The Wizard Speaks
I am not going to waste a lot of time and words in explaining this newest story concerning Senator George Allen as was reported this morning in grueling detail in The Richmond Times Dispatch.
But, it seems that Senator George Allen’s recent problems with “Macaca-Gate” and his “identity crisis” involving his family heritage, may recede into the past as a distant and relatively pleasant memory in comparison to the latest story.
In this latest story, the Senator’s favorite topic… that being football… seems to be coming back to bite him.
Specifically, former football teammate Dr. Ken “Wizard” Shelton, has come forward with two other former teammates (choosing to remain anonymous) to report that they recall the then University of Virginia football quarterback, George Allen as demonstrating “racist” behavior and rhetoric.
In fact Dr. Shelton contends that his nickname “Wizard” was given to him by George Allen in recognition of the Dr. Shelton’s surname being the same as that of Robert Shelton, who happened to be the Imperial Wizard of the United Klans of America in the 1960’s. While Senator Allen claims no credit for and asserts no knowledge of that specific source of the “Wizard” nickname, other sources have confirmed that Dr. Shelton’s nickname was indeed “Wizard”.
Coincidence?
Interestingly, University of Virginia political analyst Larry Sabato has stated without qualms on national television (Chris Matthew’s “Hardball”), “I’m simply going… to say with what I know is the case and the fact is that he did use the n-word.”
This could be a problem.
For the record, Senator Allen vigorously denies the entire story.
The Iconoclast is not going to weigh in here with any kind of in-depth analysis as this story is just too new and too raw. However, this story deserves more examination to determine what the facts are and what it means to Senator Allen’s political future.
If the story can not be plausibly verified, Senator Allen is owed an apology. If the story turns out to be verified, Senator Allen probably has some more explaining to do.
NOTE: The photograph above is of Robert Shelton, the Imperial Wizard of the United Klans of America and not Dr. Ken Shelton, Senator Allen's former football teammate.
posted by Will Vaught @ 8:22 AM
7 Comments:
At 9/26/2006 2:01 PM,
Anonymous said…
Just more youthful indiscretion. No big deal.
At 9/26/2006 7:45 PM,
Anonymous said…
At this point, it is not appropriate to jump to conclusions. There may be some political dirty tricks involved here. But, I agree this should be investigated carefully to get to the bottom of it. As much as I like Allen's general philosophical positions on most of the issues, I would be troubled if this story is true.
At 9/27/2006 5:37 PM,
Anonymous said…
You guys have been beating up on Senator Allen pretty bad recently and your loyalties are clearly showing. Considering your bias, I appreciate your moderation in withholding judgment and waiting for a more careful examination of the facts. When all this gets sorted out, Senator Allen may not be perfect, but for my money, he comes down on the right side of most of the really important issues. That is the way I feel about it.
At 9/28/2006 8:27 PM,
Anonymous said…
Six named accusers and counting, and now some have other people that back up their stories.
At 9/29/2006 9:28 AM,
Anonymous said…
Wouldn't it be interesting if someone could actually find the family who allegedly got the deer head stuffed in their mailbox. Guess that would be a long shot after all these years.
Some people are trivializing this whole story as not important, but the fact is "character" really does count! And most certainly, how we treat our fellow human beings is about as fundamental as anything I can think of. But, I agree with others who want to get the facts out on the table before jumping to conclusions. Fair is fair.
At 9/30/2006 10:34 AM,
Anonymous said…
The previous writer brings up a very important point. The alleged placement of a severed deer's head in the mail box, if it happened, is not a humorous childish prank. Such acts are pure expressions of aggression and intimidation and are often precursors to acts of physical violence.
It is similar to the symbology of placing a dead fish or a severed horse head on someone's front steps. Most certainly this is not a friendly hello. It means that somebody might get hurt. It is intended to cause fear.
This kind of deplorable behavior is not uncommon with misguided young people and is usually the result of bad parental guidance. Most young people out grow such behavior after experiencing enough negative feed-back from more well adjusted peers as they grow up. Thus the objectionable behavior disappears and is replaced by more socially acceptable ways of expressing aggresion.
Some might find politics as a good way to express aggression in a socially acceptable way I suppose.
At 10/24/2006 9:58 PM,
Anonymous said…
I guess Allen's failure to follow Senate rules concerning financial reporting doesn't matter much consider the Republicans are in charge. That story just seemed to disappear overnight. Rules smules. Who cares?
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