Thank goodness for "Macaca."

[rateyes]

I just had the thought that if George Allen hadn't used the word "Macaca" to describe that young man, he would have been re-elected Senator, would have been a candidate for POTUS, and would be the front-runner "darling of the Religious Right."

Thank goodness his true nature came to the surface.

Whew!

[ima_sinnic]

1. yeah, thank god he was replaced by Webb, who votes so "differently"

from him.

NOT.

That effing SOB owes me the $25 I contributed to his phony campaign. He knew he had a mandate to oppose the repukes, but so far he has pretty much kissed their butt and given them everything they've asked. What A FUCKING LOSER AND CON ARTIST.

[ieoeja]

5. Your timing could have been better.

Given that Webb led the fight against the Lieberman-Kyl amendment today. Okay, he lost. But he is among the few who tried to kill the Stealth Iran War Resolution.

[ima_sinnic]

8. okay, I've been out straight on work today & this is my 1st chance

at getting caught up. So score one for Webb. What about his other 3 strikes?

[ieoeja]

13. He's out!

Or should be. But I am hardly surprised. When you elect a lifetime Republican, member of the Reagan Administration to the Senate because he happens to disagree with the Republican Party on a single issue, the Middle Eastern-American War, then you have to expect him to vote like a Republican on everything except that one issue.

[Virginia Dare]

21. So what do you think Allen would have done?.

do you think he would have proposed troop rest? Do you think he would have voted against the Iran amendment? So Webb's not a progressive Democrat, he sometimes votes with the repubs, I'm sorry but you must be just about the last one to find out about that.

But as for your meme that he's not better than Allen, that's pure BULLSHIT.

[Cabcere]

26. Well said.

I may not always agree with everything Webb says or does, but he's a whole hell of a lot better than that racist idiot Allen. Is he perfect? Hell no. But that doesn't mean that whenever his views don't line up exactly with mine, I'm going to start campaigning to get fucking Allen back.

I'm sorry if I'm coming off a little harsh on this, but as someone who has lived in conservative rural Virginia for most of her life, it's extremely irritating to hear what a "loser" Webb is for not following the Democratic party line all the time. I understand disagreeing with his votes and expressing disapproval, but to compare him to George Allen is way over the top, IMO. And to be perfectly honest, I think that even with the Macaca incident, Webb wouldn't have had a chance in Virginia if he hadn't worked in the Reagan administration and been a former Republican. People in my area of the state are hard-core conservative, and I can guarantee that there are many who would - and did - vote for a racist over a Democrat. But for some of those who ended up casting their vote for Webb, his Republican credentials made the difference.

OK, rant over. :rant:

[ima_sinnic]

27. okay, Allen 4, Webb 3 for the Rs. BFD. (nt)

[Virginia Dare]

29. Yeah, right BFD...

:eyes:

[Virginia Dare]

31. I'm putting my money where my mouth is..

I went over Webb's and Warner's voting records. Warner is by all accounts a moderate Repub who sometimes votes with the Democrats, for instance he just voted FOR the SCHIP legislation.

Warner and Webb have voted the same approximately 50% of the time. The voted together only once regarding Iraq policy, and that was the emergency supplemental of May 2007. For example, he voted FOR Habeus Corpus, and he also voted no confidence on Gonzalez, so YEAH there's a huge difference between him and Allen.

As a Virginian yeah, it's a BFD. Case closed.

By the way, I thank you for your donation to Webb and your assistance in getting the racist Bushbot asshat Allen the fuck out of the Senate.

[Virginia Dare]

6. Webb never presented himself as a progressive..

so I don't think you were conned. If he was, he would never have been elected in this state.

Yes he does vote VERY differently than Allen would have, that's a FACT. Your kissing butt comment also has no basis in fact.

[OzarkDem]

14. He did present himself as a Democrat

and so far, he's had a few serious lapses in supporting his party's policy agenda. He talks the talk in the news media and on the talk shows, but he's not always walking the walk in Congress.

If it continues, he may need to have a "come to Jesus" moment and decide which party he wants to belong to. While I don't live in his state, Dem members like him in DC undercut Dems in other states who work hard to elect progressive Dems and advance a Dem agenda in Congress.

I'm not singling him out for criticism, there are others far worse. But its been a real disappointment to see someone who sounded so great during his campaign begin the GOP drift so early.

[Virginia Dare]

20. Let me ask you this then..

who do you think progressive Dems have a better chance at persuading over to their cause--Allen or Webb? And if you think there's no difference, then you are sorely misinformed.

Virginia will NOT elect a progressive Democrat to the Senate. Not any time in the near future (at best). Electing Webb was a fantastic stride for this state. I'm sorry if he's not pure enough for you, but I consider myself a liberal Democrat, and I for one am happy to have him.

[Carrieyazel]

22. Yes, Webb is a significant improvement over Gorge Allen, and it gave us control of the Senate

Not that the impotent, close to worthless "upper chamber" has done anything with it. But it did give us a psychological lift of "taking it over" from the Repukes. Webb ran a smart campaign and needed to do what he had to do to get elected in VA. (lived there for 8 years) and I know the politics of the state. Thank goodness for Macacca.

[OzarkDem]

28. False dichotomy

Democrats need to get their heads on straight about what traditional core Democratic values are instead of trying to throw around labels. It might help some of them to take the time to go back and read the party platform for a refresher course.

There's a big difference between elected officials who run on the party platform and support it and those who run, get elected by Dems then think they have to start acting like Republicans.

[Virginia Dare]

30. If you think Webb is acting like a Republican..

then you and I disagree. and see post #31

[rateyes]

9. It was Webb's amendment for troop down time

that was filibustered. On the Iraq war, he's been pretty consistent.

[orleans]

2. yes, i've thought of that. a president with a fucking noose on display in his office

ug.

[Virginia Dare]

3. Agreed. Webb is a much needed change for Virginia..

overall I think he's doing just fine. Hopefully we'll get Mark Warner in there next year.

[ima_sinnic]

7. oh, yeah, real great. voted to extend FISA, NOT to defund the war,

to condemn The People for criticizing the government -- He is a traitor to the Dems like me who contributed to his dishonest trojan horse campaign.
Apparently your standard of "doing just fine" is not very high.

on edit: b/c I've been glued to work all day until this moment, did not know about his anti Iran War amendment. Kudos to him, then, but what about those 3 dumbass strikes?

[kenny blankenship]

4. But saying Macaca was non-binding! It didn't MEAN anything.

On second thought, you're 100% right. We dodged a nukyooulur bullet there, and the simple luck that the camera was rolling at that "macaca" moment is basically all that has saved us.

[rateyes]

10. Yeah, thank goodness for the technology. nt

[LibDemAlways]

11. People who interacted with Allen in the past

and knew firsthand what a racist he was tried to get the word out long ago. I went to high school with the idiot and contacted Chuck Robb's campaign manager in 2000 with details of how Allen was best remembered for spraypainting the school with racist slogans. I also spoke with several reporters from the Virginia and DC press long before he uttered the words "Macaca." I gave them names of others who could corroborate what I was telling them. In April of last year a cover story appeared in the New Republic detailing Allen's racist past with on the record quotes from some of my classmates. The corporate whores ignored it all. It wasn't until Allen's own words did him in and the video got posted on the internet that anyone really started paying attention.

I often wonder if he had never slipped up, had gotten into the race, and a bunch of people had come forward with all the despicable details, if it would have made any difference. I'm glad we don't have to find out.

[rateyes]

15. My brother was kicked out of the Democratic Party,

(and, I'm glad) for running the "Democrats for Allen" campaign in his race for Governor of VA. My sister-in-law used to baby-sit his children while he was campaigning. Having lived in VA for the better part of my adult life, and living through the Allen Gubernatorial Administration, and part of the time he was in the Senate...and, having a non-political appointee friend of mine fired by Allen (after she had worked at the governor's mansion for several administrations, both Democratic and Republican, to give the job to a kid right out of college as payback to her father for help in the campaign) I always knew Allen to be nothing more than a "ride my daddy's name into office" kind of guy...just like Bush....both of them being intellecutally impaired.

[LibDemAlways]

17. He was an absolute lightweight when I knew him.

Hung out with some losers, including one guy from Texas who also participated in the graffiti incident which aimed at stirring up racial animosity toward a predominently black high school our team was playing in a basketball play-off. (He received a slap-on-the-hand one day suspension.) They both wore Confederate flag pins in their Senior yearbook photos. Allen had Confederate flag stickers on his car, too, and a baseball bat he drove around with that he had written "N____r knocker" on in big bold letters. This in Southern California.

I might have been willing to write this high school crap off until I heard from a classmate who went to college with him in Virginia what an asshole he was there. They had a class together and one day before the prof came in, a couple of guys were talking about the Redskins loss the day before. (Allen's father was still coach at the time.) Apparently a black player had dropped the ball on a crucial play. Allen's loud comment: "If it had been a watermelon, he'd have caught it." That was the coach's son talking. Unbelievable. Of course the noose he kept at his law office and the Confederate flag in his living room are well-known. And he named his children - all three- for his favorite Confederate heroes, including the infamous Gen. Nathan Forrest.

So Macaca came as no surprise to me. And you're right. He's been trading on his father's name all his life. Like Bush, if his name had been George Smith, he'd be just another faceless idiot in the crowd.

[rateyes]

18. Another faceless idiot, instead of an idiot with a face....

I hope he's enjoying retirement enough to stay out of politics from now on.

[MiniMe]

24. Considering how close the race was, I don't think Webb would have won

without his Macaca moment.

[Carrieyazel]

25. Yes, he definitely needed Allen's macaca moment to win

but just think about it. Had Allen won, he could have been the Repukes front runner. He could say he was a Governor, and run on his "experience". I'm glad that scenario will never come to pass.

[Virginia Dare]

32. Let's not forget too, that if Allen had been successful..

he would probably be among the Republican frontrunners for President right now...:scared:

[Vinca]

12. I agree, rateyes. If it hadn't been for the "macaca" moment,

we'd be looking at Allen's puss on the tube as the front runner - noose in the office and all.

[kenny blankenship]

16. If there's any figure that Americans are bigger suckers for than phony cowboys

it would have to be a phony football player. We are so lucky he self-destructed.

[rateyes]

19. Allen was famous for his cowboy boots...

"football playing phony cowboy."

[madokie]

23. that was a close one wasn't it