Tuesday, August 15, 2006

The allen thing   [Rich Lowry]

Two thoughts:

—I find it hard to believe that he was trying to speak a coded racist language with his listeners. I do, however, think Allen has a mean streak that showed here. If you are going to single out a 20-year old kid working for an opposing campaign, you better do it with a real light touch that seems to have been lacking in this case (I haven't actually seen the episode, because You Tube is down).

—An experienced politician operating at this level is simply not allowed to make gaffes like this. Yes, some of the commentary might be unfair; yes, the media coverage might be over-blown, etc., etc. But this is a blatant unforced error, and to make a mistake with the slightest tinge of race about it is doubly damaging for Allen. This will be in the backs of the minds of Republican primary voters for a long time to come.

08/15 03:29 PMShare