August's GOP Asshat of the Month
I'll spare readers any mirage of suspense because the contest for this month's King Assclown isn't a contest at all. Virginia Senator George Allen may very well have ended his political career on August 11th when, at a campaign rally in the lily-white southwestern corner of Virginia, he publicly (into a video camera no less) referred to an Indian-American campaign worker of his opponent as "Macaca", a racial slur in much of the world with origins to a species of monkeys. Allen dug his grave even further by calling the young man "Macaca" once again within the context of the condescending comment, "Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia."
Turns out this young man was born and raised in America, specifically "the real world of Virginia". Allen chose to further embarrass himself after receiving well-deserved scrunity for the obnoxious comments, saying his "macaca" comment was made in reference to the man's "mohawk" haircut. The only trouble is, the young man didn't have a mohawk or anything resembling a mohawk.....and he was wearing a hat at the time the comment was. After a week's worth of bad press, Allen finally capitualated and began apologizing....and then apologizing some more. Once a politician makes a racially insensitive remark in today's culturally touchy times, he's already in trouble. But once he's forced to make more than one apology to quell the public and/or media outrage, he's officially screwed.
I'm not in a position to opine on whether George Allen is a racist (although his already shaky reputation on the issue wasn't improved by this latest gaffe), but I am in a position to opine that George Allen is a jerk. To treat somebody with that level of disrespect based on his/her ethnic origin (in front of a crowd full of crackers, no less) is the work of a playground bully who gets off on punching the kid who's "different" in the stomach and stealing his lunch money. At this point, everyone should accept Allen's apology and move on, but it'll be much harder for people to forget than it will be to forgive.
From a political standpoint, George Allen's Presidential ambitions have likely been snuffed out. Perhaps no other potential candidate on the Republican side would be better able to bridge the interests of the GOP's bible-thumping theocrats and robber baron constituencies better than Allen. Many leading political analysts considered Allen a frontrunner for the nomination....but that was before "8-11". It's very hard to see how Allen can recover from a PR nightmare like this, even among Republican primary voters who have plenty of "Plan B" candidates to fall back on rather than risk driving off a cliff with Allen. In fact, Allen will be lucky to salvage his Virginia Senate seat. Following the comments, Allen's worthy Democratic challenger James Webb rose from a 12-point deficit in the polls to a three-point deficit. Perhaps what we were told in elementary school was true.....maybe bullies really do get theirs in the end.
Turns out this young man was born and raised in America, specifically "the real world of Virginia". Allen chose to further embarrass himself after receiving well-deserved scrunity for the obnoxious comments, saying his "macaca" comment was made in reference to the man's "mohawk" haircut. The only trouble is, the young man didn't have a mohawk or anything resembling a mohawk.....and he was wearing a hat at the time the comment was. After a week's worth of bad press, Allen finally capitualated and began apologizing....and then apologizing some more. Once a politician makes a racially insensitive remark in today's culturally touchy times, he's already in trouble. But once he's forced to make more than one apology to quell the public and/or media outrage, he's officially screwed.
I'm not in a position to opine on whether George Allen is a racist (although his already shaky reputation on the issue wasn't improved by this latest gaffe), but I am in a position to opine that George Allen is a jerk. To treat somebody with that level of disrespect based on his/her ethnic origin (in front of a crowd full of crackers, no less) is the work of a playground bully who gets off on punching the kid who's "different" in the stomach and stealing his lunch money. At this point, everyone should accept Allen's apology and move on, but it'll be much harder for people to forget than it will be to forgive.
From a political standpoint, George Allen's Presidential ambitions have likely been snuffed out. Perhaps no other potential candidate on the Republican side would be better able to bridge the interests of the GOP's bible-thumping theocrats and robber baron constituencies better than Allen. Many leading political analysts considered Allen a frontrunner for the nomination....but that was before "8-11". It's very hard to see how Allen can recover from a PR nightmare like this, even among Republican primary voters who have plenty of "Plan B" candidates to fall back on rather than risk driving off a cliff with Allen. In fact, Allen will be lucky to salvage his Virginia Senate seat. Following the comments, Allen's worthy Democratic challenger James Webb rose from a 12-point deficit in the polls to a three-point deficit. Perhaps what we were told in elementary school was true.....maybe bullies really do get theirs in the end.
posted by Mark at 3:24 PM
3 Comments:
I had a good laugh when reading about Allen's "apologies" and am thrilled that he may have hurt his presidential ambitions even further. That means we (at least for now) won't have a viable GOP challenger in '08! (Though of course if we nominate Hillary then that will not be the case.)
I finally finished my updates, with some surprising changes and some not-so-suprising changes. As I predicted, my formula predictions for our home states' governors have finally changed in favor of the incumbents (Schwarzenegger by 4; Pawlenty by 8).
I am now catching up on all the news on California (and Texas) that occurred when I was in Brazil, including the recent landmark CO2 emissions limit that Arnold just signed into law, making California the first state to impose limits on greenhouse gas emissions.
There is also a statewide universal health care bill that I think Arnold rejected. I hope Phil will hammer him nonstop on that.
And finally Proposition 86, a cigarette tax, is passing with 60% of the vote last I checked. I know you don't agree with this kind of tax (I don't either, to an extent), but I just wanted to make a point that my old friends are not completely tax-o-phobic (though of course that does not mean they will automatically accept Phil's tax hike proposal).
Sara, did you find about George Allen's comments down in Brazil or did you have to wait until you returned home to read about them.
Don't put too much stock on those Minnesota gubernatorial polls. Pawlenty will probably have a race on his hands once Mike Hatch unveils his post-Labor Day ad campaign, which will be twice as large as those or recent DFL gubernatorial candidates. Angelides, on the other hand, appears to be in some serious trouble.
California's cigarette tax proposal is diabolical for any number of reasons, but what irks me the most is that they are knowingly making themselves ground zero for the underworld tobacco trade being increasingly taken over by terrorist cells. It makes my blood boil to listen to pandering politicians talk about "defeating terrorists" when there is not one thing in the world that California (or government in general) could do to empower terrorists better than hyperinflating the profit margins of the tobacco black market by artificially inflating the value of legal tobacco products even more than its already dangerously high level. They might as well cut out the middle man and simply export shipments of advanced arms supplies to al-Qaeda and Hezbollah directly.
I could go on all night condemning California's tobacco tax proposal and certainly don't see it as an acceptance of taxation. For nearly every single California voter who supports this tax hike, the tax will apply only to others (and by and large, those least able to afford to further contribute to the tax rolls). Sorry, but everything about this proposal makes me physically ill and could not stand in starker contrast to progressive priorities should be.
I found out about Allen's comment as soon as I got Internet access back this past Sunday.
And thanks for the heads-up on the Hatch campaign. I suspect that Hatch is in the same position as Granholm was (polls showed DeVos with a considerable lead until recently when Granholm released her first ads). And from what I heard from fellow Californians, I should not put too much stock into a poll that showed Arnold with a 14-point lead (and finally breaking 50). I will read more closely.
And thanks for your views on the cigarette tax. I already opposed it on the grounds that eventually, enough people will stop to the point that this tax will not bring in sufficient revenue. Now I have several more reasons to oppose it.
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