Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader must admit that is his baffled. Completely baffled.
As long time readers know, insofar as his representation in the Federal Government goes, he’s a big fan of George Allen. (In case you didn’t know your Maximum Leader is represented by the following persons at the federal level of government: George W Bush - President, John Warner - Senator, George Allen - Senator, Jo Ann Davis - Congresswoman.) Your Maximum Leader has been a fan of George Allen when he was in Congress (not representing your Maximum Leader by the way). He was a fan of George Allen when he was Governor of Virginia. And he’s been a fan of George Allen in the Senate.
But over the past few weeks your Maximum Leader has been scratching his head and wondering about George Allen.
Okay… First there was the whole “macaca” thing. Your Maximum Leader has never thought that George Allen was a racist. Senator Allen does sometimes come off as a little bit of a redneck (when, in fact, hereally isn’t one); but not a racist. Yes, there is the whole Confederate Flag issue in Allen’s past. But honestly, your Maximum Leader knows plenty (and he means PLENTY) of people who he can honestly say are not racists at all and honestly and sincerely believe that the Confederate Flag is a symbol of a noble and honorable cause for which their ancestors gave their lives. Your Maximum Leader has been willing to give Allen the benefit of the doubt on that one. And he is willing to accept Allen’s apologies for the “macaca” comment. (Although Allen was not really apologizing to your Maximum Leader. Your Maximum Leader is a white man afterall.)
It is disappointing to your Maximum Leader that a politician as savvy and polished as Allen really is would say something so completely stupid about someone - someone who was holding a video camera and taping the comments for the benefit of Allen’s opponent no less - but, your Maximum Leader is willing to go with his past experience with Senator Allen and say that he isn’t a racist. He was just plain ole stupid. Stupid in a way that politicians can be sometimes. You know, politicians crave people liking (and voting) for them. Politicians like to say things that they think (rightly or wrongly) will endear them to an audience. You can see where this is going… Think Trent Lott at Strom Thurmond’s birthday party…
Anyhoo…
Now comes the revelation that Senator Allen’s mother is of Jewish ancestry.
First off… Who the hell cares? Much hay is being made about whether or not Allen knew about his Jewish Maternal Grandfather and Mother. Did Allen learn the word “macaca” from his mother. His mother who is a Francophone and we all know that “macaca” is a French slur… People are shocked that Allen wasn’t “curious” about his ancestry…
Great jeezey chreezey people. As my great friend Richard Couture used to say (quoting the great Thomas Perkins Abernathy), “I’d rather be a somebody at the end of a long line of nobodies; than a nobody at the end of a long line of somebodies.” It doesn’t shock your Maximum Leader to think that a man isn’t curious about his ancestry. Frankly, for as much as your Maximum Leader love history - geneology and those entranced by it bores the shit out of him. Insofar as your Maximum Leader knows he comes from a long line of Scots and Englishmen. There is likely a smattering of German and Irish in there too. Who knows maybe some French or Italian for all he knows. Hell… Your Maximum Leader might be decended from a Jew! He doesn’t know, and frankly he doesn’t care much. Family stories and history are interesting to him to two extents. The first being if your Maximum Leader knew his relative. The second being if his relative did something interesting.*
You know… George Allen’s father was a pro-football coach. A pretty good football coach too. If you are the son of a famous man you might not spend lots of time figuring out what your other relatives did. You might spend more time trying to figure out how to be more famous than dad…
All in all your Maximum Leader isn’t sure how a candidate’s mother, father, grandparents, or other ancestors really figure to be a topic of heated conversation. Your Maximum Leader has watched the film of the reporting asking Allen about his Jewish heritage and Allen getting defensive. If the question had been posed to your Maximum Leader in the way it was posed to Allen, he’d have gotten a little defensive too.
What is most distressing is that this is just another distraction keeping both George Allen and James Webb from discussing serious policy issues. While your Maximum Leader will not tell you that he will stay home and not vote (which isn’t in his nature); he will say that it is getting harder and harder to vote and feel good about what you are doing.
