<p>Since I neither belong to, nor vote for, either party, I don’t have a dog in the fight. Racist, homophobic, misogynist comments are terrible things. That goes without saying. Worse than any of them, and which goes with ability to govern well, is failure to own up to them.</p>
<p>I think I’ll send George some gefilte fish.</p>
<p>Not me either. I said that if Allen said those things it was unacceptable. I would, however, like to know more about the head in the mailbox thing. Not to be disrespectful, but it sounds a bit farfetched to me.</p>
<p>
Excuse me, but don’t you think joining an organization devoted to animosity towards blacks (and other minorities) and which has a history of lynching blacks is just a tad worse than making a comment intended for “derision and insult”. In a sense, you are right that my bringing it up was “out of context” but only in as much as that joining the Klan is far worse than using the “N” word. At least it is in my book.</p>
<p>If you want to excuse Byrd for his youthful “indiscretion” (which I do) then you certainly must be willing to excuse an indiscretion of far less magnitude on Allen’s part. </p>
<p>BTW, I’m not really an Allen supporter and if there is anything good to come from this, it will probably dash any hopes that he has of getting the Republican nomination in '08 which is a good thing in my mind.</p>
<p>
Some would say that anti-Catholic/Christian/religion remarks are also repugnant, but perhaps your comments are only directed at politicians and not CC posters … or perhaps you don’t hold to that view.</p>
<p>Just because the current Catholic Church repudiates the lifestyle of a dozen or more of its previous Popes doesn’t make me anti-Catholic. And just because the current Christian orthodoxy rejects the first 300 years of its history regarding Christian military service (“like dogs who eat their own vomit”) doesn’t make me anti-Christian either, since I consider myself one.</p>
<p>“BTW, I’m not really an Allen supporter and if there is anything good to come from this, it will probably dash any hopes that he has of getting the Republican nomination in '08 which is a good thing in my mind.”</p>
<p>Brilliant point. Now if the repulsive Pataki would only join the world of the sane and abandon his run. We all need to get together to mock and ridicule him. What I want to know is this: doesn’t that man (Pataki) have any friends who will tell him that even republicans in New York hate him. That the national party finds him a fool and he will never be other than a laughingstock. </p>
<p>I apologize for hijacking the thread, but this has been on my mind.</p>
<p>Allen’s racism is certainly less surprising than his rise in politics. He’s a vapid glad-hander, an empty suit if there ever was one. Of all the people in the Seante, I can’t think of anyone I’d less like to sit next to at a dinner party.</p>
<p>Chris Matthews discussed the story at length last night (he had interviewed Sabato Monday night). Sabato modified his contribution to say that he was not present when GFA uttered the insult. However, Sabato added (according to Matthews) that he certainly knew GFA at the university, he was familiar with other accounts of said conduct by Allen, and that he would not recant and is confident that the revelations are accurate.</p>
<p>At present, GFA’s explanations do not seem credible in the face of Dr. Shelton and 1 of the 3 the hunting buddies. As for macaca, GFA says his mother NEVER discussed her heritage. NEVER?</p>
<p>You know, the best perspective I have read about this is on Salon.com, wherein a born-and-raised Virginia blogger opined that it is unsurprising that as Californian and Jewish kid, GFA might have felt out of place at UVA in the 1970s and therefore had a tremendous desire to fit in with the “elite Virginia” attitudes held by some. A stereotype also known as VFF, Virgina First Families, a term I learned during my sojourn in Ol’ Virginny years ago.</p>
<p>zoosermom,</p>
<p>I will add to the hijack with my concurring opinion. My first real exposure to Pataki on the national stage was after 9/11. At that time some of the pundits had indicated that he may be a Presidential aspirant so I was anxious to hear him speak. What a disappointment. I was dumbfounded that someone like that could even be elected to be a governor. Of course, when appearing in the same forum as Giuliani, most people will look bad from a leadership/communication perspective.</p>
<p>The Church never did shy away from the history of its Popes. I attended a Catholic college, and we had to learn in excruciating detail the history of each Pope–the good, the bad, and the ugly–as my son is now doing at his Catholic high school. ;)</p>
<p>FundingFather, I have had the singular misfortune of working with Pataki personally and directly on several local issues over the years. A less engaged, less intelligent, less articulate and less fundamentally dishonest human being you will not find, either in public or private life. A truly loathsome human being at every level. He makes both Rudy and Hillary look like paragons of virtue and brilliance by comparison.</p>
<p>You don’t need to tell me about the Klan’s terrorism, but did anyone ever prove that Byrd had a hand in the worst elements of the Klan? And as I said, Hugo Black denouced and absolutely redeemed himself as “the father of the modern Fourth Amendment.” When Allen makes such amends, I’ll be kinder to him. Clearly, not every southerner who had the prevailing view of white supremacy pre-Jim Crow also possessed the courage of people of like Justice Black, Oscar Underwood, Judge Horton and Judge Frank Johnson (all Alabamans). I suspect that Allen doesn’t have the credentials to run with that historic crowd.</p>
<p>"You don’t need to tell me about the Klan’s terrorism, but did anyone ever prove that Byrd had a hand in the worst elements of the Klan? "</p>
<p>He was the Exalted Cyclops, so one would have to think that he had some culpability.</p>
<p>Maybe somebody can send Byrd some gefilte fish too. ;)</p>
<p>I found Allen’s other comment more disturbing even than the macaca comment. After calling the person macaca, he then said “welcome to America”. I just can’t believe that any person in this country could assume that a dark-skinned individual is not American. It would be justified if the person were in fact not American and Allen knew that. But in this case, it appears the individual was born and raised in Virginia. </p>
<p>Think about the set of views you would have to hold to say anything indicating that only light-skinned people may be Americans. It’s really pretty amazing from a politician of his experience.</p>
<p>I don’t know, Hayden, I say welcome to America to people all the time. Actually I say “great country, America, isn’t it? I’m happy to welcome you.” to people I think are out of touch. Has nothing to do with color or race because the vast majority of people I say it to are nice, white, Ivy League educated lawyers at the firms I’ve worked at over the years.</p>
<p>Context: first he called him a macaca, indicating his race/ethnicity, and then and ONLY then said “Welcome to America”. It wasn’t an ironic comment about trends in American society (which probably would have been a bad move for a politician in any case), but directed as a snide indication that “macacas were welcome in America” (with a background implication that maybe they shouldn’t be.)</p>
<p>In reply #32 I should have said “pre-integration” or “pre-1964 Civil Rights Act.”</p>
<p>Just sent in my absentee ballot request.</p>