Posted on 09/04/2009 3:10:13 AM PDT by kingattax
Public Policy Polling releases a fascinating survey of the Virginia electorate, one that gives former Sen. George Allen (R-Va.), defeated in a razor-thin 2006 re-election bid, a solid 50 percent approval rating, with 38 percent disapproving. Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) is at 47-40.
The electorate is split on whether they’d vote for Allen again — 36 percent say definitely no, 31 percent say definitely yes. This is the finding that leaps out:
That’s right: A majority of Hispanics, and 40 percent of African-Americans, would either vote for Allen or consider doing so. That’s interesting for a number of reasons. In 2006, while the “Macaca” scandal dragged him to defeat, Allen actually won 15 percent of the African-American vote. (The Hispanic vote, while growing fast, was too small to calculate.) I’ve heard Democrats talk down Allen’s chances of a 2012 comeback by predicting that the high African-American turnout that would come with an Obama re-election campaign would, presumably, bring out plenty of Democratic voters who’ll back Jim Webb. But Allen’s image among African-Americans is, for a defeated Republican who called a dark-skinned Indian man an obscure word for “monkey,” not that bad.
–
PING
Remember when the media made the big deal about "macacca, and he was too big of a pussy to stand up for himself?
He let the media walk all over him. He has no leadership skills and nothing to offer.
ONLY “IF” the Conservatives CIRCLE THE WAGONS and push him back in... the MEDIA knew this man was the best Republican to run in 2008 and they took something the Senator said totally out of context and labeled him a racist in order to take him out of the Presidential race.
BUT, not to be redundant, this will take CONSERVATIVES circling the wagons.
“...he was too big of a pussy to stand up for himself?
He let the media walk all over him.”
*********************************
Is that who George Bush took his lead from?
no argument from me....Cheney should have bee POTUS. Bush was my 4th or 5th choice during the 1980 primary season...
Since you obviously speak from ignorance, let me clear things up for you.
I've known George Allen personally since 1985. He is one of the brightest, most committed politicians I've ever met. I've campaigned for him. Worked for him.
Yes, he screwed up. Yes, he lost his bearings with that race.
But the one defining difference from all his other campaigns and his leadership as both Governor and Senator was not George. It was the presence of Dick Wadhams. Wadhams understood neither George Allen nor Virginia, and he gave and continued to give Allen bad advice.
Granted, the key mistake that year was preparing to run for President, not Senator and underestimating the public mood. He lost in a squeaker when Republicans were getting their fannies waxed nationwide.
There are no flawless candidates. He screwed up and was man enough to admit it. But then the vultures like the Washington Post pounced and wrote nearly 200 articles regarding macaca between August 15 and election day. It was a targeted smear campaign.
If you're ignorant enough to believe the Washington Post, then I question your judgment skills in this matter.
I know George Allen. I know his leadership skills. I know what he has to offer.
He was, and remains, the last politician in this state that I'd be willing to bleed for again.
I think he could have beaten Barack Obama...
Oooooooor they could find a good candidate?
Well, duh. It would have been nice to have a Conservative at the top of the ticket last year, instead of the media-chosen RINO foisted on us by Open Primaries. . . .
Corin,
George ran a terrible campaign. He lost a race he should have easily won. So Wadhams gave him bad advice. George took it. I don’t think George is all that smart. The son of George Allen could have won any election in VA when he was a Delegate; and he rode his daddy’s coattails for years.
The Republican Party in VA is currently run by a gang of elitist RINOs who conducted a coup to toss out Jeff Frederick. Solid RINOs like McConnel and Emmet Hanger finessed the proxy votes so they could complete the coup. You guys have no idea how mad the conservative base is in Virginia. When folks talked about the coronation of George as the Chairman of the RPV, even the RINOs deserted him. Republicans in VA keep losing elections because the RINOs try to out-dimocrat the dimocrats.
You guys ran Jeff Frederick out because he threatened your comfortable back-room club allowing you to push through your RINO candidates. Even when he beat you at your own game winning the thought to be rigged for RINOs convention, you couldn’t stand a solid, humble conservative at the helm and therefore you conducted a ad hominem attack, followed by a back room coup; in Virginia of all places, the birthplace of democracy in the new world and home of Jefferson, Madison and Monroe. So, as a long time Republican contributor and worker-bee, no more money or time from me until the RPV cleans out the corrupt RINOS. My friends all feel the same way. If you want a cabal of RINOs running the RPV, you can have the RPV. McConnell might win the election this fall, but only because the Dims nominated a worse candidate in Deeds than George Allen. Virginia will remain in the Dim column for Presidential elections as long as the VA RINOs run the party with a Stalinist fist.
Mr. Mullins is not a Louisa man as routinely advertised, he is a Northern VA RINO. Long-time residents in Louisa don’t like the way he ran them over to take charge of the County Party. He should have stayed in Fairfax with his RINO buddies, or stayed out of local politics. I am told he thought of himself as a big fish in a small pond in Louisa. He should feel right at home with the cabal of coup plotters in Richmond.
And I question yours. Calling people ignorant and pointing out that you're a friend of Allen's, is not going to win anyone to his side.
If even the conservatives perceive that Allen was glass-jawed and lacking the right stuff, maybe there's reason. That reason is, it's what we observed.
Furthermore, if his advisor was as bad as you describe, yet the heroic leader took his advice, then he was a handler, an organ grinder, and Allen was just the performer on the other end of a short chain.
Think it’s possible?
Conservatives generally want to move on from Bush era.
Democrats and third parties with hidden motives always want to return back to 2007-2008, their Golden days. Like in a recent article, CBS is enticing VP Cheney to run for POTUS (just like what they did to McCain). And then what? If he does run in 2012, expect that the same liberal MSM, i.e., CBS, will mock, malign and lie against VP Cheney.
I’ve learned my lesson. I’ll never trust Washington lobbyists, “independent” groups and MSM when it comes to promoting, enticing and selecting candidates for Republican Party. There will always be a dirty hidden agenda behind such “good words/writeups”.
Nah, caca...............
Observing Allen’s race from the outside, I thought he recovered well enough from the macacca incident to win the race until the final days when he went on to attack Jim Webb’s books.
First let me tell you that I was a Marine and have read almost all of Webb’s books and am very familiar with him. I thought him attacking characters in Webb’s book was really a low blow and reeked of desperation. He talked of how some of Webb’s characters were child molestors, involved in incest, graphic references to women etc.. What he failed to mention was that most of these people were bad guys or good guys who were having parts of thier life described not in flattering terms. Nowhere that I have read, does Webb ever extoll these virtues. I thought it was pointless and turned me off to Allen. And I’m as conservative as they come. I can only imagine what it did to the voters of Virginia.
What has George Allen been doing since the election. Where does he stand on the issues? That’s what is important to know. See, we Conservatives get to chasing our own tails and don’t move forward. What opportunity could he bring and what would be his strong points? Also, wouldn’t it be nice if a candidate could clarify a smear by saying “I hope my supporters will joing me in clearing this up, and then state their case” and then we would know what to run with and could do our part in the electronic media. Conservatives have got to get have an organized visible presence. We should attack policies, not people (or their books) and defend, defend, defend our positions, vociferously!
And when did YOU last run for office?
BTTT
Corin Stormhands: While I am not a personal friend, I have worked with George Allen on individual rights issues since the mid-90s. I would support him in any race for any elected position for which he chose to run.
He did some truly stupid stuff during his senate race against Webb, but it appears he has learned to trust his OWN instincts and not listen to dim-witted “advisors”, so I doubt we will see a repeat.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.