This is truly amazing:
In an interview Wednesday, Howell called Hargrove "a great American with a great heart.""He would have done absolutely nothing to hurt anybody," Howell continued. "You ought to be ashamed of yourself. It's muckraker journalism at its worst." Howell added that The Washington Post was merely "looking for an excuse to write 'macaca' once again," a reference to the extensive coverage given to the gaffe by former senator George Allen (R) that contributed to his defeat in the fall.
"A great American?" "Macaca?" Are these Republicans in Richmond all braindead, or do they just have a political death wish? Wow.
P.S. Hat tip to Ben for pointing this out to me.
Delegate Callahan (as quoted in WaPo)
"People ought to have learned a lesson from this past year's senatorial campaign in Virginia," Callahan said. "We live in a different age as far as sensitivity goes and personal feelings. Particularly in a legislative body, where we operate in a goldfish bowl, we ought to be very careful about what we say in public."
Note, he doesn't say anything about NOT being racist, just not saying racist things in public, despicable.
Howell, time and time again, when faced with the choice of representing the views and needs of his constituents and protecting his Party's bigoted and backwards members makes the wrong choice.
In the 400th anniversary year of Jamestown, the Commonwealth should be celebrated nationwide for our role in the development of our great nation. Instead, we are made a laughingstock by those elected to represent us.
There is no place for bigotry and hatred in government, period. Speaker Howell's unwillingness to make that statement publicly confirms that he is unfit to serve as Delegate for the 28th. I am proud to be working for the man who will remove him from office.