George,

Not only is George Allen a bully and a racist--something no amount of spin can hide--he is also a lap dog for our failed president, having voted in lock step with him 97% of the time. As if we needed more reasons to throw him out the Senate.

His apologists have tried to deny his long history of racism, including his well known affection for symbols of the Confederacy and hanging nooses. However, they cannot deny his Macaca comment and his lies about it simply meaning "mohawk" given that his mother is of French Tunisian descent. He likely grew up hearing that very ugly racial slur used regularly in his home.

George Allen is also a man who his own sister has alleged threw his younger brother through a plate glass window on one occasion and tormented her sadistically while growing up. Classic bully behavior consistent with targeting a citizen of Virginia from a minority background for ridicule in front of a white audience.

George Allen is an embarrassment to our great Commonwealth and the sooner he is sent packing, the better. As I have said before, Jim Webb is not the perfect Democrat in my view but he will be a huge improvement over Allen. I urge every reasonable Virginian to support Jim Webb.

Jeff Fracher (electronic mail, August 22, 2006)