Controversies of the United States Senate election in Virginia, 2006
Encyclopedia
The Controversies of the United States Senate election in Virginia, 2006 involved both Republican incumbent senator George Allen
and Democrat opponent Jim Webb
. However, a majority of these controversies are involved with Allen, which contributed to his downfall and eventual defeat.
, maker of the Plan B "morning after pill", an emergency contraceptive intended to prevent pregnancy if taken within 72 hours of intercourse. The Webb campaign criticized Allen for holding stock in a company that makes a product that many of his supporters oppose. Allen responded by saying that he holds the stock because Barr Labs has created jobs in Virginia, and by pointing to his consistently pro-life voting record. Allen has no plans to sell the stock.
On August 11, 2006, George Allen
twice called S.R. Sidarth, a 20-year-old Webb campaign volunteer, macaca
. Sidarth is of Indian ancestry
, but was born and raised in Fairfax County, Virginia
. As a "tracker" for the opposing Webb campaign, Sidarth was filming an Allen campaign stop in Breaks, Virginia
, near the Kentucky
border.
During a speech, Allen paused, then began referring to Sidarth: According to Sidarth, he was the only non-white person present among the crowd of 100 or so Republican supporters, some of whom applauded Allen's remarks.
The Webb campaign accused Allen of using a racial insult; macaca has been identified as a Francophone
epithet for North Africa
n indigenes, and commentators have suggested that he may have heard the slur from his mother, Henrietta "Etty" Allen, who is a pied-noir
, or North African (in Allen's case, a Tunisia
n) of French
descent. During a televised debate on September 18, reporter Peggy Fox asked Allen if he had learned the slur from his mother; Etty Allen denied that she had ever used the word before.
According to the Washington Post, Allen's campaign manager initially dismissed the incident with an expletive. Allen later said that he had heard his staff use the term macaca in reference to Sidarth, that he did not know what the word meant, and that he did not intend to insult Sidarth's ethnicity when he singled him out to the crowd. "I do apologize if he's offended by that," Allen said, adding that "I would never want to demean him as an individual."
Shortly after, Allen's campaign held that he used the word in reference to Sidarth's hairstyle. Although Sidarth was wearing a baseball cap on the day of the incident, he had been conversing casually with Allen's aides during campaign stops before the incident. Allen's campaign staff claim to have referred to him privately as "Mohawk". A now widely disseminated photo of Sidarth, hosted by the Webb campaign, shows Sidarth's hair to be longer in the middle and shaved on the sides, typical of a mohawk
.
On August 15, 2006, John Reid, Allen's communications director, told the New York Times that members of Allen's campaign had "good-naturedly" nicknamed Sidarth "Mohawk" when speaking among themselves, but could not explain how the word might have morphed into macaca. Reid told the Times that Sidarth only received a nickname from Allen campaign staff because he would not give his real name. Interviewed that day on CNN, however, Sidarth recalled shaking Allen's hand earlier in the week and giving his name. "He's very good with names, legendarily. He tries very hard to remember peoples' names when meeting them," Sidarth said. As for the macaca remark, "I am disappointed that someone like a Senator of the United States could use something [so] completely offensive."
On August 16, 2006, the National Journal
reported that two Virginia Republicans who heard the word used by Allen's campaign staff said macaca was a neologism created from mohawk and caca
, Spanish and French slang for excrement. The National Journal quoted a Republican close to the campaign saying, "In other words, [Sidarth] was a shit-head, an annoyance."
By August 20, 2006, Allen began insisting that he had never before heard the word, and that he simply made it up, contrary to original explanations from Allen and his staff.
After several public apologies, Allen called Sidarth twelve days after the incident, on August 23, to apologize directly for his remarks. Allen's campaign manager Dick Wadhams has continued to blame opponent Webb, the media, and Allen's "leftist" foes for a "feeding frenzy." The incident reduced Allen's once-broad polling margin over Webb to single digits.
On September 19, John Podhoretz used the name "Felix Macacawitz" as a headline for a post in the National Review blog "The Corner." It became a popular nickname for Allen. On October 4, Weed for Congress
field organizer Meryl Ibis resigned after she used the name in an email to supporters of Weed.
Some political observers believe the incident shows an early-21st-century shift in American politics. Salon.com
named Sidarth its 2006 Person of the Year. Michael Scherer wrote, "Sidarth was the kid next door. He, not Allen, was the real Virginian. He was proof that every hour his native commonwealth drifts further from the orbit of the GOP's solid South and toward a day when Allen's act will be a tacky antique. Allen was the past, Sidarth is the wired, diverse future -- of Virginia, the political process and the country."
Relating to the Allen controversy, "Macaca" was named the most politically incorrect word of 2006 on December 15 by Global Language Monitor, a nonprofit group that studies word usage.
praising Webb at the secretary's alma mater, the United States Naval Academy
in 1985.
The next day, an official working for the Reagan Presidential Foundation faxed a letter to Webb's campaign on behalf of former first lady Nancy Reagan
, urging them not to air the advertisement. In response, Webb told reporters that if Ronald Reagan had made any speeches about Allen his opponent's campaign would probably use them, too. "I would encourage them to try to go find some."
The Webb advertisement also aired in Norfolk
, Roanoke
, and Northern Virginia.
The Reagan Library has asked other political campaigns to pull advertising involving the former president's image. In 2004, it criticized the conservative Club for Growth
for an advertisement comparing George W. Bush
to Reagan.
On September 15, 2006, a Washington Post editorial supported Webb's advertisement and chided the Allen campaign for crying foul, saying that neither protest by Allen's campaign or Reagan's Library (later corrected to the Reagan Presidential Foundation) has any merit:
. The Fairfax County Republican Committee, together with several ethnically-based Republican groups, had sponsored this event for the past several years. Participating organizations included local Republican groups drawn from the Asian American, African American, and Hispanic American communities, among others. A small group of protesters demonstrated outside the high school, including one activist dressed in a gorilla costume as a reference to Allen's macaca remark. One protester said she was there "to let him [George Allen] know that racism is not acceptable", while another protester suggested that Allen was "holding a fake diversity rally".
Both Allen and Webb's supporters video-recorded the event. Webb supporters claim the videos show more white faces than non-white. The Virginian-Pilot described the crowd as chiefly Asian-American. Webb, according to exit polls, went on to win all minority groups overwhelmingly, including Asian-Americans.
On September 13, 2006, five female graduates of the United States Naval Academy
had a press conference promoted by the Allen campaign to assail a Washingtonian
article Webb wrote in 1979. They accuse Webb of fostering an air of hostility and harassment towards females within the academy. In the article, entitled "Women Can't Fight", Webb described his personal experiences in the Vietnam War
as a U.S. Marine infantry officer, and explained why he believed combat was an inappropriate environment for women. Webb also wrote that he had never met a woman "whom [he] would trust to provide those men with combat leadership". The article also characterized the Naval Academy dormitory situation as "a horny woman's dream", due to the ratio of men to women being 13⅓ to 1 at the time.
The five women, who attended the Naval Academy from the late 1970s to early 1980s, asserted that the article led to male midshipmen constantly harassing and humiliating them. Some even went so far as to wear "Jim Webb Fan Club" t-shirts.
In response to the allegations, Webb's campaign released a statement that he wrote the article during a time of great emotional debate over a wide array of social issues in this country, and the tone of this article was no exception. He added that he is "completely comfortable" with the present roles of women within the Naval Academy and the modern military. Webb expressed that at the time he wrote the article he did not anticipate its effects, "and to the extent that my writing subjected women at the Academy or the active Armed Forces to undue hardship, I remain profoundly sorry."
Allen himself has come under fire for similar attitudes he supported regarding the Virginia Military Institute
. Allen remarked in 2000 that women "should not be in foxholes", and that "[t]he purpose of the armed services is not to be a social experiment". A 2000 candidate-guide published by the Virginian-Pilot reiterated this stance of Allen's.
reported that in all likelihood, Allen's mother Etty Allen, née Henrietta Lumbroso, was Jewish "from the august Sephardic Jewish Lumbroso
family", and that therefore by the Jewish legal rule of matrilineal descent, Allen himself would be considered Jewish.
On September 18, 2006, Allen and Webb debated each other at the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce. One of the more interesting aspects of this debate came when Allen was questioned by WUSA-TV anchor Peggy Fox. Fox said: "It has been reported [that] your grandfather Felix, whom you were given your middle name for, was Jewish. Could you please tell us whether your forebears include Jews and, if so, at which point Jewish identity might have ended?" This led to a booing from the crowd and anger from Allen who admonished Fox for "making aspersions" and responded: "To be getting into what religion my mother is, I don't think is relevant...Why is that relevant -- my religion, Jim's religion or the religious beliefs of anyone out there?" The next day, Allen issued a statement both confirming and distancing himself from his mother's Jewish ancestry. The statement read:
Allen also told the Richmond Times-Dispatch
, in a reference to kosher dieting, "I still had a ham sandwich for lunch. And my mother made great pork chops." The Washington Post reported that Allen's mother feared retribution against her family if her religious and ethnic background became public, and had originally asked Allen to keep that information private. Although no mention is made of her mother's religion in Allen's sister's book, she does mention that the Catholic
Church, before marrying the couple, required Allen's parents to agree that any children would be raised Catholic, and as a result they decided to be married by a justice of the peace
in the home of a Jewish friend.
, a political action committee formed in 2006 that is primarily composed of former Iraq
and Afghanistan
veterans and headed by Jon Soltz
, released a television advertisement criticizing Allen for voting against body armor for US troops in 2003. The claim was based on Allen's vote against a Democratic amendment that would have increased National Guard
funding for body armor.
Various organizations subsequently attempted to assess the validity of the claim. The Arizona Republic ran a piece headlined "VoteVets ad is pure deceit." FactCheck
.org said the ad contained "false claims." But Media Matters for America
said Allen voted against troop body armor not once, but twice.
In March 2003, Allen voted against a bill that "targets shortfalls identified by the National Guard and Reserve in their Unfunded Requirement lists," including the shortage of helmets, tents, bullet-proof inserts, and tactical vests. On October 2, 2003, Allen voted against a Democratic amendment by Senator Christopher Dodd
to add $322 million to the $300 million (for body armor and battlefield cleanup) that the Senate Appropriations Committee had already attached to an $87 billion emergency supplemental bill.
Following the first Salon article, pundit Larry Sabato
, who attended the University of Virginia at the same time as Allen, stated on a televised interview that he knew for a fact that Allen used the epithet. Sabato later recanted saying that he had only heard that rumor from someone else. Allen called the claims "ludicrously false", explaining, "[t]he story and [Shelton's] comments and assertions in [the claim] are completely false. I don't remember ever using that word and it is absolutely false that that was ever part of my vocabulary."
criticized Allen when the group claimed Allen criticized Southern heritage by stating that he had come to recognize that the Confederate Battle flag had negative racial overtones.
". Webb replied that "I don't think that there's anyone who grew up around the South that hasn't had the word pass through their lips at one time in their life." Webb noted that that word and a lot of other epithets were in Fields of Fire, a novel Webb wrote about the Vietnam War.
Allen campaign officials referred reporters to Dan Cragg, a former acquaintance of Webb's. Cragg said that Webb told him in 1963 that Webb and members of his ROTC unit at the University of Southern California would "hop into their cars, and would go down to Watts", taking fake rifles, and yell out epithets, "point the rifles at them [black people], pull the triggers and then drive off laughing." Cragg had recorded the interview in which he claimed the anecdote was related, but it is absent from the tape. Spokeswoman Kristian Denny Todd quoted Webb as saying: "In 1963, you couldn't go to Watts and do that kind of thing. You'd get killed. So of course I didn't do it. I would never do that. I would never want to do that." Webb also produced a friend from the time who claimed that the two had never driven to Watts as claimed.
An October 18, 2006, article in the Washington Post quotes a recent interview with Webb concerning the portrayal of ethnic stereotypes in Hollywood. Webb said, "Towel-heads
and rednecks -- of which I am one. If you write that word, please say that. I mean, I don't use that pejoratively, I use it defensively. Towel-heads and rednecks became the easy villains in so many movies out there".
Following the AP report, Allen asked the Senate ethics committee
for an opinion on whether he should have disclosed his options. The ethics committee ruled than Allen was not required to disclose his stock options, and did not err in not doing so.
, Falls Church
and Charlottesville
. Webb's name should appear as James H. 'Jim' Webb but only James H. 'Jim will show on a summary page due to the font size used on the InterCivic voting machines. Allen's name George F. Allen was not affected by this glitch. The Virginia State Board of Elections pledged to have it fixed by the 2007 statewide elections and to post signs warning voters of this error.
posted a press release reprinting and commenting on sexually explicit passages from Webb's novels. One excerpt involved a man placing his son's penis in his mouth; others involved allegedly sexist portrayals of women. The press release, which the Drudge Report attributed to the Allen campaign, said the passages fit "a continued pattern of demeaning women" in which Webb "refuse[s] to portray women in a respectful, positive light". Allen's campaign refused to tell a local radio news station, WTOP-FM, whether it in fact had issued a news release on the matter.
In a radio interview on October 27, 2006, Webb described the Allen campaign's tactics as "smear after smear", and called the attack on his fiction baseless "character assassination". Webb defended his fiction work, saying that "the duty of a writer is to illuminate [his] surroundings". He said that the scene involving the man and his son was based upon an incident in a Bangkok slum that he witnessed as a journalist and that it was "not a sexual act".
Responding to the controversy, Allen stated: "My record as a United States senator is an open book. My opponent has a record as well. He, in his advertisements, points out that he's an author, that he's a writer of books. That's part of his record. These passages in his books are part of his open record. I'll let the people of Virginia be the judge as to whose record they are more comfortable with."
At a campaign rally in Annandale on October 28, 2006, Webb noted that his novel Fields of Fire has been on the Commandant of the Marine Corps
reading list for twenty years and claimed that it is the "most-taught piece of literature regarding the Vietnam War" on college campuses. Webb further listed the various accolades his books have received.
has criticized Allen for his refusal to release documents that would potentially shed light on the multiple warrants that were issued for his arrest in 1974.
, during a campaign stop in Charlottesville, Virginia
began to circulate among various news organizations and online sources. Stark, a liberal blogger, Marine veteran and law student, attempted to ask Allen about his missing arrest records and the reasons for the sealing of his divorce papers. After yelling out a question about rumors of Allen having assaulted his first wife, Stark was "briefly placed in a headlock, restrained, slung to the ground, and forcibly escorted from the hotel by three Allen supporters". Stark was detained several days later at another rally after an Allen supporter claimed Stark pushed him to the ground.
.
George Allen (U.S. politician)
George Felix Allen is a former United States Senator from the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the son of former NFL head coach George Allen. Allen served Virginia in the state legislature, as the 67th Governor, and in both bodies of the U.S. Congress, winning election to the Senate in 2000...
and Democrat opponent Jim Webb
Jim Webb
James Henry "Jim" Webb, Jr. is the senior United States Senator from Virginia. He is also an author and a former Secretary of the Navy. He is a member of the Democratic Party....
. However, a majority of these controversies are involved with Allen, which contributed to his downfall and eventual defeat.
Allen's Barr Labs investment
On August 8, 2006, it was reported that Allen, who opposes abortion rights, owned stock in Barr LaboratoriesBarr Pharmaceuticals
Barr Pharmaceuticals was a global specialty pharmaceutical company that operated in more than 30 countries worldwide. Barr were engaged in the development, manufacture and marketing of generic and proprietary pharmaceuticals, biopharmaceuticals and active pharmaceutical ingredients.-History:Barr...
, maker of the Plan B "morning after pill", an emergency contraceptive intended to prevent pregnancy if taken within 72 hours of intercourse. The Webb campaign criticized Allen for holding stock in a company that makes a product that many of his supporters oppose. Allen responded by saying that he holds the stock because Barr Labs has created jobs in Virginia, and by pointing to his consistently pro-life voting record. Allen has no plans to sell the stock.
Allen's Macaca controversy
George Allen (U.S. politician)
George Felix Allen is a former United States Senator from the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the son of former NFL head coach George Allen. Allen served Virginia in the state legislature, as the 67th Governor, and in both bodies of the U.S. Congress, winning election to the Senate in 2000...
twice called S.R. Sidarth, a 20-year-old Webb campaign volunteer, macaca
Macaca (slur)
Macaca is a word used by George Allen in 2006 that began a controversy because it sounds similar to the French word "macaque". It was reported by journalists to be a racial slur against African immigrants in some European cultures; and by Zairian painter Tshibumba Kanda Matulu to be a pejorative...
. Sidarth is of Indian ancestry
Indian American
Indian Americans are Americans whose ancestral roots lie in India. The U.S. Census Bureau popularized the term Asian Indian to avoid confusion with Indigenous peoples of the Americas who are commonly referred to as American Indians.-The term: Indian:...
, but was born and raised in Fairfax County, Virginia
Fairfax County, Virginia
Fairfax County is a county in Virginia, in the United States. Per the 2010 Census, the population of the county is 1,081,726, making it the most populous jurisdiction in the Commonwealth of Virginia, with 13.5% of Virginia's population...
. As a "tracker" for the opposing Webb campaign, Sidarth was filming an Allen campaign stop in Breaks, Virginia
Breaks Interstate Park
Breaks Interstate Park, also referred as the "Grand Canyon of the South", is located in southeastern Kentucky and southwestern Virginia at the northeastern terminus of Pine Mountain...
, near the Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
border.
During a speech, Allen paused, then began referring to Sidarth: According to Sidarth, he was the only non-white person present among the crowd of 100 or so Republican supporters, some of whom applauded Allen's remarks.
The Webb campaign accused Allen of using a racial insult; macaca has been identified as a Francophone
Francophone
The adjective francophone means French-speaking, typically as primary language, whether referring to individuals, groups, or places. Often, the word is used as a noun to describe a natively French-speaking person....
epithet for North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
n indigenes, and commentators have suggested that he may have heard the slur from his mother, Henrietta "Etty" Allen, who is a pied-noir
Pied-noir
Pied-Noir , plural Pieds-Noirs, pronounced , is a term referring to French citizens of various origins who lived in French Algeria before independence....
, or North African (in Allen's case, a Tunisia
Tunisia
Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...
n) of French
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
descent. During a televised debate on September 18, reporter Peggy Fox asked Allen if he had learned the slur from his mother; Etty Allen denied that she had ever used the word before.
According to the Washington Post, Allen's campaign manager initially dismissed the incident with an expletive. Allen later said that he had heard his staff use the term macaca in reference to Sidarth, that he did not know what the word meant, and that he did not intend to insult Sidarth's ethnicity when he singled him out to the crowd. "I do apologize if he's offended by that," Allen said, adding that "I would never want to demean him as an individual."
Shortly after, Allen's campaign held that he used the word in reference to Sidarth's hairstyle. Although Sidarth was wearing a baseball cap on the day of the incident, he had been conversing casually with Allen's aides during campaign stops before the incident. Allen's campaign staff claim to have referred to him privately as "Mohawk". A now widely disseminated photo of Sidarth, hosted by the Webb campaign, shows Sidarth's hair to be longer in the middle and shaved on the sides, typical of a mohawk
Mohawk hairstyle
The mohawk is a hairstyle in which, in the most common variety, both sides of the head are shaven, leaving a strip of noticeably longer hair...
.
On August 15, 2006, John Reid, Allen's communications director, told the New York Times that members of Allen's campaign had "good-naturedly" nicknamed Sidarth "Mohawk" when speaking among themselves, but could not explain how the word might have morphed into macaca. Reid told the Times that Sidarth only received a nickname from Allen campaign staff because he would not give his real name. Interviewed that day on CNN, however, Sidarth recalled shaking Allen's hand earlier in the week and giving his name. "He's very good with names, legendarily. He tries very hard to remember peoples' names when meeting them," Sidarth said. As for the macaca remark, "I am disappointed that someone like a Senator of the United States could use something [so] completely offensive."
On August 16, 2006, the National Journal
National Journal
National Journal is a nonpartisan American weekly magazine that reports on the current political environment and emerging political and policy trends. National Journal was first published in 1969. Times Mirror owned the magazine from 1986 to 1997, when it was purchased by David G. Bradley...
reported that two Virginia Republicans who heard the word used by Allen's campaign staff said macaca was a neologism created from mohawk and caca
Caca
In ancient Roman religion and myth, Caca is the sister of Cacus, the son of Vulcan who stole cattle from Hercules during the course of his western labors...
, Spanish and French slang for excrement. The National Journal quoted a Republican close to the campaign saying, "In other words, [Sidarth] was a shit-head, an annoyance."
By August 20, 2006, Allen began insisting that he had never before heard the word, and that he simply made it up, contrary to original explanations from Allen and his staff.
After several public apologies, Allen called Sidarth twelve days after the incident, on August 23, to apologize directly for his remarks. Allen's campaign manager Dick Wadhams has continued to blame opponent Webb, the media, and Allen's "leftist" foes for a "feeding frenzy." The incident reduced Allen's once-broad polling margin over Webb to single digits.
On September 19, John Podhoretz used the name "Felix Macacawitz" as a headline for a post in the National Review blog "The Corner." It became a popular nickname for Allen. On October 4, Weed for Congress
Al Weed
Albert Charles Weed II is a Virginia winemaker, businessman, and Democrat. Weed was the Democratic nominee for election to Virginia's Fifth Congressional District seat, in both 2004 and 2006, running against Republican incumbent Virgil Goode. In 2004, Weed lost 64% to 36%; Goode once again defeated...
field organizer Meryl Ibis resigned after she used the name in an email to supporters of Weed.
Some political observers believe the incident shows an early-21st-century shift in American politics. Salon.com
Salon.com
Salon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
named Sidarth its 2006 Person of the Year. Michael Scherer wrote, "Sidarth was the kid next door. He, not Allen, was the real Virginian. He was proof that every hour his native commonwealth drifts further from the orbit of the GOP's solid South and toward a day when Allen's act will be a tacky antique. Allen was the past, Sidarth is the wired, diverse future -- of Virginia, the political process and the country."
Relating to the Allen controversy, "Macaca" was named the most politically incorrect word of 2006 on December 15 by Global Language Monitor, a nonprofit group that studies word usage.
Webb's Reagan ad
On September 7, 2006, Webb released his first television advertisement. It featured footage of a 1985 speech by Ronald ReaganRonald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
praising Webb at the secretary's alma mater, the United States Naval Academy
United States Naval Academy
The United States Naval Academy is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located in Annapolis, Maryland, United States...
in 1985.
The next day, an official working for the Reagan Presidential Foundation faxed a letter to Webb's campaign on behalf of former first lady Nancy Reagan
Nancy Reagan
Nancy Davis Reagan is the widow of former United States President Ronald Reagan and was First Lady of the United States from 1981 to 1989....
, urging them not to air the advertisement. In response, Webb told reporters that if Ronald Reagan had made any speeches about Allen his opponent's campaign would probably use them, too. "I would encourage them to try to go find some."
The Webb advertisement also aired in Norfolk
Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....
, Roanoke
Roanoke, Virginia
Roanoke is an independent city in the Mid-Atlantic U.S. state of Virginia and is the tenth-largest city in the Commonwealth. It is located in the Roanoke Valley of the Roanoke Region of Virginia. The population within the city limits was 97,032 as of 2010...
, and Northern Virginia.
The Reagan Library has asked other political campaigns to pull advertising involving the former president's image. In 2004, it criticized the conservative Club for Growth
Club for Growth
The Club for Growth is a politically conservative 527 organization active in the United States of America, with an agenda focussed on taxation and other economic issues, and with an affiliated political action committee . The Club advocates lower taxes, limited government, less government spending,...
for an advertisement comparing George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
to Reagan.
On September 15, 2006, a Washington Post editorial supported Webb's advertisement and chided the Allen campaign for crying foul, saying that neither protest by Allen's campaign or Reagan's Library (later corrected to the Reagan Presidential Foundation) has any merit:
Allen at Fairfax County Republican Committee's ethnic rally
On September 9, 2006, Allen attended, along with other Republican elected officials and candidates for public office, an "ethnic community rally" at Thomas Edison High School in Fairfax County, VirginiaFairfax County, Virginia
Fairfax County is a county in Virginia, in the United States. Per the 2010 Census, the population of the county is 1,081,726, making it the most populous jurisdiction in the Commonwealth of Virginia, with 13.5% of Virginia's population...
. The Fairfax County Republican Committee, together with several ethnically-based Republican groups, had sponsored this event for the past several years. Participating organizations included local Republican groups drawn from the Asian American, African American, and Hispanic American communities, among others. A small group of protesters demonstrated outside the high school, including one activist dressed in a gorilla costume as a reference to Allen's macaca remark. One protester said she was there "to let him [George Allen] know that racism is not acceptable", while another protester suggested that Allen was "holding a fake diversity rally".
Both Allen and Webb's supporters video-recorded the event. Webb supporters claim the videos show more white faces than non-white. The Virginian-Pilot described the crowd as chiefly Asian-American. Webb, according to exit polls, went on to win all minority groups overwhelmingly, including Asian-Americans.
Webb's stance on women in combat
United States Naval Academy
The United States Naval Academy is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located in Annapolis, Maryland, United States...
had a press conference promoted by the Allen campaign to assail a Washingtonian
Washingtonian (magazine)
Washingtonian is a monthly magazine distributed in the Washington, DC area since 1965. The magazine describes itself as "the magazine Washington lives by." The magazine's core focuses are local feature journalism, guide book-style articles, and real estate advice.-Editorial Content:Washingtonian...
article Webb wrote in 1979. They accuse Webb of fostering an air of hostility and harassment towards females within the academy. In the article, entitled "Women Can't Fight", Webb described his personal experiences in the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
as a U.S. Marine infantry officer, and explained why he believed combat was an inappropriate environment for women. Webb also wrote that he had never met a woman "whom [he] would trust to provide those men with combat leadership". The article also characterized the Naval Academy dormitory situation as "a horny woman's dream", due to the ratio of men to women being 13⅓ to 1 at the time.
The five women, who attended the Naval Academy from the late 1970s to early 1980s, asserted that the article led to male midshipmen constantly harassing and humiliating them. Some even went so far as to wear "Jim Webb Fan Club" t-shirts.
In response to the allegations, Webb's campaign released a statement that he wrote the article during a time of great emotional debate over a wide array of social issues in this country, and the tone of this article was no exception. He added that he is "completely comfortable" with the present roles of women within the Naval Academy and the modern military. Webb expressed that at the time he wrote the article he did not anticipate its effects, "and to the extent that my writing subjected women at the Academy or the active Armed Forces to undue hardship, I remain profoundly sorry."
Allen himself has come under fire for similar attitudes he supported regarding the Virginia Military Institute
Virginia Military Institute
The Virginia Military Institute , located in Lexington, Virginia, is the oldest state-supported military college and one of six senior military colleges in the United States. Unlike any other military college in the United States—and in keeping with its founding principles—all VMI students are...
. Allen remarked in 2000 that women "should not be in foxholes", and that "[t]he purpose of the armed services is not to be a social experiment". A 2000 candidate-guide published by the Virginian-Pilot reiterated this stance of Allen's.
Allen's remarks about his Jewish heritage
In the wake of the Macaca controversy, the Jewish periodical The ForwardThe Forward
The Forward , commonly known as The Jewish Daily Forward, is a Jewish-American newspaper published in New York City. The publication began in 1897 as a Yiddish-language daily issued by dissidents from the Socialist Labor Party of Daniel DeLeon...
reported that in all likelihood, Allen's mother Etty Allen, née Henrietta Lumbroso, was Jewish "from the august Sephardic Jewish Lumbroso
Lombroso
Lombroso, Lumbroso, Lumbrozo is a surname, derived from a Sephardi family, members of which lived in Tunis, Marseilles, and Italy. The surname may refer to:* Giacomo Lumbroso , Italian physician....
family", and that therefore by the Jewish legal rule of matrilineal descent, Allen himself would be considered Jewish.
On September 18, 2006, Allen and Webb debated each other at the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce. One of the more interesting aspects of this debate came when Allen was questioned by WUSA-TV anchor Peggy Fox. Fox said: "It has been reported [that] your grandfather Felix, whom you were given your middle name for, was Jewish. Could you please tell us whether your forebears include Jews and, if so, at which point Jewish identity might have ended?" This led to a booing from the crowd and anger from Allen who admonished Fox for "making aspersions" and responded: "To be getting into what religion my mother is, I don't think is relevant...Why is that relevant -- my religion, Jim's religion or the religious beliefs of anyone out there?" The next day, Allen issued a statement both confirming and distancing himself from his mother's Jewish ancestry. The statement read:
Allen also told the Richmond Times-Dispatch
Richmond Times-Dispatch
The Richmond Times-Dispatch is the primary daily newspaper in Richmond the capital of Virginia, United States, and is commonly considered the "newspaper of record" for events occurring in much of the state...
, in a reference to kosher dieting, "I still had a ham sandwich for lunch. And my mother made great pork chops." The Washington Post reported that Allen's mother feared retribution against her family if her religious and ethnic background became public, and had originally asked Allen to keep that information private. Although no mention is made of her mother's religion in Allen's sister's book, she does mention that the Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
Church, before marrying the couple, required Allen's parents to agree that any children would be raised Catholic, and as a result they decided to be married by a justice of the peace
Justice of the Peace
A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...
in the home of a Jewish friend.
PAC ad on Allen's body armor vote
In mid-September, VoteVets.orgVoteVets.org
VoteVets.org is organized as a non-partisan political action committee and non-profit 501 status in the United States. It was co-founded in 2006 by Jon Soltz and Jeremy Broussard....
, a political action committee formed in 2006 that is primarily composed of former Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
and Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
veterans and headed by Jon Soltz
Jon Soltz
Jon Soltz served as a United States Army Captain in the Iraq War and served as the chairman and co-founder of VoteVets.org, before taking a leave of absence for a year beginning in 2011, while deployed as part of Operation New Dawn . As a member of the army, he served in both the Kosovo Campaign ...
, released a television advertisement criticizing Allen for voting against body armor for US troops in 2003. The claim was based on Allen's vote against a Democratic amendment that would have increased National Guard
United States National Guard
The National Guard of the United States is a reserve military force composed of state National Guard militia members or units under federally recognized active or inactive armed force service for the United States. Militia members are citizen soldiers, meaning they work part time for the National...
funding for body armor.
Various organizations subsequently attempted to assess the validity of the claim. The Arizona Republic ran a piece headlined "VoteVets ad is pure deceit." FactCheck
FactCheck
FactCheck.org is a non-partisan, nonprofit website that describes itself as a consumer advocate' for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics." It is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University...
.org said the ad contained "false claims." But Media Matters for America
Media Matters for America
Media Matters for America is a politically progressive media watchdog group which says it is "dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media." Set up as a 501 non-profit organization, MMfA was founded in 2004 by journalist and...
said Allen voted against troop body armor not once, but twice.
In March 2003, Allen voted against a bill that "targets shortfalls identified by the National Guard and Reserve in their Unfunded Requirement lists," including the shortage of helmets, tents, bullet-proof inserts, and tactical vests. On October 2, 2003, Allen voted against a Democratic amendment by Senator Christopher Dodd
Christopher Dodd
Christopher John "Chris" Dodd is an American lawyer, lobbyist, and Democratic Party politician who served as a United States Senator from Connecticut for a thirty-year period ending with the 111th United States Congress....
to add $322 million to the $300 million (for body armor and battlefield cleanup) that the Senate Appropriations Committee had already attached to an $87 billion emergency supplemental bill.
Allen's alleged use of racial epithets
Salon published a story in late September reporting that three of Allen's former college football teammates said that during the 1970s, Allen repeatedly used an inflammatory racial epithet and demonstrated racist attitudes toward blacks. On September 29, Edward Sabornie, a professor at North Carolina State University who had been in Allen's class and played football with him, decided to go on record with his allegations. Sabornie had commented under condition of anonymity in Salon's previous article about Allen's use of the slur. In that article, he was described as a "white teammate" and commented that using racial epithets "was so common with George when he was among his white friends. [It was] the terminology he used." Sabornie also recalled Allen as having referred to blacks as "roaches" and Latinos as "wetbacks".Following the first Salon article, pundit Larry Sabato
Larry Sabato
Larry Joseph Sabato is an American political scientist and analyst. He is the Robert Kent Gooch Professor of Politics at the University of Virginia, and director of its Center for Politics. He founded Sabato's Crystal Ball, an online newsletter and website that provides free political analysis and...
, who attended the University of Virginia at the same time as Allen, stated on a televised interview that he knew for a fact that Allen used the epithet. Sabato later recanted saying that he had only heard that rumor from someone else. Allen called the claims "ludicrously false", explaining, "[t]he story and [Shelton's] comments and assertions in [the claim] are completely false. I don't remember ever using that word and it is absolutely false that that was ever part of my vocabulary."
Sons of Confederate Veterans
On September 28, 2006 the Sons of Confederate VeteransSons of Confederate Veterans
Sons of Confederate Veterans is an American national heritage organization with members in all fifty states and in almost a dozen countries in Europe, Australia and South America...
criticized Allen when the group claimed Allen criticized Southern heritage by stating that he had come to recognize that the Confederate Battle flag had negative racial overtones.
Webb's use of ethnic epithets
In late September, Webb was asked if he had ever used the word "niggerNigger
Nigger is a noun in the English language, most notable for its usage in a pejorative context to refer to black people , and also as an informal slang term, among other contexts. It is a common ethnic slur...
". Webb replied that "I don't think that there's anyone who grew up around the South that hasn't had the word pass through their lips at one time in their life." Webb noted that that word and a lot of other epithets were in Fields of Fire, a novel Webb wrote about the Vietnam War.
Allen campaign officials referred reporters to Dan Cragg, a former acquaintance of Webb's. Cragg said that Webb told him in 1963 that Webb and members of his ROTC unit at the University of Southern California would "hop into their cars, and would go down to Watts", taking fake rifles, and yell out epithets, "point the rifles at them [black people], pull the triggers and then drive off laughing." Cragg had recorded the interview in which he claimed the anecdote was related, but it is absent from the tape. Spokeswoman Kristian Denny Todd quoted Webb as saying: "In 1963, you couldn't go to Watts and do that kind of thing. You'd get killed. So of course I didn't do it. I would never do that. I would never want to do that." Webb also produced a friend from the time who claimed that the two had never driven to Watts as claimed.
An October 18, 2006, article in the Washington Post quotes a recent interview with Webb concerning the portrayal of ethnic stereotypes in Hollywood. Webb said, "Towel-heads
Towelhead
Towelhead is an ethnic slur for a person of Arab descent.Towelhead may also refer to:* Towelhead — a 2005 novel by Alicia Erian* Towelhead — a 2007 film by Alan Ball based on the above novel...
and rednecks -- of which I am one. If you write that word, please say that. I mean, I don't use that pejoratively, I use it defensively. Towel-heads and rednecks became the easy villains in so many movies out there".
Allen's undisclosed business interests
On October 8, 2006, the Associated Press, reviewing five years of Allen's financial records, reported that Allen did not properly report income and stock options from companies which have federal contracts, and contacted the Army to help a company in which he has an interest. Allen's staff said Allen believed in "good faith" that he did not need to report the stock options because their purchase price was higher than the current market value.Following the AP report, Allen asked the Senate ethics committee
United States Senate Select Committee on Ethics
The U.S. Senate Select Committee on Ethics is a select committee of the United States Senate charged with dealing with matters related to senatorial ethics. It is also commonly referred to as the Senate Ethics Committee...
for an opinion on whether he should have disclosed his options. The ethics committee ruled than Allen was not required to disclose his stock options, and did not err in not doing so.
Webb's name truncated on ballots
On October 24, 2006, the Washington Post reported that Webb's last name would be truncated on electronic ballots used in AlexandriaAlexandria, Virginia
Alexandria is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2009, the city had a total population of 139,966. Located along the Western bank of the Potomac River, Alexandria is approximately six miles south of downtown Washington, D.C.Like the rest of northern Virginia, as well as...
, Falls Church
Falls Church, Virginia
The City of Falls Church is an independent city in Virginia, United States, in the Washington Metropolitan Area. The city population was 12,332 in 2010, up from 10,377 in 2000. Taking its name from The Falls Church, an 18th-century Anglican parish, Falls Church gained township status within...
and Charlottesville
Charlottesville, Virginia
Charlottesville is an independent city geographically surrounded by but separate from Albemarle County in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States, and named after Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the queen consort of King George III of the United Kingdom.The official population estimate for...
. Webb's name should appear as James H. 'Jim' Webb but only James H. 'Jim will show on a summary page due to the font size used on the InterCivic voting machines. Allen's name George F. Allen was not affected by this glitch. The Virginia State Board of Elections pledged to have it fixed by the 2007 statewide elections and to post signs warning voters of this error.
Explicit passages from Webb novels
On October 26, 2006, the Drudge ReportDrudge Report
The Drudge Report is a news aggregation website. Run by Matt Drudge with the help of Joseph Curl and Charles Hurt, the site consists mainly of links to stories from the United States and international mainstream media about politics, entertainment, and current events as well as links to many...
posted a press release reprinting and commenting on sexually explicit passages from Webb's novels. One excerpt involved a man placing his son's penis in his mouth; others involved allegedly sexist portrayals of women. The press release, which the Drudge Report attributed to the Allen campaign, said the passages fit "a continued pattern of demeaning women" in which Webb "refuse[s] to portray women in a respectful, positive light". Allen's campaign refused to tell a local radio news station, WTOP-FM, whether it in fact had issued a news release on the matter.
In a radio interview on October 27, 2006, Webb described the Allen campaign's tactics as "smear after smear", and called the attack on his fiction baseless "character assassination". Webb defended his fiction work, saying that "the duty of a writer is to illuminate [his] surroundings". He said that the scene involving the man and his son was based upon an incident in a Bangkok slum that he witnessed as a journalist and that it was "not a sexual act".
Responding to the controversy, Allen stated: "My record as a United States senator is an open book. My opponent has a record as well. He, in his advertisements, points out that he's an author, that he's a writer of books. That's part of his record. These passages in his books are part of his open record. I'll let the people of Virginia be the judge as to whose record they are more comfortable with."
At a campaign rally in Annandale on October 28, 2006, Webb noted that his novel Fields of Fire has been on the Commandant of the Marine Corps
Commandant of the Marine Corps
The Commandant of the Marine Corps is normally the highest ranking officer in the United States Marine Corps and is a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff...
reading list for twenty years and claimed that it is the "most-taught piece of literature regarding the Vietnam War" on college campuses. Webb further listed the various accolades his books have received.
Allen's arrest warrant records
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign CommitteeDemocratic Senatorial Campaign Committee
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is the Democratic Hill committee for the United States Senate. It is the only organization solely dedicated to electing Democrats to the United States Senate. The DSCC's current chair is Sen. Patty Murray, who succeeded Sen. Robert Menendez following...
has criticized Allen for his refusal to release documents that would potentially shed light on the multiple warrants that were issued for his arrest in 1974.
Allen supporters attack blogger
On October 31, footage of multiple Allen supporters attacking a constituent, Mike StarkMike Stark
Mike Stark is an American reporter, blogger, political activist, and graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law. His work often appears at StarkReports.com, The Huffington Post, Daily Kos and several other group-blogs...
, during a campaign stop in Charlottesville, Virginia
Charlottesville, Virginia
Charlottesville is an independent city geographically surrounded by but separate from Albemarle County in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States, and named after Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the queen consort of King George III of the United Kingdom.The official population estimate for...
began to circulate among various news organizations and online sources. Stark, a liberal blogger, Marine veteran and law student, attempted to ask Allen about his missing arrest records and the reasons for the sealing of his divorce papers. After yelling out a question about rumors of Allen having assaulted his first wife, Stark was "briefly placed in a headlock, restrained, slung to the ground, and forcibly escorted from the hotel by three Allen supporters". Stark was detained several days later at another rally after an Allen supporter claimed Stark pushed him to the ground.
Telephone intimidation
The FBI launched an investigation into alleged attempts to intimidate potential Democratic voters in eight counties before the poll, by use of telephone calls to suggest that persons with outstanding warrants would be arrested as they voted, a classic example of voter suppressionVoter suppression
Voter suppression is a strategy to influence the outcome of an election by discouraging or preventing people from exercising their right to vote. It is distinguished from political campaigning in that campaigning attempts to change likely voting behavior by changing the opinions of potential voters...
.