Quoth Josh Marshall:
If Allen really wants to play rough, maybe it’s time for some Democrats to start going on the shows and asking about that sealed divorce records of Allen’s. All those reporters have a pretty good idea of what’s in there. But Sen. Allen (R-VA) just won’t agree to let them see it.
It’s almost like he’s spitting in their face.
If the Allen campaign wants to play a game of “Who Has More Skeletons in Their Closest?” then I’m certainly game.
Wife-beating is not a family value.
I would be more impressed if both candidates and press would engage issues.
Granted, it probably wasn’t a detailed search, but I guess I missed the post where you called for John Kerry to unseal HIS divorce records. Or release ALL of his military records.
I wonder how you felt about Clinton’s refusal to release all of his medical records?
I would be more impressed if you Democrats didn’t apply such blatant double-standards.
Are they running for U.S. Senate in Virginia, James? No. Then they don’t apply.
James,
What do Bill Clinton or John Kerry have to do with Virginia or this race? And even if there was something nasty in Clinton’s medical records I can’t imagine how that would excuse George Allen’s violent past.
The subject, between now and Nov. 7, is George Allen vs. Jim Webb. Not John Kerry. Not Bill Clinton. In desperation, Allen’s campaign just slung a huge gob of mud at Webb. It’s time to return the volley, but Webb’s campaign should not do it.
Go Waldo. If you can organize what you’ve heard into a coherent statement of fact, with the best of it attributed to solid sources, do it today.
This is all very cringe-inducing for us as Virginians. Macaca – relentlessy played up by the WaPo, old editorials deriding women in the Naval Academy, old allegations of racism, tawdry slander of Webb’s fiction, and now demands for Allen’s divorce records to be unsealed.
This race had a chance to be illuminating, clearly delineating the issues for Virginia and probably receiving a good deal of national attention as well. It could have been a race we’d all be proud of – like Kerry v. Weld a few years ago in Mass was reputed to be. But those hopes lie smashed in a ditch – right next to Allen’s presidential ambitions.
It seems to me Allen will win for certain now. I don’t think there’s any way Webb will recover from the “startling revelations” about a few passages of racy fiction he wrote years ago. I’m not at all gloating, just acknowledging that Fredericksburg, to pick a city, is different from LA or NYC.
It’s a shame it unfolded this way. And it’s embarrassing.
Smails-
The City of Fredericksburg will vote for Webb…hate to break it to you. Now the surrounding areas of Spotsy and Stafford will vote for Allen but not Fred Vegas.
Whatever Jim Webb wrote in a book will not matter to the voters one bit in two weeks. The voters can see desperation and it’s being played by Allen right now.
This race never had a chance to be illuminating, because to illuminate the accomplishments and character of Rep./Gov./Senator George Allen was to expose a poseur. A fake cowboy, a misty Confedera-phile, a do-nothing legislator, a spendthrift Governor. But he is a handsome devil, with a quick smile. And he always seemed so jolly.
Virginians need to accept responsibility for allowing Allen to get this far before it we finally realized that a measure of substance and capability are required for high office. But now that he’s there, and doing such a bang-up job for GWBush you can expect that he will not go quietly. Fortunes ride on George Allen’s continued tenure.
So don’t stand around waiting for further revelations about George Allen. You know everything you need to know about the man. The question is will you act on it? We do, after all, get the kind of government we deserve.
Yes! We do know everything about George Allen, we do get the kind of government we deserve and we do need to act if we want to unseat this guy. We have to Do More Than Vote!!!!
I think I’m smelling “desparation sweat” from the Allen campaign. Turning “fiction critic” in an effort to attempt to disparage Webb? Grow up.
If I was on the fence before I’m not now. Webb is getting my vote. And if Allen is re-elected – Shame on Virginia.
I don’t see how anyone could characterize Webb and Allen both as equally pushing non-issues. Webb by and large has not only not participated in the media frenzy over the n word, but even downplayed it. His campaign website is, if anything, very dry and issue focused, whereas a huge chunk of Allen’s page is devoted to screaming headlines about Webb.
I’m not sure that Webb ever had a bad thing to say about Sen. Allen’s history of using the slur in question, even when questioned directly.
With the news release by Drudge (this certainly isn’t new, I have heard of some of James Webb’s more indecent writings), just about every voter will likely know about this. I find it hard to believe that anything that might exist in Senator Allen’s divorce records will be seen as negatively as what James Webb has published. I am usually the one who wants to wait until the fat lady has finally sung, but James Webb’s Senate run is toast.
Ms. Jaquith, where is the evidence of Allen being a wife beater? And if that is the case, why would this woman endorse the man who had abused her?
I can’t speak for my mother, but — and maybe I’m going out on a limb here — she’s suggesting that they’d be in the divorce records. See the blog entry above for details, since you apparently missed it.
OK, so you’re assuming that the divorce records have evidence that Allen is a wife beater.
Thanks for clarifying that.
I’m not assuming anything. I didn’t say anything about wife-beating, and only took a stab at speaking for somebody else to do you a favor.
You mean your mother is making shit up? If somebody at your blog made similar charges about James Webb without any proof I’m pretty sure you would call them on it.
Perhaps we’re reading different sets of the Ten Commandments, Jim.
No problem. Didn’t realize you were a devout Christian or Jew, faithfully following the scriptures. Have a nice day.