Posted on 04/30/2006 7:41:33 PM PDT by Crackingham
Sen. George Allen, who has tried to reach out to minority voters in recent years, wore a Confederate flag pin on his shirt collar in a high-school yearbook photo, a national magazine reported yesterday. As a high school student in Palos Verdes, Calif., Allen was seen riding in or driving a Ford Mustang with either a Confederate flag license plate or Confederate flag imagery on the car, The New Republic quoted witnesses as saying.
The Virginia Republican, seeking re-election now and weighing a presidential bid in 2008, was to depart today to co-host a civil-rights history tour for members of Congress to Southside Virginia. The topic is to be progress toward racial reconciliation. Allen staff confirmed that the pin in his yearbook picture depicted a Confederate flag. An Allen aide told the magazine the senator didn't remember a Confederate flag on his Mustang but that it was possible.
As a high school student in California, "I generally bucked authority and the rebel flag was just a way to express that attitude," Allen said in a written statement to the magazine. "Life is a learning experience and I have learned quite a bit in the ensuing 36 years."
He went on to discuss his belief in equal opportunity, his learning from participating in a civil-rights history tour to Alabama several years ago and his proposed Senate legislation to aid minority colleges.
Harris Miller, one of two Democrats seeking the nomination to run against Allen, said yesterday that he found Allen's explanation "pretty disingenuous" considering that while he held state office, he had "a troubling record on minority issues."
Miller cited Allen's issuance while governor of a "highly divisive" Confederate history and heritage month proclamation and his vote, while a member of the House of Delegates, against a Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
"We need leaders who will celebrate all that we have in common rather than things that divide us," Miller said.
As a Southerner, I've been given a choice, support that flag however the democrats want to use it against my conservative ideas or see how they use it for their own purposes and refuse to support those efforts by them, knowing that by doing so I have to turn my back on a flag that honestly I like, have flown and respected at one time.
Sometimes the best way to win a tug of war is to just let go and watch the other guy fall on his as....
But as a purely political campaign strategy a candidate saying things like "y'all are just a bunch of backwater dumb@$$ racists and we kicked yer hiney" is just not gonna fly.
But, also for the record, see Post #32.
< snip >
Yet Virginia Senator George Allen and Georgia Congressman John Lewis will be arriving together in Farmville this weekend to pay tribute to the people of that town who are taking steps to heal the racial divide that has existed there since the days of Jim Crow.
Allen, Lewis, and other members of Congress, including Virginia Congressman Bobby Scott, are a part of a delegation led by The Faith & Politics Institute that will focus on the progress that has been made in Farmville toward racial reconciliation. Governor Tim Kaine will join them for an event tomorrow night.
The Allen-Lewis partnership, as well as the willingness of other Republicans and Democrats to come together in Farmville this weekend, provides rare evidence that political opponents can unite to promote the common good, despite the ugly, partisan atmosphere that prevails in Congress.
< snip >
RACIAL reconciliation is not a new idea, of course, but it is getting renewed attention as the result of a variety of little-noticed, faith-based efforts underway in Southern towns such as Farmville; Philadelphia, Mississippi; Greensboro, North Carolina; and Waco, Texas. While it has taken different forms in every community, it seems to have been inspired by the truth and reconciliation process at the end of apartheid in South Africa.
In Farmville, the centerpiece of the effort is the scholarship program the state legislature created for African-Americans -- now middle-aged -- who were deprived of education when Prince Edward County closed its schools between 1959 and 1964 rather than integrate them in response to the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education.
Farmville, like some other Southern communities, is not following the usual advice to simply forget historical grievances. Nor has it yielded to the temptation to debate divisive side issues such as reparations or hiring quotas. Instead, it is simply laying open the wounds of the past and publicly acknowledging the impact racism has had on the lives of both black and white citizens.
Nobody wins; nobody loses, but everyone moves toward forgiveness.
< snip >
APB for the senior Senator of West Virginia (& 'Conscience of the Senate').
I'm not trying to start a p@@ting contest here, but I have a few words for you regarding this Senate;
Unsecured borders, runaway social spending, inaction to remedy the consequences of the Kelo decision, steroids in baseball, unenforced immigration laws
Alito and Roberts are nice, but if the rest of the Republic goes down the tubes for a few dollars and votes in the present day, two judges (or three or even all nine)ain't gonna much matter.
Dixie Bump!
Nobody wants the borders sealed more than me, but electing democrats is unthinkable. No thanks.
I am too tired to go into all the reasons.
I don't want the Dems either, but at least it won't hurt so bad when we get stabbed in the back by a known enemy instead of people we (used to) trust as so called conservatives.
Or he could just tell the truth that it is a Southern symbol of pride that honors Civil War Veterans and their bravery.
Rebel flag? Hotty, toddy....!!
OH THE HORROR OH MY WORD I'M HAVING THE BIG ONE ELIZABETH...THAT'S IT I'M VOTING FOR HILLARY
Interesting that hildabeast fears allen the most. If you listened to my "conservative" friends who have been scared into the moderate corner(they think we can't win as conservatives anymore(*barf*)) they think mccain and rice are the ones hillary fears the most.
Allen better not apologize for this though. This is what the MSM want him to do. If the MSM asks him about this he should immediately tell them about Robert KKK Byrd or tell them to go sexual intercourse themselves.
Shouldn't the Dixie Chicks apologize too?
Pray for W and Our Freedom Fighters
I changed my Bonnie Blue for the Stars and Bars recently on my truck
I would like a Sullivan's Volunteers flag...my kin
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