Sen. George Allen for President?

Speculation rages as to who will run for president in 2008. It takes only a few minutes of conversation with Republican Senator George Allen of Virginia to understand why top-level Republicans are encouraging him to run. His easy charm, straight talk, quick wit, mental acuity and experience separate him from the pack of would-be candidates.

Formerly the governor of Virginia, Sen. Allen also served as a U.S. representative and in the Virginia House of Delegates. Now serving on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he's putting his experience to work around the globe.

While on a recent trip to the Middle East, Allen met with American military troops and government officials from both Iraq and Israel.

Allen told me about his long and encouraging conversation with Ibrahim al-Jaafari of the United Shiite Alliance – the mostly likely choice to be the next Iraqi prime minister.

I asked the senator if he was concerned that al-Jaafari might turn Iraq into a theocracy.

Allen detailed his talk with the Iraqi leader, where they agreed on many important principles. They discussed the four pillars of freedom: freedom of religion, expression, private ownership of property, and the rule of law under a system of justice.

The senator brought a copy of the Virginia Bill of Rights to share with al-Jaafari, which Allen considers to be even stronger than the ten amendments that were adopted to form the Bill of Rights.

Allen said that al-Jaafari considers himself to be a religious man who believes that there must be religious tolerance and that all Iraqi citizens must have equal rights. Religion should neither enhance nor diminish a citizen's rights.

Al-Jaafari even pointed out to Allen that the United States has "In God We Trust" on our currency, but there is still tolerance. And al-Jaafari specifically stated that he didn't want Iraq to be like Iran.

Allen explained the significance of al-Jaafari's potential rise to power. If al-Jaafari becomes the next Iraqi prime minister, then Iraq will be the only Arab country to be ruled by a Shiite. All other Arab countries are ruled by Sunnis. (Iran is considered Persian, not Arab.)

This is a great opportunity to show the Arab world that the Shiites can govern. And to that end, al-Jaafari told Allen, he felt a huge responsibility to succeed.

During their talk, they shared some Virginia peanuts, after al-Jaafari politely asked the senator to taste a few first. Yes, Iraq is a dangerous place and Iraq's future leaders obviously can't be too careful.

I asked the senator how he felt the recent attacks would affect the momentum in Iraq. He noted that the attacks were focused increasingly on the Iraqi people themselves, which he believes undermines the goals of the insurgents. Instead of intimidation, this brutal violence seems to be solidifying the resolve of the Iraqis.

"These attacks aren't going to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people," Allen said. "The more vicious and vile these attacks become, the more it reminds the [Iraqi] people of what they don't want for themselves and their children."

"I have a great deal of faith and belief in human beings to want to live free and chart their own course," Allen said.

So, one has to wonder what course Sen. Allen has set for himself. Could the son of the great football coach George Allen be the next president of the United States? I'd certainly keep my eye on the proverbial ball.

"Justa Chi-Com 'HO!!"
(To be sung to Bob Dylan's "Like a Rollin' Stone")

Once upon a time, you spewed yer lies...
Danced the Bubba Jive with yo' wife...I WARNED YOU!!
Mudboy wrote and sang, "Beware, BOY, yer bound to fall..."
What'd ya think?! [that] I wuz...kiddin' you?!!

You used to...prance about...
Brain-dead Elitists...hangin' out.
Now, FOB's don't talk so loud...
Now they don't seem so proud...
About knowin' yer cellmate, Bubba, makes you squeeeeeeeeeeeal!!!
How does it feeeel?! Slick, how does it feeeel?!
Knowin' Prison's yer home...just a rock-crushin' ho'!!
Justa Prison Drone!!!

Ahhh...you went to the finest schools...
Alright, Slick Willie, but you know you only used to get...COKED IN 'EM!!
You never learned, BOY, how to live within walls concrete...
And now yer gonna have to get...used to it!!
You say you never told them lies...
Never raped Lady J...didn't know about the spies...
We're not buyin' yer ol' alibis...
Slick, we'll avenge all them children...YOU have fried!!
Now, you say, "Do WE want to...Make A Deal?!!"
I DON'T THINK SO!!!!
How does it feeeel?! Bill, how does it feeeel?!!
To be on yer own...with yer whole Legacy Blown...
Do ya hear me NOW?! Yer just a Chi-Com 'HO!!!

Ahh you...never turned around to see the frowns...
On yer spokesmen and yer clowns who all did...tricks fer you.
Slick, it's understood that you ain't no good...
Real Men wouldn't let Ol' Butch Reno take yer...licks fer you!!
You used to ride on Air Force One with ol' Arafat...
Then you sold all our nukes to them Chinese cats...
Ain't it hard...when you discover that...
You really ain't, BOY, where it's at?!!
Tell me, Slick, what'cha want fer yer last meal?!!
HOW DOES IT FEEL?! Gonna make you kneel...
Willie, yer on yer own...in the FReeperZone!!
Yep...a complete unknown...YOU, WE SHALL DETHRONE!!

Ahhh...wake up, all of you Sheeple...FReep the Elites...
They're all partyin'...thinkin' Slick's...got it made!!
Showerin' Slick with precious gifts...
Where Slick's goin' them cellmates don't like TRAITORS...
They don't take kindly to RAPE!!
You used to be...so amused...
At my Mudboy Songs and my "Radical RightWing Views"...
Come to me...and kneel down...let's make some News!!
Slick, beg to me, "Mudboy, please don't tighten the noose!!"
Yer vulnerable now...and all yer secrets, we'll reveal!!
HOW DOES IT FEEL?!! Bill, HOW DOES IT FEEL?!!!
To know you'll be DETHRONED!! Knowin' Prison's yer next home!!
Just a rock-crushin' 'HO!!! JUSTA PRISON DRONE!!!!

(Sweet harp to fade)

MUD

RE-IMPEACH. CONVICT. DETHRONE. DISBAR. DE-PENSION. INDICT. CONVICT. IMPRISON. DISCARD KEY.

Operation SST**...PROCEED PER SCHEDULE!!

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHmmmmmmmmmmmm...MUD!!

1 Posted on 07/22/2000 07:29:16 PDT by Mudboy Slim (Impeach@gain.harder!!)

**SST=Sic Semper Tyrannis

The left wing Richmond Times-Dispatch thinks he is a

threat.At the least they slime him in case Mark Warner runs

against him for senator.Below are 2 recent inuendo smears

of Allen.

Allen's staff comes and goes
A high turnover rate is found in his office; no problem, aide says

BY PETER HARDIN
TIMES-DISPATCH WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT Mar 7, 2005

WASHINGTON -- Sen. George Allen, a gung-ho sports fan, likes to promote his Senate staffers as the "A-Team."

Despite the sunny talk, the Virginia Republican experienced high staff turnover in his first years as a freshman senator and lost dozens of staff members, according to public records.

Allen, a rising political star, employed 125 aides in his Washington and Virginia offices between January 2001 and Sept. 30 of last year, according to Senate payroll records. Eighty-one came and went during that time from the Allen staff, which currently numbers 44.

The average stay on Allen's Senate payroll of 1.3 years, a number calculated by The Times-Dispatch, falls dramatically shy of the Senate tenure average of 3.6 years. The latter figure is for 2001, the last year for which an average was available, and came from a report by a nonpartisan group, the Congressional Man- agement Foundation.

Allen's top spokesman, John Reid, discounted last week any notion that the staff turnover constituted a problem.

But several former Allen aides, who asked that their names not be used, were little surprised when told of the high turnover totals, and they complained that the office had difficult "process" requirements and paid inadequately.

"It's a huge bureaucracy for a guy who claims to hate the bureaucracy," one former aide said. Burdensome requirements made it hard to do the job right.

A second former aide reported that Allen's "brain trust" of senior aides is paid well, but aides below that level sometimes earn thousands of dollars less than they could earn in other congressional offices.

Another former aide called Allen not only a demanding boss but difficult to work for, often critical of aides in private and unappreciative of their work.

Some other former aides, however, voiced no complaints or praised the senator. They saw his successes as based in part on the way his staff is managed. Allen is raising money toward his re-election bid in 2006 and is considered a possible presidential candidate in 2008. He led the Senate Republicans' election arm for 2004, helping them add four seats to their majority.

Reid, when asked about the Senate office staff turnover, replied, "I wouldn't call it a problem.

"The case can be made very effectively, with facts, that Senator Allen, as of today, has assembled a very strong team of people -- especially in senior positions--who arrived at their jobs with a great deal of background and job stability," Reid said.

The spokesman acknowledged that staff turnover may have been higher than average. But he pointed to other data from the Congressional Management Foundation that indicated the average Senate tenure was gradually eroding between 1991 and 2001.

Regarding a former aide's personal critique of Allen, Reid said some people left Allen's office disgruntled because of his high standards and attention to detail, "which can be frustrating to employees." Yet by and large Allen has a highly loyal staff and a drawer full of résumés from job applicants, Reid said.

The spokesman made these points on Allen's behalf:

Practices in the Senate office, criticized by some as too bureaucratic, are geared to providing Allen the best-documented information to use in making decisions.
Staff salaries are in keeping with Allen's view that "government servants are not here to get rich off taxpayers' dollars." Allen's office has returned more than $600,000 in unspent office funds, Reid said.
Allen has enjoyed "a great deal of stability" among a core group of senior aides, while it is typical for people holding lower-level staff jobs to be far more transitory.
Three aides from Allen's first three months in the Senate remained on his staff at the end of September, payroll records indicate. His senior staff has not been immune from turnover; for example, Reid is Allen's fourth communications director.

Reid refused to disclose how many Allen employees were fired and how many quit.

Allen recently hired Dick Wadhams as his new chief of staff. Wadhams managed the Senate campaign of Republican John Thune, who ousted then-Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota last year.

Wadhams said he hasn't instituted any major changes in managing the office. He said he found staff morale "great" when he arrived, and the office very stable.

"There's always going to be, in these offices, people coming and going; that's just the nature of a congressional office," Wadhams said.

Jay Timmons served as chief of staff when Allen was governor and again during the Virginian's first two years in the Senate. Timmons said he did not think it fair to compare Allen staff turnover with Senate data from 2001.

"The first year was extremely difficult for many reasons," Timmons said. Not only do freshman offices have higher turnover generally, but Allen lost employees to the new Bush administration that year, and some aides left after the terrorist and anthrax attacks, he said.

Contact Peter Hardin at (202) 662-7669 or phardin@mediageneral.com

Maybe Mayor L. Douglas Wilder can learn a lesson about cutting losses from the gap-toothed buckaroo of Virginia politics, U.S. Sen. George Allen. But don't count on it.

This past week, Allen's wife, Susan, quit the board of directors of Richmond-based energy giant Dominion Resources Inc., as the Republican prepared to take a seat on the Senate committee that oversees the utility industry.

Conflict-of-interest problem solved never mind it had been perking since 2003, when Susan Allen joined Dominion, a company directly affected by the senator's actions as a member of the commerce committee, which monitors all matters corporate.

But two years ago, George Allen, who has collected just under $40,000 from Dominion's political-action committee, wasn't seen as a possible presidential candidate. His wife's directorship, worth $55,000 a year in cash and stock, might have proven lethal to his ambitions.

.......

I think Allen looks good as a candidate. During the battle to Stop Specter from being nominated to Judiciary Chair, I was fighting very hard. I emailed all Republican Senators, sent some faxes, made phone calls, etc. (I live in Pennsylvania.)

Allen is the only Senator who ever answered my emails and did it twice. Not counting a "please don't kill me" letter from Santorum that came long after the fight was lost.

I realize Allen was the only Senator who saw me as a constituent (because he was running for President) and not an enemy (as both my Senators rightly saw me. I never actually contacted Specter, anyway.)

Still, he gave me long and thoughtful replies (done by a staffer, I presume, but still.) They weren't very good replies. He just said he supports the right of all the President's nominees to get quickly to the floor and Specter has promised he will do that.

But frankly, although appointing strict constructionist judges is the no. 2 national priority in my opinion (after national defense), I've come to realize it is quite hopeless. Moderate Republican Senators are presumably sabotaging the attempt, and conservative Senators are apparently blind to what Specter is doing.

I still believe the difference between a Democratic and Republican President is huge---and so far, Allen seems electable to me. So far, I don't actually know what his politics are, but I am interested (I missed his speech, though present at CPAC.)

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