If Republicans decide to replicate the style and substance of President Bush when nominating a potential successor in 2008, they will likely choose another conservative named George.
George Allen, that is, the junior senator from Virginia, who agrees with Bush on most major issues. On their few points of disagreement, such as immigration and campaign finance, Allen sides with the more conservative Republicans who will dominate primary election voting.
“I like him very much — I consider him a friend,” Allen says of Bush in an interview with The Examiner. “And I know a lot of people like to criticize him. We even have Republicans distancing themselves from him because his approval ratings are in the 30s.”
“You know, he may be unpopular and down in all these surveys,” he adds. “But I just don’t think you kick a friend when they’re down.”
Such loyalty — another trait he shares with Bush — was once considered an asset for Allen. And yet now some see it as a liability.
“One year ago, I thought George Allen would have the best chance of winning the Republican nomination of anyone — and I was saying and writing that,” says Charlie Cook, publisher of Cook Political Report. “Today, I think there’s practically no chance at all.”
Cook blames Bush fatigue, not Allen’s actions, for the change.
“The farther down President Bush dropped in popularity and the longer he was down there, the less likely that Republicans were to nominate someone who ideologically and stylistically is so close to President Bush,” he says.
Allen’s political fortunes fell even further last month when he called a young American of Indian descent “macaca,” which critics say is a racial slur in parts of Africa. The young man, S.R. Sidarth, was a volunteer for former Navy Secretary Jim Webb, a Democrat who is trying to unseat Allen in November.
“That was joking around,” Allen tells The Examiner. “But it was a mistake and I was insensitive, regardless of whether I intended to, I did not intend to insult anyone. Why would I want to?”
As a “tracker” for Webb, Sidarth was following Allen on the campaign trail to videotape his speeches for possible use against him. When Allen called him “macaca,” the remarks made the front page of The Washington Post several times and the videotape was played repeatedly on MSNBC’s “Hardball with Chris Matthews.”
“I don’t consider them necessarily my fans,” Allen says of the two media outlets, which he believes may “have a political ax to grind.” Other politicians have made embarrassing racial asides that have not been played up as severely as Allen’s remark.
If there is a silver lining for Allen in the “macaca” debacle, it is the possibility of conservative backlash against the mainstream media, which is already reviled by the Republican base.
“I don’t think there’s any question that people at The Washington Post or The New York Times and many of these major respected newspapers have a liberal point of view,” Allen says. “At times, they’re irresponsible.”
“Thank goodness for Fox News,” he adds. “People out in the real world really can discern truth from fiction. They apply it to their own lives.
“What somebody writing in New York City says or somebody in Washington, D.C., says or somebody in San Francisco writes is not going to be really dispositive of the way that Joe and Sally out here in the real world run their lives.”
Allen’s disdain for the Fourth Estate is shared by many of his supporters and campaign staffers.
“If the press would just leave him alone,” campaign worker Don Sudland grouses. “Jerks. They’re our biggest enemy.”
Most media profiles of Allen mention the “macaca” episode and three others that, taken together, have allowed critics to characterize him as a racially insensitive bully.
The first is his affinity for the Confederate flag, which Allen displayed at various times earlier in his life. He attributes this to youthful “rebelliousness,” but now concedes “the flag is seen as a symbol of repression for some — and understandably so.”
The second is a noose that was once displayed in his office as part of a Western motif that included wagon wheels and pieces of old plows. Critics said the noose reminded them of lynching, but Allen says “it was nothing more than a decoration — law-and-order type stuff.”
The third is a book written in 2000 by Allen’s younger sister, Jennifer Allen Richard, which describes him as a bully when they were growing up. In a passage about one of her boyfriends, Richard writes: “My brother George welcomed him by slamming a pool cue against his head.”
Richard has since recanted, calling the pool cue story “a joke,” and the book in general “a novelization of the past.” Allen agrees.
“I love my sister, she loves me,” he shrugs. “When she got married, she asked me to walk her down the aisle.”
As Allen speaks, he props his cowboy boots on the dashboard of his campaign bus. He chews a fat wad of tobacco, pausing frequently to spit juice into a cup.
Asked whether he is setting a good example by using tobacco products, Allen groans about “everyone else telling me what to do.”
“Awww, I never had a cavity,” he says. “It harms no one.”
He adds: “Mark Twain once said nothing needs more reforming than somebody else’s habits.”
During a campaign stop in New Castle, Va., Allen spots a woman who is also chewing tobacco.
“I’ve been chewing since I was 6 years old,” says Dorothy Roberts, 57.
“Do you have any cavities?” Allen inquires with a smile.
“I don’t have any teeth,” she replies. “Lost ’em all.”
Allen moves on, shaking hands and posing for pictures with volunteer firefighters. He later travels to the tiny community of Hardy for a speech to 90 gun owners at the Roanoke Rifle and Revolver Club.
The crowd gives a warm reception to the gun-rights advocate, who rails against violent criminals and their defenders.
“Stop listening to all these criminal apologists, who are always coming up with excuses for why someone committed a crime,” Allen says.
“They carry on about, oh, the trauma of growing up and the teachers are tough on them, and they were bottle-fed or potty-trained or something,” he adds, drawing laughter. “You know, there’s an objective difference between right and wrong.”
Allen segues seamlessly from his tough-on-crime message to a call for conservation, all the while exuding an affable optimism.
“We want cleanlands, clean air, clean water for us and for our children and for future generations, in this blessed land that we know as Virginia and indeed America,” he says.
“Go out and see the natural beauty of these Blue Ridge Mountains, the Shenandoah Valley, the Piedmont, the coastal tidewater areas of Virginia, or for that matter, anywhere else in this country,” he adds. “It makes one feel so blessed that God created such a beautiful earth.”
Mindful of his troubles in the Senate campaign, Allen tries to buck up his supporters by saying: “Please be smiling, be cheerful.”
Back on the bus, the smiling, cheerful Allen is asked about his colleague, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is considered the early front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008.
“She’s very calculating,” he says. “There is no one on the Democratic Party side that motivates their side more than she does — and she also motivates our side, as well.”
“She might actually run stronger in some of the Democratic states than John Kerry did — she might do better in Illinois, for example,” he adds. “But I just don’t see what states she would carry that Kerry didn’t.”
Allen doesn’t allow himself much time to muse about a presidential run against Clinton. He’s too busy trying to survive his surprisingly difficult Senate re-election bid.
“Pay attention to the task at hand,” he reminds himself. “I’ll be happy to be alive at the end of this election.”
George Felix Allen
1952 » Born in Los Angeles County, Calif., son of legendary NFL coach George Herbert Allen
1970 » Graduates from Palos Verdes High School in California
1974 » Graduates from University of Virginia
1977 » Graduates from University of Virginia Law School
1979 » Marries Anne Patrice Rubel
1979 » Loses first campaign for Virginia House of Delegates
1981 » Elected to Virginia House of Delegates
1983 » Divorced
1986 » Marries Susan Brown. The couple will eventually have three children
1991 » Elected to U.S. House of Representatives from Virginia
1993 » Elected governor of Virginia
1998 » Becomes partner in McGuire Woods law firm in Richmond
2000 » Elected to U.S. Senate from Virginia
2002 » Elected chairman of National Republican Senatorial Committee; oversaw net gain of four GOP Senate seats in 2004 election
2006 » Runs for re-election against former Navy Secretary Jim Webb
Allen’s positions on the issues
Abortion
Rated 100 percent anti-abortion by National Right to Life; zero percent for abortion rights by NARAL Pro-Choice America.
Gay marriage
Voted for constitutional ban.
Immigration
Opposes President Bush’s call for a guest-worker program that would grant legal status to illegal aliens.
Iraq
Supported the invasion; opposes a withdrawal timetable.
Taiwan
If Beijing tries to forcibly reunite Taiwan with the Chinese mainland, Allen says, “Some chinese leaders may miscalculate that theU.S. won’t care, [that] the U.S. is not going to start a war over it.”
Taxes
Supports low taxation. Rated 95 percent by conservative Americans for Tax Reform.
American Conservative Union rating (2005)
92 percent conservative.
Americans for Democratic Action rating (2005)
5 percent liberal.
What observers are saying
David Yepsen
Political columnist
Des Moines Register
PRO » Nothing.
CON » “I never thought of him as someone who was making a serious presidential effort. He wasn’t out here that much, and when he did come to Iowa, he really didn’t do that well.”
Charlie Cook
Editor
Cook Political Report
PRO » “I think he has the talent and the ideology to really stir up the party base.”
CON » “I seriously, seriously, seriously doubt that he even runs now. And here’s a guy that I would have been picking a year ago.”
Larry Sabato
Political scientist, University of Virginia
PRO » “Until recently, Allen was the leading conservative candidate in a party that usually nominates the leading conservative.”
CON » “Allen stumbled so badly in the infamous ‘macaca’ incident that he simultaneously looked racially insensitive, bullying and rather stupid for making his comments into an opponent’s video camera.”
After studying the polls, consulting the handicappers and interviewing the candidates themselves, The Examiner has winnowed a list of some 30 potential presidential contenders down to 10. The result is Meet the Next President, a two-week series of in-depth profiles of the 10 people most likely to become the next leader of the free world. It’s a behind-the-scenes look at Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives, front-runners and dark horses in the 2008 presidential sweepstakes – even before the 2006 midterms have been decided. With presidential campaigns starting earlier each election cycle, why wait?
