Via the AP, George Allen’s credibility takes another hit: Professor says senator used racial slur

A noted political scientist joined one of Sen. George Allen’s former college football teammates in claiming the senator used a racial slur to refer to blacks in the early 1970s, a claim Allen dismisses as “ludicrously false.”

Larry J. Sabato, one of Virginia’s most-quoted political science professors and a classmate of Allen’s in the early 1970s, said in a televised interview Monday that Allen used the epithet.

[…]

Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, would not tell The Associated Press how he knew Allen used the n-word. He told Chris Matthews on MSNBC that he did not know whether it was true that Allen used the word frequently while in college.

“I’m simply going to stay with what I know is the case and the fact is he did use the n-word, whether he’s denying it or not,” Sabato said.

The video of Sabato on Hardball can be found here.

Let’s consider the following:

1) In regards to “Macaca” he has claimed, at different times, that a) it was a reference to the fact that the kid he was talking to had a mohawk, and b) (on MTP a few weeks back) that he just “made it up.” This despite the fact that the word is a known French racial slur used especially in Africa. His mother is of French African descent.

Problem: This situation made Allen look like a bully, raised serious questions about his racial attitudes, and ultimately made him look like a disingenuous bumbler as he tried to explain himself.

2) He claims never to not have ever asked him mother about her ancestry, despite the fact that his grandfather was in a Nazi concentration camp. However, somehow his opponents were able to figure it out.

Problem: this paints the picture of a man who, even in the face of substantial evidence, can’t “connect the dots”—yep, that’s the kind of notion one wants out there for a presidential run…

Further, it allows the possible attack that he was ashamed of his Jewish heritage.

3) He claims that despite he known interest in the Confederacy that he never, ever, ever used the n-word in the early 1970s while on the University of Virginia football team (because, as we all know, young men involved in athletics, always watch their language).

Problem: See the “Macaca” problem–same problems (except the bully part).

Bottom line: George Allen has a serious credibility problem. Not only is he, as I stated yesterday, toast in regards to the 2024 nomination, I think that he is probably doomed in his Senate bid as well.

Does any of the above scream “presidential”?  I think not.

For Allen and his defenders to focus on defending him on the specific charges (i.e., whether he used the n-word or not, or to try and discredit a particular accuser) is to miss the true significance of this situation and simply demonstrates that they aren’t ready for prime time.