Senator Allen: Are you a racist?
Published by Mike Stark August 25th, 2006 in UncategorizedWell, that’s almost what I asked him today.
The Jim Webb campaign has video of this, but I’m afraid they won’t release it. Us riff-raff in the general public are just too mean, I guess… Never mind - hopefully I’ll have audio. With my student loans, I bought a new Mac and an IPod… I recorded the audio with the IPod in my pocket. If the sounds of pocket rubbing against microphone aren’t too overbearing, I should be able to post audio of this exchange later on today…
Anyway, what happened, right?
Well, I’m in C’ville, law school has started and I’m gonna live here for three more years. That makes Senator Allen my Senator. From his website, I found that he was doing a “listening tour” and that he was going to be in my neck of the woods - in Staunton, VA, 40 miles outside of C’ville. I decided to take the day off from classes (I only missed two) and go visit the Senator.
The first event was a Chamber of Commerce luncheon. I paid my $20 and took my seat. I counted 75 white people and not a single monority. Not even an Asian. lol…
The Senator gave his speech - during which he looked at a guy with a giant television camera and said “Who are you?” - making the entire room break up in hearty laughter… because, you know, making jokes to a roomful of white people about racist comments you made last week is the surest sign of contrition…
So he talked. At the end, he took three questions. I wasn’t one of the questioners…
Instead, I hung about till the room had almost emptied. People were having their picture taken with the Senator when I went up to an underdressed guy with a camera and asked if he was documenting the event for the Allen campaign. He said no, that he was with the Webb campaign… I told him to put his still camera away and get out his video camera.
At about this time, the picture taking was breaking up as the Senator explained that he had something to do. I walked up to him and said, “If you don’t mind Senator, I’ll walk with you. You know, you gave a great speech, but given the events in the news, some people back at the law school, I’m sure would like to know the answers to some different questions. Have you ever used the word ‘nigger’?”
Allen: “Oh, c’mon… sheesh…”
Campaign staff: “Who are you - I need to ask you to leave…”
Me: “it’s a simple question that deserves an answer - and it’s easy to answer”
Allen: “no… no…”
Me: “Well, can you explain why you kept a confederate flag and a noose in your office?”
Campaign staff: “who are you with - you’ve got to go - is this an interview?”
Me: (to campaign staff) “Are you hotel management? Then you can’t ask me to leave and I won’t. These are easy questions.”
Allen: “Listen - just let me do this here, and then I’ll answer you’re question about the flag and the noose.”
Me: “ok” and I stand aside.
Campaign staff fetches Hotel manager, hotel manager asks me to leave, I leave. Capaign staff follows me to my car, takes license plate number.
I go to the next scheduled event - a meet and greet in downtown Staunton. There, a reporter catches up with me. Asks me about myself and my questions. I answer everything truthfully.
We find out Allen cancels the rest of his public events for that day.
If the audio is decent, I’ll post it tonight.
BTW - the best part of this story is that the “thing” Allen had to do was to talk to the local press. Everything that transpired happened right in front of them. The thing we need to remember is that these reporters do it for a job. They aren’t you and me - they don’t follow every minute detail of every politicians life. These folks probably had no idea Allen kept a noose and a Confederate flag in his office… now they know.
46 Responses to “Senator Allen: Are you a racist?”
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Great stuff, Mike. I’m envious of your chutzpah! Good thing he didn’t drag you upstairs by your hair!
Mike, is it hard to find pants big enough to fit your balls in?
At one time, Sen. Allen was considered by the GOP Right to be the next Great White Hope, a True Believer in the mode of George Bush, but a heckuva lot smarter, and hence more dangerous. Fortunately, his racist opinions are coming to light, and aided by his own stupid “macaca” statements and efforts of those like the Webb campaign, and now our own Mike Stark, this bigot is (hopefully) going down in flames. Hooray, and thanks Mike! Who’d a thunk that your transplant to Virginia would result in the public trashing of this wonderful bastion of Southern gentility?
Keep it up! I’ll chip in for the wheelbarrow to carry your nuts around in!
I’ll respectfully disagree on this one. You asked him if he’s ever said nigger. Everybody has said nigger, Mike. You might just as well have asked him if he’s ever masturbated. I can see why his people would think that you might be a nutcase or somebody looking for trouble.
I wonder if you’d have gotten an answer had you asked, “Are you a racist?”
Focks Security sort of has a point, but it’s beside the point.
Either way -
“Mike, is it hard to find pants big enough to fit your balls in?”
Yea, no kidding.
Thank you for doing this kind of stuff. These people deserve it. They’ve bullied, intimidated, spun, and done callous, greedy deeds their whole lives and you’re doing your small part in calling them on it.
Excellent work.
Fuck George Allen. Racist prick.
I’m not sure asking Allen if he used the word ‘nigger’ was anything more than an obvious attempt at entrapment. I wonder if perhaps all of us at one time or another have not used this word, black and whites both. And if you answer ‘yes’ to this question, which many of us would, it still does not prove you are a racist.
I think the mentioning of the word “macaca” is clearly evidence that he is insensitive and quite likely racist himself, but expecting anything other than being blacklisted by his campaign for asking such a question is wishful thinking, and a good way to keep from ever being able to ask Allen any real questions when, and if, he decides to run for President.
Mike–
DeanFan84 aka Ed here in Connecticut. (we played poker in Vegas.) Well, I love you man! What an inspiration to all of us…
CTBob & CTBlogger want to know if they can buy you a video camera. Would have paid $1,000’s to have seen Allen caught on film…
Good luck with law school.
Mike…
Do you beat your wife?
Have you ever used the the “N” word in conversation or in asking questions?
Just curious……
YES !!! Great Job, I’ll be watching for follow ups from news items!
Mike,buddy,you are one sharp SOB.
I mean that in the most glowing and respectful way too.
Focks,you make a good point there.but I think the question served it’s purpose,to put Allen off his game. IT was something he knew he couldn’t answer truthfully,and unlike the “macaca” incident,has no prepared spin for. Thus you get either two solutions.
1) A complete avoidance of the question.
2) An angered response likely to further illustrate his racist mindset.
Either way,it put his sorry butt on the spot,which he needed to be.
Since he made that statement I cant stop thinking of his stumping as some kind of traveling minstrel show. I’m waiting for someone to pop out in blackface.
Great job Mike! Met you at the Lamont primary night but didn’t know it was you until I saw the Hannity sign posted the next day - keep it up!!!
Yeah, you’ve achieved Code Pinkian status in the bum rush the politician arena. Your parents must be so proud. Skipped classes/first year law school?
Thanks Mike For taking an aggressive approach to dealing with the Right. I think that this whole “we’ll maintain our civility’ stance by many is bull-puckey.We need to spontaneously respond in the manner that seems appropriate. When they go macaca then confront the racist asshole in the manner they deserve, not the Kerry high road, that is mistaken for or may just be weakness. When I am confronted by idiocy or bigotry I no longer try gentle persuasion, it’s lost on most people!
Agitator,
Mike asked an appropriate question. You may be thinking of a “complex question” with a no win answer. Example would be “Do you still refer to black persons as niggers?” or “Are you still beating your wife?” Answering no would suggest you did such things in the past.
Granted, a more appropriate and honest question would have been “Have you ever referred to a black person as a nigger?” It removes innocent instances such as where one could be talking about a Richard Pryer concert.
The KEY point was the that he never kept his promise to talk to Mike after he “did his thing”.
Have you ever used the word ‘nigger’?”
For me its a simple answer: “yes, i’ve used the word but never to describe someone. I’ve used for example, in the same way you just used it, discussing it as a word. It makes me uncomfortable to say it and if I need to say it I usually say ‘the n word.’ ”
It would have been simple for Allen to answer it just as I answered above.
I don’t think the first question was very relevant or meaningful. The second, however, about the confederate flag and noose was completely fair game. Too bad you didn’t lead with this one. Good luck in C’ville. I almost went there myself for law school; part of me wishes I had.
Mike, I agree with the post above that is a little critical of your asking about the N-word. (Although, I am in awe of your guts and tenacity, Dude. Man, keep it up!)
If Allen used a hateful term from another language, like Muneca (with the tilde on the n), which means faggot in Spanish, it could be construed as a slip, that is, unless the speaker knew spanish and thus knew what the term meant. Then it would not matter what language was used; what would matter was the use of the racist (or hateful) term.
I think a better question would have been, “Knowing the French language as you do (i.e., from college and from his mother, who, as I understand it, spoke French at home when Felix was a pup), didn’t you know what macaca meant?”
The underplayed part of this whole thing has been Allen’s clear linguistic knowledge and the almost implicit certainty that he either learned the term at home or from other francophone racists.
I honestly think that this macaca incident might be sufficient to derail Allen’s political career, and I don’t see how that could ever be a bad thing.
It would be nice if Allen went down in flames for this, but being known as a racist, brown-people-lynching bigot might actually help a guy running for election around there.
Those were some pretty simple yes-or-no questions, though. I wonder if Allen’s audiences are as carefully screened as Bush’s… if so, you’re blacklisted for sure!
Jeez… can’t some places find a little more decent people to represent them? My Senator is Conrad Burns…
Sen Allen is a liar and a bigot and deserves the respect that position brings. You see, not being white brings a different perspective on bigotry. Thanks for calling him on his rascism, Mike.
The real question I would like to ask Sen Allen:
Sir, why did you automatically assume that this young man was not native to Virginia? Why did you, a man not born in Virginia …get the audacity to invite a native born Virginian to the state? Why haven’t you apologized for that rudeness?
Mikey,
Cool audio! I have some audio you might like at my site, too!
Thank Me Very Much
Thank Me!
YARR.
Give them no quarter, Mike. They deserve as much as they give, and they serve it up by the bucketload.
Open up, Sen. Allen. It’s time for your feeding.
Racist prick, indeed.
estherc - I don’t think the question is easy to answer. There is no honest answer apart from “yes” for any person who speaks English. Yet if he gave the answer you gave he’d be quoted as “Sen. Allen admits to using the N-word”.
Sure it’s important to not let something like this slide. However certain tactics are either fair or unfair. They can’t be unfair when Mr Limbaugh uses them, and fair when we are using them. I think it’s important to stick to honest and fair debate, it makes it much easier to expose people like Limbaugh or Rumsfeld.
Mike,
I hope you are taking the time to also expose the racist Democrats alive in our society today. Prominent men and women such as Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Ernest Hollings, Dan Rather, Robert Byrd, and Mary Berry.
Next time one of them is in Virginia, make sure you stop by and ask them a few questions. Do a little research to find out how each of these people contributed to keeping racism alive and well in America.
Racism is not Republican or Democrat. It has no party affiliation, but keep trying to make it appear Democrats are without fault.
Phil,
when any of those people ask for my vote, I’ll research their records…
until then, read this: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/8/30/125558/900
Mike,
Nice answer to try to spin the issue. Are you not a registered Democrat? Are the people I mentioned not Democrat Senators? Enough said.
Oh, Mike has such big balls- Oh, Mike is such a brilliant future lawyer- Oh, Mike, how do you even fit in your pants… your my hero.
Oh, by the way Mike, the adults paying attention to the story, both on the Rep. and Dem. side see right through your out-of-line question and as you should already know, the race card will NOT be played in this election. For all the posts suggesting that Allen is a racist/biggot, I think that your simple dislike of him as a person, politician, or Republican seems to give you enough evidence to indict!
Mike,
You SOB (smiling) I heard about this story and had no idea it was you.
I should’ve known!!!!!!!!!
Great job,
Tony
Wow! I’ve heard the N- word from people who love their N-s. I thought racism had something to do with believing in the superiority of one indivdual over another based on nothing but their race…… The N- word question is as irrelevant as most of the things you do on this site.
Aww Mike!
You got Allen’s pom-pom girls to come on and do their thing!
Which is bitch and moan about having their neocon tactics used agaisnt them.
It’s a beautiful thing man!
Yakki-
What, exactly, is a neocon tactic? I think that you need to open your eyes and realize that most people, Dems or Reps, don’t advocate entrapment! I think that your hero, Mike, should coin a new term, neolibs, for those liberal democrats that choose to use the conservative republican’s fighting tactics! I think the pot is calling the kettle bl… um discolored!
Mike, my question to you is: can you find anyone who hasn’t used the word nigger?
Its nice to see someone ‘Swift-boated’ who actually deserved it. Now I hear his former team-mates are confirming that he is indeed a racist prick (and hopefully my former Senator).t.b.
Wow, I haven’t visited the website since “Stockholm Syndrome”. I was just about to take it off my favorites list, but boy, you’ve been busy, Mike!
As usual another idiot liberal, if I was the candidate I would have knocked you out. Jerk!
Mike, thank me for the video of you being body slammed at the Allen event! I have tears in my eyes!
http://thankmeverymuch.blogspot.com/2006/11/mike-stark-slammed-to-floor-by-allen.html
Thank Me!
FAKE ‘WHITES’ PASSING FOR ‘GOOD OL’ BOYS’ ARE GIVING WHITE AMERICANS A BAD NAME
There is racism in America, we must admit that. Yet, when FAKE ‘Whites’ whose loyalty is to an entity in the Middle East, or whose agenda is to divide America (as in the case of ‘pseudo-conservative’ talk radio and cable Faux tv) can PASS for ‘Good Ol’ Boys) spitting tobacco and using comments seen as racist — then good Anglo-Saxon/Germanic White Americans have to ask whether to be accepted as ‘white’ in America, a ‘pseudo’ white has to revert to the racist attitude of the past.
Hipocracy in politics and ‘passing’ for white conservative ( as one sees in the case of one person in Orange County who sends literature to confuse Mexican voters) is being allowed to go on unchallenged. One sees this in Tennessee by one (who may truely be a Good Ol’ Boy) but is in no way a Rockefella Repub — BUT A NEO-DIXIECRAT (DIXIEPUBLICAN).
The use of ‘Birth of a Nation’ segregationist, ultraracist, subliminal and blatent race-tinged propaganda to corrupt voters is part of this racist attack reminiscent of the Jim Crow Days, as one sees in “A History of Racism and Terrorism, Rebellion and Overcoming,” pub. by Xlibris.com .
It is about time that good White Americans take these politicians to task and ask them the hard questions. “Why are you trying to pass for ‘white’ by changing your name, using anti-Black comments and trying to fool people to believe you are conservative by using racist tactics?”
You know what I hate? I hate it when people like “Tom” say that black (or white) people are playing the race card. What in the FUCK is that supposed to mean, anyway? But let’s be real, here, Tom. You are probably a white guy. Because not even conservative blacks use the phrase “playing the race card.” Why? Because it’s not a card when you’ve been sent to integrate a white affluent high school clear across town from your neighborhood, and you have to deal with ignorant ass people calling you “nigger” and starting shit with you. It’s not a card when you’ve worked your ass off to go to a prestigious southern (predominantly white) university, just to have ignorant ass white fraternity boys dance around in blackface at one of their parties. It sure the hell isn’t “playing the race card” when I called a college admissions director racist for asking “What’s the salsa factor” for a college applicant who checked her ethnicity as Hispanic (basically the question meant “how Hispanic his this person?). And it for damn sure isn’t playing a card when ass-backward hillbillies on a “homeowner’s association” board harass you and harass you until you say “fuck it,” and give up your piece of the American Dream. Those things have happened to me, and I’m pretty sure they’ve never happened to you. You sitting there, telling us that we’re playing the race card, and that we’re just too race-sensitive (or accusing us of racism ourselves), is like a fat person sitting at home, watching children starve on the television, and saying “awww…it’s not that bad–at least they’re skinny!” That shit pisses me off, because who are you to tell ME that racism doesn’t exist when I’ve been on the receiving end of racism? And because I feel this way, you’re probably going to accuse me of so-called “reverse racism,” but you can fuck off. I’ve spent my entire life trying to get white America to accept me: I went to white schools, moved into white neighborhoods, married a white man, and until recently, refused to engage in dialogue about race because I was afraid of being branded an “angry black woman,” or being accused of “playing the race card.” Now, I say fuck it (surprisingly at my husband’s urging). I am a woman. I am black. And I am ANGRY about racism in this country. So if that makes me an angry black woman, so be it. I think it just makes me intelligent.
Thank you, Mike Stark, for your tough questions, and for your own honest answers about racism.
what were you thinking???
did you honestly think that Senator Allen would answer your question??
these people are going to start to think that you are stalking him and then what would you do if you are sitting in jail, trying to prove your point. sometimes sitting on the sideline taking it all in, then using common sense to think of a way to get your point across would be alot more profitable then getting handcuffed. think then act!!!
George Allen got what he deserved: A BIG LOSS !!! HA HA HA
I never knew he was that much of a PRICK. Thanks for showing everyone the true nature of this guy !!!! Take care my friend