Opinion of George Allen

[J. J.]

Freedom fighter, but not too bright.

[Undisguised Sockpuppet]

Freedom fighter for costing the GOP the senate. Here's hoping he's their 2008 nominee!

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

So what do you Republicans think now? Still a Freedom Fighter?

His big mouth is what cost you the Senate.

[Undisguised Sockpuppet]

I predict the dems will call him a FF and the Repubs a HP.

[adam]

A perfect example of what is wrong with the GOP. In the end, it's probably a good thing to see him go regardless of the negative effects it might hold at this moment in time.

[gorkay]

George Allen looks as if he were made of plastic. And, in a way, he is.

He was one of the original one-issue campaigners... he got elected governor of VA on the issue of abolishing parole, which is pretty stupid in the first place, but it got him elected. Plus, his Democratic opponent ran a horrible campaign. He got elected to the Senate mainly because of Chuck Robb's sex scandal. Since being elected, he's done absolutely nothing... a Republican rubber stamp without an original thought, or too many thoughts at all, in his head. His re-election campaign was not only one of the meanest-spirited I've ever seen, it was totally ineffective. His attempt to label Webb as a "deviant" because he wrote some novels with sex scenes in them was one of the gravest insults to the intelligence that a political candidate has ever perpetrated. To top it all off, he's going out with as much a lack of grace and class as he came in, by refusing to concede a race he has clearly lost.

[Ban my account ffs!]

George Allen would have done worse than Mark Kennedy in Minnesota.  Mark Kennedy is a rubber stamp, but he's not an open bigot.  And that's about the nicest thing I'll say about Mark Kennedy.  Which doesn't say much for George Allen.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

George Allen would have done worse than Mark Kennedy in Minnesota.  Mark Kennedy is a rubber stamp, but he's not an open bigot.  And that's about the nicest thing I'll say about Mark Kennedy.  Which doesn't say much for George Allen.

I would say that while Allen is certainly more bigoted, both are about equally stupid.

What type of idiot runs negative ads attacking their opponent for using plea bargains? News flash: That's what prosecutors do in the vast majority of cases.

[gorkay]

When he made his concession speech today, and said "First I want to thank God," I thought "thank God that your sorry behind will soon be out of office."
The fact that he conceded without calling for a recount tells me that he's angling for a future run for something... Senator in '08 if John Warner retires or Governor in '09. Maybe he figures that since Mark Warner can't run for both of them, he has a chance in one of them.

[phk]

im sure that all the dems on here who call allen a 'racist' also oppose byrd's reelection in wv.

Going from the KKK to Michael Yoo Fatemi in two generations is pretty good progress.

[gorkay]

All the post-mortems on Allen's career mention his role in putting the Standards of Learning tests in Virginia public schools. I can't think of a worse indictment of his so-called "leadership." The SOLs have been a disaster, and as bad a case of the "social engineering" that conservatives always complain about liberals doing as any. They've put the schools back to the days of rote memorization and drills, chased good teachers into retirement and other jobs, and kept good people out of the teaching profession. A total abomination, and a prime example of what happens when you let blind ideology shape policy.

[Virginian87]

All the post-mortems on Allen's career mention his role in putting the Standards of Learning tests in Virginia public schools. I can't think of a worse indictment of his so-called "leadership." The SOLs have been a disaster, and as bad a case of the "social engineering" that conservatives always complain about liberals doing as any. They've put the schools back to the days of rote memorization and drills, chased good teachers into retirement and other jobs, and kept good people out of the teaching profession. A total abomination, and a prime example of what happens when you let blind ideology shape policy.

Indeed.  I went to public high school in Fairfax County, and the SOL's are blind to the economic disparities between Virginia's public school systems.  A district in inner-city Richmond or in Alleghany County will never be able to match Fairfax in terms of funds, and thus makes it increasingly difficult for them to compete on equal terms in the SOL exams.

Another bright idea from George Allen.

In all honesty, I think the only reason he was a so-called popular governor was because of (1) tax cuts and (2) his image as some kind of rich California-bred Southern good ol' boy.

[The Dowager Mod]

Sums up my opinion nicely.

[angus]

can't say I really know all that much about him other than the oft-repeated sensationalistic soundbites ("...had it in the bag till the macaca moment...", "...wants to be president...", etc.) that kept running on the American 24-hour news outlets, but I think the choice to concede graciously to his competitor was magnanimous and rare among today's US politicans.  I was very impressed with that.  I'd give him a big thumbs up. 

[dazzleman]

All the post-mortems on Allen's career mention his role in putting the Standards of Learning tests in Virginia public schools. I can't think of a worse indictment of his so-called "leadership." The SOLs have been a disaster, and as bad a case of the "social engineering" that conservatives always complain about liberals doing as any. They've put the schools back to the days of rote memorization and drills, chased good teachers into retirement and other jobs, and kept good people out of the teaching profession. A total abomination, and a prime example of what happens when you let blind ideology shape policy.

Indeed.  I went to public high school in Fairfax County, and the SOL's are blind to the economic disparities between Virginia's public school systems.  A district in inner-city Richmond or in Alleghany County will never be able to match Fairfax in terms of funds, and thus makes it increasingly difficult for them to compete on equal terms in the SOL exams.

Another bright idea from George Allen.

In all honesty, I think the only reason he was a so-called popular governor was because of (1) tax cuts and (2) his image as some kind of rich California-bred Southern good ol' boy.

Do you really believe that money is the main reason that a district like Richmond can't compete with one like Fairfax?

My state provides the poor districts sufficient funding to equalize spending with wealthier districts, and they still can't compete or perform.  Obviously, there's another reason.  I hate to keep hearing about money when it's not the central problem in this case.

[Tory]

I think he's a decent guy who just got trampled through being loyal and giving his opponents things to knock him over the head with. However, lets say that he didn't do anything dumb until after he got the nomination for president. Can you imagine him being the nominee and handling the macaca situation the way he did? I think the Dems having congress is a blessing for the Republican candidate in 08', so I'm not terribly upset by his loss.

[angus]

Can you imagine him being the nominee and handling the macaca situation the way he did? I think the Dems having congress is a blessing for the Republican candidate in 08', so I'm not terribly upset by his loss.

I never can imagine any of these things before they happen.  For example, it would never have occurred to me to say, in a thick arkansas hillbilly inflection, "Mister Speaker, You may infer from my previous statement that I did not have sex with that woman as I understood the term to be defined."  I would, however, have probably said something like, "Screw you.  I don't have to answer that question."  And that's basically what I admire about George Bush.  And it's what I don't admire about people like Clinton, Lott, and Allen when the mainstream press pushes for explanations.  Oh, Don't get me wrong, I did vote for Clinton twice for president, and--although I'm too lazy to vote this year--if I had voted I'd have voted for Lott, and although I don't live in Virginia, I respect Allen's decision to bow out gracefully and consider him a magnanimous sort of fellow who was just in the wrong party at the wrong time--a time when every journalist this side of FOX news was writing daily articles aimed at convincing the voting public, rightly or wrongly, that their simple little brains needed to heed the advice of the mainstream press and vote for Democrats whenever possible.  So given that on some level people like Bill Clinton, Trent Lott, and George Allen still make me quite erect, I have to say that I suppose there's something to be said for those sorts of people.  Still, on a gut level, I admire most the man who has the balls to say, "Screw you I don't have to explain myself to you or anyone else."  Ah, well, half a dozen of one, six of the other.  Change isn't necessarily a bad thing. 

More importantly, I have to say I disagree with your statement that it's necessarily good for the GOP presidential candidate that the democrats control congress starting January 2007.  I'm not saying it's bad for them either.  I just don't think it's relevant one way or the other.  I think you may be too steeped in the politics of your own country and forgetting that we have a separate executive and legislative branch.  I know most Americans are bad in History, Math, and the like.  Most yankees can't point to Kazakhstan on a map but would nod their heads and answer, "oh, yeah, the Kazaks are like that" if you tell them that developmentally disabled people in Kazakhstan are kept in cages.  That's just the sort of sensationalistic, arrogant folks we yanks are.  Still, for all our faults, I think we have the critical thinking capacity to understand that our decision for executive leader in 2008 will not hinge on who's running congress and who's not.

"If you don't leave now I'll bite you myself.  Aunt Em, Uncle Henry, don't let her take Toto away."

I never did like that bitch either.  You tell her what's what, Dorothy. 

[Smash255]

All the post-mortems on Allen's career mention his role in putting the Standards of Learning tests in Virginia public schools. I can't think of a worse indictment of his so-called "leadership." The SOLs have been a disaster, and as bad a case of the "social engineering" that conservatives always complain about liberals doing as any. They've put the schools back to the days of rote memorization and drills, chased good teachers into retirement and other jobs, and kept good people out of the teaching profession. A total abomination, and a prime example of what happens when you let blind ideology shape policy.

Indeed.  I went to public high school in Fairfax County, and the SOL's are blind to the economic disparities between Virginia's public school systems.  A district in inner-city Richmond or in Alleghany County will never be able to match Fairfax in terms of funds, and thus makes it increasingly difficult for them to compete on equal terms in the SOL exams.

Another bright idea from George Allen.

In all honesty, I think the only reason he was a so-called popular governor was because of (1) tax cuts and (2) his image as some kind of rich California-bred Southern good ol' boy.

Do you really believe that money is the main reason that a district like Richmond can't compete with one like Fairfax?

My state provides the poor districts sufficient funding to equalize spending with wealthier districts, and they still can't compete or perform.  Obviously, there's another reason.  I hate to keep hearing about money when it's not the central problem in this case.

I don't have the stats in front of me, but if you honestly think overall spending in inner city hartford compares to Greenwich your fooling yourself.  I believe that funding in CT schools are similar to LI schools, their have been strides made to close the gaps, but not nearly enough.  Spending in jericho & syosset far exceed spending in Roosevelt and Hempstead. 

Also economic disparities in the areas as a whole (aside from its impact on school spending) is a bit of an isue as well which results in more obstacles the poor student has to overcome than the wealthy or even middle class student

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

FF--should've had a recount

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

FF--should've had a recount

Why? it was a landslide compared to the FL 2000 Presidential election.

[phk]

Who you callin a Macaca?

[opebo]

Do you really believe that money is the main reason that a district like Richmond can't compete with one like Fairfax?

My state provides the poor districts sufficient funding to equalize spending with wealthier districts, and they still can't compete or perform.  Obviously, there's another reason.  I hate to keep hearing about money when it's not the central problem in this case.

Of course money is not the central problem, dazzleman - POWER is the central problem.  Even though power is almost always precisely represented by money, in a few cases feeble efforts are made to 'help' the oppressed by 'giving' them money - in the case you mention your state gives some of the workers money back to them through a redistribution. 

In reality, however, as long as the brutal heirarchy that is our society exists, the poors in these districts remain powerless.  It is  their relative powerlessness which makes them have 'social problems'.  Social problems are merely a symptom of capitalism, and thusly are caused by the powerful for whom this system exists.

One may precisely predict the future of every person based upon the economic class of their parents - exceptions to this are very rare even among the upper middle class, and virtually nonexistent in the case of poors.  That you claim this is due to some 'character flaw' in these powerless people is both incredibly stupid and highly offensive.  One can only hope social problems come to visit you, perhaps in the form of a home invasion or carjacking.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

One of the best news stories of the election was that George "Macacalypse" Allen lost his job.

So, hardly a Freedom Fighter then.

[Rob]

Massive FF. Thanks for the Senate, Felix Macacawitz!

[WalterMitty]

Massive FF. Thanks for the Senate, Felix Macacawitz!

lol!

ill admit that made me chuckle.