on the record, with two other quoted anonymously. The left-wing dishrag parrots the same identified source and adds an anthropology professor (and politically active Democrat) who claims he recalls the use of the term at a one-time meeting in the 1980's. Considering the second source's political affiliation and the first's farcical tale of Allen sticking a deer head into a mailbox, I'm apt to question their credibility a little bit. And I find it funny that the dishrag thinks it's important that Allen played a Confederate general in Gods and Generals, but fails to mention sitting U.S. Senator and former Klansmen Robert Byrd (also running for re-election, I believe) did the same thing. But hey, he's a Democrat.

And before someone asks, comparing this to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth doesn't fit. The Swift Boat Vets meticulously documented their charges and featured several people making the charges, a number of which could be easily checked out and confirmed (see Kerry's Christmas in Cambodia claims as an example). I'm still waiting for something that provides tangible proof that the accusations against Allen are anything more than mud-slinging.

To be truthful, this entire exercise actually reminds me of the 1988 Democratic Presidential primaries, where the candidates first didn't want to discuss smoking pot, then jumped forward in a race to see who could admit to it first. This is the same thing in reverse, and it's getting sillier by the minute. Jonah Goldberg had the following apochryphal press release over at the Corner...

Democratic Senate candidate James Webb charged his opponent, Republican Sentor George Allen, of sinking to a "new low" in their increasingly bitter contest. Webb accused Allen of "grotesque immaturity" for calling the former Reagan Administration secretary of the Navy a "super-dooper poopy head."

Mr. Allen responded that "he started it." Adding, "I would never have dreamed of calling him a 'super-dooper poopy head' — though I stand by the factual accuracy of that statement — if he hadn't started with all that I'm-rubber-and-your-glue nonsense."

This latest chapter in the downward spiriling contest seemed to have been sparked by their most recent debate moderated by NBC Washington Bureau Chief, Tim Russert. While answering a question about social security privatization, Allen blurted out "Tim! He's touching me!" Russert told Mr. Webb "Please refrain from touching your opponent." Webb immediately responded "I did not, did not, did not!" and continued to repeat the phrase over and over again with his hands on his ears as Mr. Russert tried to change the issue to the war in Iraq.

An aide to Mr. Webb defended his candidate saying, "Look there's no denying this race has taken a sour turn. But it is a well established fact that it's all Allen's fault and the voters of the Commonwealth of Virginia know that he has cooties."

In a surprise turn of events University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato seemed to indicate that he has personal knowledge that Senator Allen in fact does have cooties, but he would not directly confirm or deny the allegation.

Sadly, that may be more intelligent than anything the press is reporting.