Will slur cost GOP hopeful the White House?
POSTED BY: FellowTraveler
UPDATED: Wednesday, September 13, 2006 17:38
VIEWED: 7583
PAGE 3 of 6
For a more comprehensive look at his (or any Pol.)record, check out Project Vote Smart.
http://www.vote-smart.org/issue_rating_category.php?can_id=CNIP9093
Some highlights:
2003-2004 Senator Allen supported the interests of the National Right to Life Committee 100 percent in 2003-2004.
2005 Senator Allen supported the interests of the Americans for Tax Reform 95 percent in 2005.
2005 Senator Allen supported the interests of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce 100 percent in 2005.
2003-2004 Senator Allen supported the interests of the American Civil Liberties Union 0 percent in 2003-2004.
2005 Senator Allen supported the interests of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People 15 percent in 2005.
2005 Senator Allen supported the interests of the Republican Liberty Caucus - Personal Liberties on personal liberties 75 percent in 2005.
2005 Senator Allen supported the interests of the American Conservative Union 100 percent in 2005.
2005 Senator Allen supported the interests of the National Education Association 0 percent in 2005.
2005 Senator Allen supported the interests of the American Wilderness Coalition 0 percent in 2005.
2005 Senator Allen supported the interests of the Children's Defense Fund 0 percent in 2005.
2004 Senator Allen supported the interests of the Family Research Council 67 percent in 2004.
2005 Senator Allen supported the interests of the National Organization for Women 0 percent in 2005.
2005 Senator Allen supported the interests of the Gun Owners of America 100 percent in 2005.
2005 Senator Allen supported the interests of the AFL-CIO 7 percent in 2005.
Looks (at least to me) that this guy votes with the White House a whole Hell of a lot...
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Quote:
Originally posted by FellowTraveler:
Looks (at least to me) that this guy votes with the White House a whole Hell of a lot...
I can't believe a US Senator would agree with the sitting president of his own party on alot of issues. I can't think of a single Democratic Senator that ever voted in favor of something Clinton supported. Never happened.
Perhaps the White House is really following Senator Allen's lead. If that is the case, then perhaps the Senator will be a good candidate in 2008.
H
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Quote:
We haven't had free trade in this country for over 100 years. Just try to do some trading with Iran.
I don't know, it seems Halliburton had no problem doing it.
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Quote:Oh yeah, very funny Hero.
I can't believe a US Senator would agree with the sitting president of his own party on alot of issues. I can't think of a single Democratic Senator that ever voted in favor of something Clinton supported. Never happened.
Perhaps the White House is really following Senator Allen's lead. If that is the case, then perhaps the Senator will be a good candidate in 2008.
---------------------------------
Reality sucks. Especially when it contradicts our cherished ideas.
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Quote:
Originally posted by FellowTraveler:
Video at:
I'm going to come at this from a slightly different angle. First, I'm hoping everyone who is commenting in this thread has seen the video. One of the things I really enjoy about the current day is the access to primary source documents. Here we have the uncut raw footage and can make up our own minds about what happened.
To jump to the end and answer the thread title question, I think that Allen has a good chance of being the Republican nominee for President in 2008 and that he has a good chance of being elected. This incident, far from hurting his chances, actually improves his branding with the party faithful. The people who see this video and decide not to vote for Allen probably weren't going to vote for him anyway and wouldn't vote for him for President. The Republican party runs personalities for President. Bush's personality resonated with a lot of voters (he's someone they would like to have a beer with, etc.). Allen has a lot in common with Bush, and this videotape highlights some of those commonalities.
What I see when I watch that tape is someone in a position of power bullying someone on the other end of the spectrum. There's code words (the use of macaca, which a hardcore subset of Allen supporters -ie white supremacists - will recognize but is ambiguous enough to be easily denied, reminiscent of the Dred Scott reference in the Presidential debates). And dehumanization (no point in even trying to figure out this guys name, better to call him by a label). And good natured ribbing (at least from the perspective of Allen, the classic defense of the verbal bully, "It's just a joke. C'mon, grow a thicker skin"). And reinforcement of just who should be considered an American (because someone who looks like the videographer couldn't possibly have been born in the US). In short, Allen is putting the videographer in his place with the support of the audience (the message: everyone here is with me except you because you're a monkey and not an American). He's playing to the crowd and to a larger crowd. Now I don't think Allen thought everything through to this level. But his behavior highlights some underlying assumptions.
That's what I get when I watch the video. From my perspective, he's the California version of Bush. And for all those out there who love to vote for a bully (because they mistake those attributes as strengths) he's the ideal candidate.
* edited to add (and edited once again): I also don't believe that Allen thinks he did anything wrong. His apology is of the classic non-apology type, "I'm sorry if you were offended." Allen has at least two videographers following Webb around so he is clearly familiar with how this footage might be used. In other words, I think Allen felt that his behavior would be perfectly acceptable to his supporters. And, from the reaction of the audience on the video, I think he was right. As far as whether his behavior is acceptable to a larger group of supporters in his potential Presidential run, judging by the responses just in this thread, I'd say Allen was right about that, too.
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It should, but it won't. Historically, people of color tend to vote Democrat, and I'm sure that there's a part of Sen. Allen's constituency that his remark appeals to. The remainder of them will be either apathetic, or so partisan that they will be unwilling to vote for a Democrat at any cost. As for his bull
mohawk excuse, this proves that he's not only a racist, he's a liar as well.
"The only thing that will redeem mankind is cooperation."
-Bertrand Russell
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George Allen seems to have either made an honest mistake or been the victim of a malicious set up. I think he has zero chance of being the republican '08 nominee. Allen is not a popular guy among his senate peers in the GOP, and he's a freshman senator, and offhand I cannot think of a freshman senator who won a party's nomination. Even if it did ever happen, there are always several who run, and end up at the bottom of the list. Allen is a loon, and I think he'll be wasting everyone's time if he runs. Clearly the MSM hates him, which was enough to kill the dean campaign and many others. I'm not even sure he can win re-election to the senate.
I think this theorizing is complete hogwash, he clearly thought it was the guy's name. George Allen is an idiot, not a total moron. He's not dumb enough to pull a stunt like that on video, and also no one ever does anything for the white supremacist vote, ever. Most fringe lunatic groups like this are not only small and insignificant, but are already dead set on who they are going to vote for, eg. the less jewish candidate. Which in this case may not be Allen. Jim Webb is northern irish and no part jewish. White supremacists also tend to be left-wing, counter to the left-wings constant reference to them as 'right-wingers' (remember, Hitler was the left wing candidate, the right-wing candidate was Hindenberg, who actually won the election.) Just putting the necessary counterpoint on this.
BTW, Allen is one of my least favorite republicans in the senate, and it wouldn't bother me at all if he got sacked, but this is the lowest form of politics. If you want to defeat the ideological ideas of Allen, should there be any, other than "Yes, Master," then I'd be happy to join in. But not in this kind of sleaze.
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BTW, no one calls east indians apes, in french or otherwise, and this is hardly the least of Allen's sins. Real high up there is that he owns stock in Barr labs, which makes the morning after pill, in direct opposition to his own stance. But clearly, a democrat somewhere is digging all of this up. I think there's sleaze attacking sleaze here.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Hero:Quote:
Originally posted by FellowTraveler:
Looks (at least to me) that this guy votes with the White House a whole Hell of a lot...
I can't believe a US Senator would agree with the sitting president of his own party on alot of issues.
H
Tell that to Senator Specter or Lieberman.
I only wanted to cite evidence of my claim that the guy is a rubber stamp for the Bush Administration.
He votes their way 96% of the time. That's high, even for a Republican.
http://www.americanprowler.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=10100
"He has consistently followed President Bush's agenda in the Senate, to the tune of 96 percent of the time in 2005."
And as to the veracity of the source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_American_Spectator
"The American Spectator is a conservative U.S. monthly magazine covering news and politics, edited by R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr. and published by the non-profit American Spectator Foundation."
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Quote:
Originally posted by dreamtrove:
BTW, no one calls east indians apes, in french or otherwise, and this is hardly the least of Allen's sins. Real high up there is that he owns stock in Barr labs, which makes the morning after pill, in direct opposition to his own stance. But clearly, a democrat somewhere is digging all of this up. I think there's sleaze attacking sleaze here.
Nice. Nothing like being called a sleaze. I appreciate the support.
Also, clearly, somebody does call Indians apes: Senator George Allen (see video link).
And as to your claim that I'm some Democrat digging up dirt, I also included the link about the Democratic nominee's anti-semitic campaign flier and have not been supportive of Webb. So, that accusation isn't really accurate, either.
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