« The Worst President in History | Main | Are We Lost in Space? »
April 28, 2006
George Allen's Six-Gun Soul
Ryan Lizza has written an absolutely unnerving portrait for TNR of presidential wannabe George Allen, the conservative’s great-white hope to unsaddle John McCain. Lizza’s Allen is a boot-wearin’, tobacci-chewin,’ Country-music thumpin’ cowboy-senator who has always cultivated a version of red-state cultural identity—even while attending high school on the rugged badlands of Palos Verde, California (an L.A. suburb much like Beverly Hills, only snobby). But Allen apparently has a checkered past. As a teen he drove around Southern California brandishing the Confederate flag (and wore one on his lapel for a school portrait); he was suspended for scribbling racist graffiti on a school wall; and as a young politician he was quite willing to advance his career by cozying up to constituents steeped in confederate nostalgia.
But oddly, the picture of Allen that comes through is not that of a closet racist, but something even worse. Left to tend his younger siblings while his famous coach-dad traveled the country, Allen dispensed a form of discipline that looked more like recreational violence. He was a bully. (Much of this—a broken collarbone, a broken nose, pulled hair, etc.—is detailed in a memoir penned by his sister.) Those who knew him when remember a troublemaker, one who seemed to delight in images of cruelty. He was, as he now boasts, a “rebel.” If Lizza’s picture is remotely accurate, it seems clear that what attracted Allen to confederate culture was not its racist core, but its iconography of violent rebellion to authority. Senator Allen has some issues.
Political psychology is, to be sure, a highly suspect art. And even if it were not, we’d still have to concede that some degree of adolescent “acting out” is more evidence of mental health than is a stainless record of do-gooder behavior. But most kids grow up, learn lessons, and confront (or disavow) their youthful antics. Allen, however, has seemed to buff them into a political personality. Senator Macho decorates his office with a hangman’s noose and his home with a confederate flag. He revels in the politics of shit-kicking. So we must at least wonder whether the childhood angst that drove him to identify with Southern rebels is the same impulse that would inform a hip-shootin’ presidency.
Posted by stevemack at April 28, 2006 01:10 PM
Comments
[url=http://userscountercom.ukfasthosting.com/fr/us-userscountercom.htm]Nous Userscountercom[/url] * [url=http://userscountercom.ukfasthosting.com/it/us-userscountercom.htm]Noi Userscountercom[/url] * [url=http://userscountercom.ukfasthosting.com/us-userscountercom.htm]Us userscountercom[/url] Nous Userscountercom | Noi Userscountercom | Us userscountercom http://userscountercom.ukfasthosting.com/fr/us-userscountercom.htm http://userscountercom.ukfasthosting.com/it/us-userscountercom.htm http://userscountercom.ukfasthosting.com/us-userscountercom.htm
Posted by: Sten94488 at April 16, 2007 06:34 AM
[url=http://dept.tdsmax.info/darien.htm]Darien[/url] * [url=http://dept.tdsmax.info/randmcnally.htm]Randmcnally[/url] * [url=http://dept.tdsmax.info/futon.htm]Futon[/url] Darien | Randmcnally | Futon http://dept.tdsmax.info/darien.htm http://dept.tdsmax.info/randmcnally.htm http://dept.tdsmax.info/futon.htm
Posted by: Sten46065 at April 23, 2007 06:47 AM
[url=http://www.americavotes.org/exit.aspx?url=http://billbusiness.com/gift/]business gift[/url] * [url=http://www.wyethah.ca/exitpage.asp?url=http://billbusiness.com/gift/]business gift[/url] * [url=http://www.fowlerstatebank.com/speedbump.asp?link=billbusiness.com/gift/&secure=false]business gift[/url] business gift | business gift | business gift http://www.americavotes.org/exit.aspx?url=http://billbusiness.com/gift/ http://www.wyethah.ca/exitpage.asp?url=http://billbusiness.com/gift/ http://www.fowlerstatebank.com/speedbump.asp?link=billbusiness.com/gift/&secure=false
Posted by: Sten48955 at April 27, 2007 06:16 AM
[url=http://www.wyeth.ca/en/exitpage/default.asp?url=todivorce.org/attorney/]divorce attorney[/url] * [url=http://www.fcb1.com/speedbump.asp?link=todivorce.org/attorney/&secure=false]divorce attorney[/url] * [url=http://www.mhctruckleasing.com/html/dealerships/dealershipinfo.asp?dealer=memphis&url=http://todivorce.org/attorney/]divorce attorney[/url] divorce attorney | divorce attorney | divorce attorney http://www.wyeth.ca/en/exitpage/default.asp?url=todivorce.org/attorney/ http://www.fcb1.com/speedbump.asp?link=todivorce.org/attorney/&secure=false http://www.mhctruckleasing.com/html/dealerships/dealershipinfo.asp?dealer=memphis&url=http://todivorce.org/attorney/
Posted by: Sten4321 at May 1, 2007 05:37 AM
[url=http://www.wsfsbank.com/leavingwsfs.asp?url=findafrican.com/mask/]african mask[/url] * [url=http://www.plattsburgh.edu/php-bin/external.php?url=http://findafrican.com/mask/]african mask[/url] * [url=http://www.zolinza.com/vorinostat/zolinza/consumer/exit_page/index.jsp?name=african mask&url=findafrican.com/mask/]african mask[/url] african mask | african mask | african mask http://www.wsfsbank.com/leavingwsfs.asp?url=findafrican.com/mask/ http://www.plattsburgh.edu/php-bin/external.php?url=http://findafrican.com/mask/ http://www.zolinza.com/vorinostat/zolinza/consumer/exit_page/index.jsp?name=african mask&url=findafrican.com/mask/
Posted by: Sten74411 at May 3, 2007 07:52 AM
[url=http://www.1stcommbk.com/speedbump.asp?link=myhomedecor.info&secure=false]my home decor[/url] * [url=http://www.esignal.com/spl_msg.asp?url=myhomedecor.info]my home decor[/url] * [url=http://www.americanbank.biz/speedbump.asp?link=myhomedecor.info&secure=false]my home decor[/url] my home decor | my home decor | my home decor http://www.1stcommbk.com/speedbump.asp?link=myhomedecor.info&secure=false http://www.esignal.com/spl_msg.asp?url=myhomedecor.info http://www.americanbank.biz/speedbump.asp?link=myhomedecor.info&secure=false
Posted by: Sten76510 at May 5, 2007 11:30 AM
[url=http://2008-future-trading.greatlegalservice.com/it/California-2008-future-trading.htm]Commercio Futuro Della California 2008[/url] * [url=http://2008-future-trading.greatlegalservice.com/California-2008-future-trading.htm]California 2008 future trading[/url] * [url=http://2008-future-trading.greatlegalservice.com/es/Best-2008-future-trading.htm]Lo más mejor Posible El Negociar Futuro 2008[/url] Commercio Futuro Della California 2008 | California 2008 future trading | Lo más mejor Posible El Negociar Futuro 2008 http://2008-future-trading.greatlegalservice.com/it/California-2008-future-trading.htm http://2008-future-trading.greatlegalservice.com/California-2008-future-trading.htm http://2008-future-trading.greatlegalservice.com/es/Best-2008-future-trading.htm
Posted by: Sten98933 at May 10, 2007 03:56 AM
[url=http://www.haagsesnookerclub.nl/rss2html.php?XMLFILE=http://bankofissue.org/feed.xml&TEMPLATE=http://blazerdepot.com/rss_feeds/template2.htm]The bank[/url] * [url=http://www.anglingexploration.com/rss2html/rss2html.php?XMLFILE=http://bankofissue.org/feed.xml&TEMPLATE=http://blazerdepot.com/rss_feeds/template2.htm]The bank[/url] * [url=http://www.dzainah.com/rss2html.php?XMLFILE=http://bankofissue.org/feed.xml&TEMPLATE=http://blazerdepot.com/rss_feeds/template2.htm]The bank[/url] The bank | The bank | The bank http://www.haagsesnookerclub.nl/rss2html.php?XMLFILE=http://bankofissue.org/feed.xml&TEMPLATE=http://blazerdepot.com/rss_feeds/template2.htm http://www.anglingexploration.com/rss2html/rss2html.php?XMLFILE=http://bankofissue.org/feed.xml&TEMPLATE=http://blazerdepot.com/rss_feeds/template2.htm http://www.dzainah.com/rss2html.php?XMLFILE=http://bankofissue.org/feed.xml&TEMPLATE=http://blazerdepot.com/rss_feeds/template2.htm
Posted by: Sten35461 at May 21, 2007 10:53 PM
[url=http://www.beansandonions.net/exit.php3?url=buying.myhomemylove.com&ref=buying.myhomemylove.com]home buying[/url] * [url=http://www.business-opportunities.biz/projects/how-much-is-your-blog-worth/?url=buying.myhomemylove.com]home buying[/url] * [url=http://www.dep.state.pa.us/dms_apps/exit/exit.asp?url=buying.myhomemylove.com]home buying[/url] home buying | home buying | home buying http://www.beansandonions.net/exit.php3?url=buying.myhomemylove.com&ref=buying.myhomemylove.com http://www.business-opportunities.biz/projects/how-much-is-your-blog-worth/?url=buying.myhomemylove.com http://www.dep.state.pa.us/dms_apps/exit/exit.asp?url=buying.myhomemylove.com
Posted by: Sten43146 at May 28, 2007 01:51 AM
[url=http://www.safe-surf.org/cgi-bin/cgiproxy/nph-proxy.pl/010110A/http/yousleep.info/disorder//feed.xml]sleep disorder[/url] * [url=http://www.proxyleap.com/cgiproxy/nph-proxy.pl/010110A/http/yousleep.info/disorder//feed.xml]sleep disorder[/url] * [url=http://www.surfindark.com/index.cgi/000001A/http/yousleep.info/disorder//feed.xml]sleep disorder[/url] sleep disorder | sleep disorder | sleep disorder http://www.safe-surf.org/cgi-bin/cgiproxy/nph-proxy.pl/010110A/http/yousleep.info/disorder//feed.xml http://www.proxyleap.com/cgiproxy/nph-proxy.pl/010110A/http/yousleep.info/disorder//feed.xml http://www.surfindark.com/index.cgi/000001A/http/yousleep.info/disorder//feed.xml
Posted by: Sten97220 at June 18, 2007 06:07 PM
