cross-posted at
Political Moneyball.
I thought I'd weigh in on the George Allen "macaca" comment. I've been talking about it a lot in the last two days, and something important occurred to me while I was speaking with a professor last night. How could such a seasoned politician, one of the presumed front-runners in '08, make such a rookie mistake?
Allen is a guy who screams scary Bush clone. He's one of those smooth, likeable pols, with whom most middle Americans would enjoy sharing a beer. After reading the
TNR piece, I was frightened. The guy's a total whack-a-loon. In his high school year book photo he's wearing a Confederate flag pin. But what stands out from Lizza's article is how this neo-confederate persona is a complete fabrication. Allen spent his youth moving around the country; his father was a football coach, and Allen went to high school in southern California. He finally moved to Dixie in 1971, where, as a student at the University of Virginia, Lizza says he fit in like a "like a pig in slop."
Is this authentic? No, but I don't think it matters. Bush claims to be a compassionate conservative. He is neither compassionate (Cindy Sheehan), nor conservative (public debt). The Republican's uber-conservative, values voters base doesn't look at a candidate's true nature; they simply vote for whomever Karl Rove tells them to (Obviosuly Karl doesn't call them personally, I mean the puppet the Party holds up for them).
Like Bush, Allen scares me because he manages to harness the down-to-earth image which belies the personality of a serious sociopath. Just as Bush needs to surround himself with subservient women who shower him with effusive praise - Harriet Miers- Allen needs to put down people in order to feel more powerful. Lizza cites his penchant for sibling abuse, but we need look no further than "macaca" and, most recently, his wink, laugh apology.
Until a few weeks ago, I would have pegged him as more dangerous than Bush, if only because he seems more politically savvy, and maybe smarter.
Until this "macaca" thing.
The comment. The circumstance. Everything seems so bush league (pardon the pun). I mean, if this guy is the Great White Hope of the GOP, how could he make such a rookie mistake?
Which brings me back to the Bush comparison. Like W., Allen seems to savor his most inflammatory words. If you watch the video, he seems to be smiling, even laughing, when he calls out Sidarth.
Is this self-destructive behavior? Is he simply another in a long line of GOP racists?
I think it's both. He knows he cannot retreat from his racist past. So he figures he can speak out of both sides of his mouth: he's racist when it helps, yet claims to be innocent (I refuse to write apologetic) of his racism when it becomes widely reported.
Wink, laugh. Apologize.
Throw the bum out. Support Jim Webb.