Update II (10/2): Star Parker on dredging up sleaze.
Update (9/30): How unexpected!. Thanks. 
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So I heard that one of Virginia governor [brain cramp!] senator George Allen’s old college football teammates said that someone told him Allen used to call black people “niggers,” and some guy told someone else that James Webb, his Democratic opponent, used to call black people “niggers,” too.
Allen says he doesn’t remember calling any black people “niggers,” and Webb said, “I don’t think that there’s anyone who grew up around the South that hasn’t had the word pass through their lips at one time in their life.”
…which means they’ve both used the word in a negative context before but are too afraid to admit it.
This is what I don’t like about politicians: the dishonesty, the careful language, the hedging. So what if they both called black people “niggers” back in the day? Who hasn’t? We all have a past. Even if they use the word today, as long as they don’t do it in public or let any black person hear them say it, what difference does it make?
It seems that Allen has a fondness for confederate flags, which is not that big a deal for a son of the South. [To clarify, I have no "issues" with the confederate flag. If that surprises you, you must be a new reader.]
The Washington Post says Allen’s and Webb’s use of racial epithets matters. So let’s imagine this: both men called black people “niggers” on occasion back in the day. Bad boys. Both are running for the same Senate seat. The Post calls Allen’s record on race “mixed” because he opposed an MLK holiday and supported Confederate History Month but sent taxpayers’ money to black colleges to “apologize” for slavery.
Whatever.
What are black Virginians supposed to do with this information? Refuse to vote for either one?
Bloggers and others:
