Finally! I mean, seriously, how long does it take the supposedly "mainstream media" to pick up on evidence that a man who wants to be President is a racist? Yeah, sure, The Nation story about Allen's appearance with the Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC) is about an event that took place a decade ago. So, it's "old news" in one sense. On the other hand, we never had photographic evidence of Allen and the CCC before, so that part is "new news." We also never had such strong video AND photographic evidence coming together simultaeously, all pointing in one direction, that George Allen is a racist.Anyway, thanks to AP reporter Bob Lewis - one of the finest reporters around, by the way - for finally reporting on this:
In the latest edition of The Nation, the left-leaning magazine carries a photo of Allen in 1996 with leaders of the Council of Conservative Citizens, a segregationist advocacy group for "European-American people." The senator's spokesman, John Reid, said Allen had no ties to the group and dismissed the picture as one of many Allen, then governor, made with numerous groups and people in a receiving line.
Other "mainstream media" that have picked up on this? Of all papers, the Kansas City Star has got the story in its "Buzz" political column. And WVEC-TV in Norfolk has it on its website. Who's next? This story should be in every paper across Virginia, plus of course the Washington Post, along with demands that George Allen explain his appearance with a group that the Southern Poverty Law Center calls a "hate group" that:
...routinely denigrated blacks as "genetically inferior," complained about "Jewish power brokers," called homosexuals "perverted sodomites," accused immigrants of turning America into a "slimy brown mass of glop," and named Lester Maddox, the baseball bat-wielding, arch-segregationist former governor of Georgia, "Patriot of the Century."
So, now that the AP has run with this story, which other members of the "mainstream media" are going to run with this story, dig deeper (what a concept!), and figure out what George Allen was doing with this "hate group?"
P.S. Can you just imagine if a photograph of Hillary Clinton and the CCC had appeared? Hell, it would have been the lead story on all the evening news broadcasts. But George Allen and the CCC? Yaaaaawwwwwwwnnn, says the media.
Lowell Feld is Netroots Coordinator for the Jim Webb for US Senate Campaign. The ideas expressed here belong to Lowell Feld alone, and do not necessarily represent those of Jim Webb, his advisors, staff, or supporters.
Also, Allen is a student of Southern culture. How could he not have known what the CCC was?
Also, people who have arrived politically -- and Allen was governor then -- usually have handlers and advance people telling you who you're meeting and greeting.
But take his cavorting with the CCC and combine it with the Confederate lapel pin and bumper sticker from his high school days, with the Confederate flag and noose in his office, with the "macaca" video and lots of other things, and all together they start to make a pretty coherent picture. It doesn't take a geometry major to connect the dots.
From the article:
...
Where votes and home-cooked food can be hard to come by. Take fresh-from-the-oven chocolate pecan cookies, for instance.
When one reporter accompanying Republican gubernatorial contender George Allen stopped by his house late last week to grab some things before hitting the trail, his wife sent him off with a batch of her just-baked specialty cookies.
Allen was waiting for the reporter along with actor Charlton Heston, in town for local appearances to help promote the candidate.
The cookies were an instant hit with Heston and Allen. So much so that when the time came to transfer everyone and everything from a plane and the cookies were left behind, Allen was reportedly pretty upset at the loss.
...
1) Call or email the reporters who you know who haven't done a story yet.
2) To identify other media, you can also use a Virginia media list that is available here:
http://capwiz.com/ar...
3) Use the Google News Advanced Search (available here: http://news.google.c...)
to ID reporters and columnists who have written pieces on Allen recently. Look for their contact information at the end of the news story or column, and then give them a call or send an email and suggest that they ask more about Allen's links with white supremacists, and if he's willing to disallow those links once and for all.
4) Watch Yahoo News for the AP story. If it does appear, give it a high recommendation and email it to friends, to push up its prominence on Yahoo.
Also note the numerous contributions made by Dr. Harvey, revealed in the fifth comment.
From the article:
The Allen campaign plans to bring a little bit of Hollywood to Virginia this week. Actor Charlton Heston - who has a long tradition of supporting conservative politicians and causes - will join Mr. Allen on Wednesday for a fund-raiser in Falls Church.Actor Dabney Coleman will play host at a fund-raiser tonight in Richmond featuring former Washington Redskins who played for Mr. Allen's father when he coached the team.