The poll results as they stood about 7:00 PM last night
There is a lot of "white space" on George Felix Allen's campaign website today. Late last night, swamped by negative responses, the Allen campaign decided to "cut and run," pulling its bogus flag burning poll sometime after the negative response exceeded 75%: George Allen had voted in the affirmative.
The poll asked, in extremely skewed wording, the following question:
Do you believe that the burning or desecration of the American flag degrades those who fought and died for America, and, therefore, that the flag should be protected by the U.S. Constitution?
The online community prizes free speech and they were having none of it. A wave of visitors to Allen's website rejected his position on flag burning and endorsed freedom of speech. The poll was part of Allen's latest attempt to "Swift Boat" Jim Webb, turning Webb's heroic service to his country against him. It failed.
Using inflammatory language like that contained in the poll, Allen tried to position himself as someone who was trying to save American veterans from being "degraded." Jim Webb responded quickly and forcefully to this attack. Webb, a highly decorated veteran, opposed the flag burning amendment due to its chilling effect on freedom of speech. Webb supports free speech like any good patriot would; Allen continues to pretend to be a patriot.
George Allen's line of attack begs the question: what has George Allen ever really done for America's veterans? The answer is: he, along with his Republican cronies, helped to cut their benefits in order to pay for tax cuts for the hyper-wealthy. What is even more striking is he did it in the middle of a war that has killed more than 2,500 American servicemen and women and left more 9,000 permanently disabled.
UPDATE:
Staunton Daily News Leader, June 29, 2006