Washington Post Launches Campaign Against George Allen

Revmitchell · Oct 6, 2006

Sen. George Allen (R.-Va.) and former Navy Secretary James Webb have received very different treatment from the Washington Post as they both have campaigned for the Senate seat Allen currently holds.

After Allen called a Webb volunteer “macaca” at an August campaign event in Southern Virginia, the Post began a steady drumbeat of negative stories about Allen, suggesting he might be a racist.

By contrast, the Post downplayed charges by Webb’s Democratic primary opponent, Harris Miller, that the Webb campaign had distributed an anti-Semitic flier attacking him.

On August 11, Allen used the term “macaca” to taunt a Webb supporter of Indian-descent who wore his hair in a Mohawk-like haircut and was attending an Allen campaign event in order to videotape the event for the Webb campaign.
Lopsided Reporting

Since then, Post reporters Michael D. Shear and Tim Craig have produced 30 news stories about the Virginia Senate race that discuss “macaca.” The word, the Post reports, is considered an ethnic slur in some cultures.

“I can’t help but think the Washington Post made a calculated decision to keep that story alive as long as possible by finding new angles to put on the front page to inflict maximum damage on Sen. Allen” said Allen campaign manager Dick Wadhams.

Allen immediately, and then repeatedly, apologized for any offense he may have given by using the term, saying he did not intend to “demean” the Webb aide. That did not assuage the Post.

Ten of the 30 ensuing news stories the Post published discussing the incident ran on the front page. Three were published on the first four days that the Post covered the story. They were titled, “Allen Quip Provokes Outrage, Apology; Name Insults Volunteer,” “Allen on Damage Control After Remarks to Webb Aide” and “Allen Flap May Give a Boost to Webb; Reenergized Va. Democrats Gain Support.”

Front-Page Barrage

“Hezbollah got more positive news coverage in August than George Allen did,” said Wadhams. “The barrage of front-page stories is what they were trying to use as their main weapon.”

In addition to the 30 news stories mentioning “macaca,” the Post has also published 10 editorials mentioning the word and four Style Section columns about it. These included one piece devoted exclusively to profiling the Webb volunteer and another discussing the Webb volunteer’s hairstyle. Columnist Dana Milbank, whose “Washington Sketch” runs on page 2 of the Post, has talked about “macaca” in five columns. The paper has also published numerous letters to the editor about the event.

After a September 18 Allen-Webb debate, the Post expanded its coverage of Allen by delving into the religious heritage of his 83-year-old mother. The day after the debate, columnist Milbank reported: “WUSA-TV’s Peggy Fox asked Allen, the tobacco-chewing, cowboy-boot-wearing son of a pro-football coach, if his Tunisian-born mother has Jewish blood. ‘It has been reported,’ said Fox, that ‘your grandfather Felix, whom you were given your middle name for, was Jewish. Could you please tell us whether your forebears include Jews and, if so, at which point Jewish identity might have ended? ’ Allen recoiled as if he had been struck. His supporters in the audience booed and hissed. ‘To be getting into what religion my mother is, I don’t think is relevant,’ Allen said, furiously. ‘Why is that relevant—my religion, Jim’s religion or the religious beliefs of anyone out there?’”

Milbank went on to speculate that Allen “may have been irked that the question was a follow-up to one noting that ‘macaca’ was a racial slur that his mother may have learned in Tunisia. He may have been concerned that Jewish roots wouldn’t play well in parts of Virginia.”

The Post followed up on the story for the next two days, until Allen’s mother, whose father had been imprisoned by the Nazis during World War II, told Post reporter Michael Shear: “I swear to you, I have never used that word.” She also was forced to reveal to the paper that she had not told Allen of his Jewish heritage until a month before and had then sworn him to secrecy about it.

Democrat's Flier Downplayed

On September 26, following up on a story that originally appeared on Salon.com, Shear wrote about accusations from two of Allen’s former college football teammates, R. Kendall Shelton and Christopher C. Taylor, that Allen often used the n-word to describe blacks. Shelton also claimed to Shear that Allen had once killed a deer, cut off its head and placed it in the nearest black person’s mailbox. Allen himself adamantly denied the allegations, and several of his former teammates rallied to his defense, vigorously rebutting Shelton’s and Taylor’s charges. Additionally, two sheriff deputies from Louisa County, Va., who served in the early 1970s when the deer incident allegedly took place there, cast doubt that it could have ever happened. Retired Lt. Robert Rigsby, who was in charge of investigations for the county, told the Associated Press: “I think that’s a myth.”

Meanwhile, the Richmond Times Dispatch reported that Webb would not deny using the n-word in the 1960s, but not as an epithet. Webb’s spokeswoman Kristian Denny Todd told the paper, “He’s never used it himself as a racial slur.”

By contrast, the Post ironically downplayed a clash between Webb and his primary opponent Harris Miller that had taken place during a debate on the Post’s own radio station. Webb’s campaign had distributed a flier at a labor union event in Southwestern Virginia that was titled “Miller the Job Killer” (see illustration above). As described by the Times Dispatch, the flier depicted Miller, who is Jewish, “with a hooked nose and cash spilling out of his pockets,” while ordering an assistant to export jobs overseas to save money.

On the Washington Post’s radio debate, Miller condemned the flier as “despicable.”
The Times Dispatch ran a front-page story the next day, headlined: “Webb Flier Draws Anger of Rival Miller. Webb says there was no anti-Semitic intent, but he offers apology.”

The lead of the Times Dispatch story said: “A James Webb campaign flier that could be interpreted as anti-Semitic drew the ire of his opponent, Harris Miller, in a radio debate yesterday. Miller, who is Jewish, called the flier despicable.”

“Apparently, it was distributed only in certain parts of Virginia, as if people there would fall for that imagery,” Miller was quoted in the Times Dispatch. “One of the things I hoped we would keep out of this campaign … is my religion and my background.” While insisting he did not believe “for one second” that Webb was anti-Semitic, he added that the caricature on the flier had been “quite upsetting to me and my family, to most of my friends, and to a lot of people across the country, frankly.”

The Post covered the same debate with a story on the first page of its B section. The Post’s headline read: “Webb, Miller Spar on Spending; Personal Funds, Widening Gap Fuel Squabble
Click to expand...

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=17293

Daisy · Oct 6, 2006

Revmitchell said:

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=17293
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Miller is a lobbyist.

That's what he looks like. The money is for lobbying, not for being Jewish.

The Galatian · Oct 6, 2006

So it didn't actually say anything about him being Jewish? Most of the Jews I know don't have noses like that.

Now I can see why they didn't include the pictures when they made the charge against Webb.

Baptist in Richmond · Oct 6, 2006

Well, as a citizen of the Commonwealth, I wouldn't cast a vote for Allen if he were running for dogcatcher. Undoubtedly, he will probably win though.

From the article said:

By contrast, the Post downplayed charges by Webb’s Democratic primary opponent, Harris Miller, that the Webb campaign had distributed an anti-Semitic flier attacking him.

On August 11, Allen used the term “macaca” to taunt a Webb supporter of Indian-descent who wore his hair in a Mohawk-like haircut and was attending an Allen campaign event in order to videotape the event for the Webb campaign.
Lopsided Reporting

Since then, Post reporters Michael D. Shear and Tim Craig have produced 30 news stories about the Virginia Senate race that discuss “macaca.” The word, the Post reports, is considered an ethnic slur in some cultures.

“I can’t help but think the Washington Post made a calculated decision to keep that story alive as long as possible by finding new angles to put on the front page to inflict maximum damage on Sen. Allen” said Allen campaign manager Dick Wadhams.

Allen immediately, and then repeatedly, apologized for any offense he may have given by using the term, saying he did not intend to “demean” the Webb aide. That did not assuage the Post. [emphasis mine]
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Senator Allen knew EXACTLY what that word meant. Most Virginians saw right through that claim, and Allen sought the person in question to apologize directly.

Regards,
BiR

Baptist in Richmond · Oct 9, 2006

Wow!

Now it looks as though The Associated Press is after Senator Allen as well.

http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149191047780

saturneptune · Oct 9, 2006

Baptist in Richmond said:

Wow!

Now it looks as though The Associated Press is after Senator Allen as well.

http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149191047780
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Oh well, another republican bites the dust.

Baptist in Richmond · Oct 9, 2006

saturneptune said:

Oh well, another republican bites the dust.
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Nah, I think he will still win.....

Bro. James Reed · Oct 9, 2006

Baptist in Richmond said:

Well, as a citizen of the Commonwealth, I wouldn't cast a vote for Allen if he were running for dogcatcher. Undoubtedly, he will probably win though.

Senator Allen knew EXACTLY what that word meant. Most Virginians saw right through that claim, and Allen sought the person in question to apologize directly.

Regards,
BiR
Click to expand...

Well, I don't know about Allen, but I for one still don't know what it means. In fact, I don't think I'd ever heard that word until this incident.

Apparently, from the description of the Webb aide, it means something about being Indian???

KenH · Oct 9, 2006

Allen will probably retain his U.S. Senate seat but I think his presidential aspirations may have bitten the dusk.

Conservatives in the GOP may have to get used to the idea of Rudy Guiliani as their 2008 presidential candidate unless a conservative comes out of nowhere by early 2008.

Baptist in Richmond · Oct 10, 2006

KenH said:

Allen will probably retain his U.S. Senate seat but I think his presidential aspirations may have bitten the dusk.
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Agreed on both points!

Conservatives in the GOP may have to get used to the idea of Rudy Guiliani as their 2008 presidential candidate unless a conservative comes out of nowhere by early 2008.
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Uh-oh....
Then what will all of these two-issue voters do?

Regards to you, KenH,
BiR

Daisy · Oct 10, 2006

KenH said:

Conservatives in the GOP may have to get used to the idea of Rudy Guiliani as their 2008 presidential candidate unless a conservative comes out of nowhere by early 2008.
Click to expand...

Phfft. He announced his engagement to Nathan while he was still married to Hanover. His kids found out he was divorcing their mom from the media - Giuliani didn't even have the decency to tell them in private. His lawyer publicly berated her on Mother's Day. I wouldn't think the family-values crowd would be thrilled with him.

KenH · Oct 10, 2006

Republicans

1. Rudy Giuliani (steady) -- Polls showing that conservative Republicans could support the former New York City mayor lend encouragement to Giuliani backers....

Best Week: Rudy Giuliani. With only 12% of Republicans saying he is too liberal to represent them, and 78% encouraging him to run, Giuliani solidified his position as the front-runner.

- http://thenextprez.blogspot.com/2006/10/friday-top-five-october-6th.html

pinoybaptist · Oct 11, 2006

Bro. James Reed said:

Well, I don't know about Allen, but I for one still don't know what it means. In fact, I don't think I'd ever heard that word until this incident.

Apparently, from the description of the Webb aide, it means something about being Indian???
Click to expand...

Brother Reed:

My avatar now is a macaque monkey. The first one was an Orangutan.
The dictionary defines macaque as :

Any of several short-tailed monkeys of the genus Macaca of southeast Asia, Japan, Gibraltar, and northern Africa.
Macaques are not found in South Asia (from which I understand the recipient of the insult comes from. India is South Asia, not Southeast).

I for one do not believe the Senator does not know what the word meant.

Baptist in Richmond · Oct 11, 2006

pinoybaptist said:

I for one do not believe the Senator does not know what the word meant.
Click to expand...

Senator Allen knew EXACTLY what that word meant. That word is used as a slur against people of color in his mother's country of origin. Once that fact came to light, Senator Allen seemingly stopped claiming that he didn't know what it meant, or that he just made it up.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200608170001

Despite this, he will undoubtedly win. That is, unless the Tidewater region votes against him. I think Webb can take NorVA and the Capital region, but that may not be enough.

BiR

Baptist in Richmond · Oct 11, 2006

Daisy said:

Phfft. He announced his engagement to Nathan while he was still married to Hanover. His kids found out he was divorcing their mom from the media - Giuliani didn't even have the decency to tell them in private. His lawyer publicly berated her on Mother's Day. I wouldn't think the family-values crowd would be thrilled with him.
Click to expand...

I wonder if all the GOP faithful know his position on abortion and gay marriage. Has he spelled that out for all the two-issue voters?

Hope all is well,
BiR

Daisy · Oct 12, 2006

Baptist in Richmond said:

I wonder if all the GOP faithful know his position on abortion and gay marriage. Has he spelled that out for all the two-issue voters?

Hope all is well,
BiR
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I think they are enamoured of the movie version of him.

hillclimber1 · Oct 14, 2006

much ado about nothing, except to Democrats nearing election time. 99% of all men of any color has used the N word if they live south of the mason dixon line and 98& of all others have. And as for that Macaca or whatever, he would never have said it if he thought there was a racial connection to it. He's far smarter than that. He will surely be re-elected and will end up as the GOP nominee for the presidency.

Jeff Weaver · Oct 15, 2006

hillclimber1 said:

He will surely be re-elected and will end up as the GOP nominee for the presidency.
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We can pray that his not either.

saturneptune · Oct 16, 2006

hillclimber1 said:

much ado about nothing, except to Democrats nearing election time. 99% of all men of any color has used the N word if they live south of the mason dixon line and 98& of all others have. And as for that Macaca or whatever, he would never have said it if he thought there was a racial connection to it. He's far smarter than that. He will surely be re-elected and will end up as the GOP nominee for the presidency.
Click to expand...

And if the republicans are that stupid, hillary will be president.

The Galatian · Oct 16, 2006

Allen's political tombstone will read "Macaca."

Washington Post Launches Campaign Against George Allen

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