Guilty

There are not too many public controversies that don't have a Mel Brooks moment. That is, a moment when one has to harken back to some hilarious scene from one of his many hilarious movies.

After the last week of despicable charges from the Webb campaign and/or his nutroots contingent, one even has a choice. Personally, I'm torn between two musical numbers. Personally, I feel like Madeline Kahn must have felt during her musical number, "I'm Tired," in Blazing Saddles. But one guesses that Senator George Allen and his staffers are mindful of the great production number from History of the World, Part I: "The Inquisition" ("Hey, Torquemada, what do ya say? 'I just got back from the auto-de-fe...."), particularly Jackie Mason's role in a ping-pong game.

Of course, among the funniest moments of the former movie --- ones that don't translate well into this unfortunate PC age, where cable TV stations expurgate the word --- are those dealing with Cleavon Little as the Sheriff. A black sheriff?!?! Well, the townspeople don't see it that way; the word "nigger" is used liberally.

And yes, I'm going to actually use the word. Gee, I guess my political opponents can now accuse me of using it. Oh, foresooth! In that context, of course, Mel Brooks was using it to make fun of the ignorance of racism. That was the point, after all. And I'm merely quoting him. Does that mean I've used what various White Liberals are calling "the n-word"? Oh, my!

And I'll use it again. After all, there are plenty of books around which use it. Heavens to betsy, I even read two books in high school (no, not George Lincoln Rockwell High) with the word in the title: Nigger, and Up from Nigger, autobiographies by comedian and civil rights activist Dick Gregory. I had heard him speak at Bloomsburg State College (now, Bloomsburg University), and was impressed. Pretty good books, too.

I have no idea whether George Allen used the word in college. My God, perhaps he took an English course on Joseph Conrad, and read The Nigger of the Narcissus! Maybe he even saw Blazing Saddles in a theatre, and dared to laugh at it. Frankly, I don't much care at this point. What I care about are the policies he advocates. Are they racist? Only in the fertile imaginations of the race hustlers.

Democrats are running a despicable, race-baiting campaign against Senator Allen, and it's abundantly clear that they are doing so to conceal the fact that their candidate is so utterly lacking in substance. It's long past time when they should be called out on it and condemned for it.

For it's not just George Allen they're hurting. It's Virginia, and the nation.

Of course, that's a natural consequence of a Liberal's election.