Informed Speculation

In a widely watched and increasingly ugly race, Virginia Senator George Allen remains pretty steady in the latest results from Survey USA, and supporters of challenger James Webb who have been playing the race card are starting to get hit by the inevitable boomerang, as Webb declined to directly answer whether the N-word ever played a role in his vocabulary:

Also Tuesday, Allen’s Democratic opponent, Jim Webb, declined to say definitively whether he had ever used a racial slur to describe blacks.

“I don’t think that there’s anyone who grew up around the South that hasn’t had the word pass through their lips at one time or another in their life,” Webb told reporters.

Webb referred to his novel, “Fields of Fire,” which aides said includes passages using the n-word as part of character dialogue. But he added: “I have never issued a racial or ethnic slur.”

Asked for clarification of his original answer, spokeswoman Jessica Smith quoted Webb as saying, “I have never used that word in my general vocabulary or in any derogatory way.”

She declined to say whether he had ever used the word apart from when he wrote his book.

That Webb is being asked the question is ridiculous and fair; ridiculous because it is far from relevant to the issues these men should be discussing, but fair because of the progressive smear campaign underway against Allen.  Personally (call me a dreamer) I would like to see a joint statement from both camps attempting to move to a higher plane, away from decades-old allegations and towards the real problems and solutions facing Virginians and Americans today.

However, as I see no pigs flying…