If it’s Sunday, it’s Allen and Webb

Political junkies across the Commonwealth and the nation will rise and shine at 9am this Sunday morning, when Senator George Allen and his Democratic opponent, former Navy Secretary Jim Webb square off on NBC's Meet the Press. It will be the first time the two candidates have debated publicly. The first debate was hosted by the Virginia Bar Association at their annual convention at The Homestead, but was not allowed to be televised.

It could be a key point in a race that's proving to be tighter than most pundits expected. Following "Macaca-gate," Allen's lead has slipped from 12 percentage points in July down to just four with a four percent margin of error in the most recent Mason-Dixon poll.

The informal, hour-long debate will be moderated by Meet the Press host Tim Russert, as part of the program's ongoing series of senatorial debates. It's hard to forecast how the veteran Washington reporter will steer the debate, but one might expect that the two candidates' recent spats over Webb's use of Ronald Reagan in a campaign ad and a 1979 article of Webb's entitled "Women Can't Fight" about the place of women at the U.S. Naval Academy will be discussed.

The following day, Allen and Webb will debate again at the Hilton in McLean where the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce will host the candidates. That tussle will be moderated by ABC News' George Stephanopoulos.


I don't think the vegetable's been abandoned.

You wanna debate? Debate the wisdom of voting for anyone other than George Allen who served Charlottesville so ably for all those years in the 1980s and 1990s in the House of Delegates. So his sister says he was a bully in her book about growing up in that family? So what? I say, "Bully for him!"

That last comment reads like some sort of blather from some locally-obsessed nerd who took his laptop on vacation.

Any time an Allen supporter actually brings up potentially damaging material on their own is fine by me.

Just watched the debate. Webb looked competent but only okay. Luckily, Allen looked like a grade-A weasel nitwit.

Webb looked like his head was about to form into a pencial point. He looked furious. I half expected him to sucker-punch Allen.

The incumbent, meanwhile, couldn't give a straight answer to save his soul. Tim Russert could have asked Allen, "what day is it?" And Allen's response would have been some variation of "I'll need to examine all the facts before I can answer that."

What a couple of constipated rubes. Are these truly the best candidates the two major parties can field in Virginia? The thought of an affirmative answer makes me ill.

Incidentally, Allen's dancing around the whole "Macaca" issue is just laughable. Claims he didn't know it was a racist comment? Bull$hit. When the man was govenor, the Allen family had a pet cat -- a black cat, no less -- and Allen named it "Buckwheat." That is a well-known fact among the political cognoscenti around Richmond.

Wow ! "Buckwheat" for a cat's name......crucify him ! Let President Clinton commit perjury under sworn oath and the whiners in the Hook readership will defend him to death. Say "Macaca" (whatever that means) and get yourselves in a tizzy over it. How come we don't see the same indignation when liberals call the Md. Lt. Governor "an Uncle Tom" or use
'Aunt Jemima" to describe U.S. Secretary of State Condi Rice ?

Because the liberals who run and read the Hook are hypocrites.

And yet you are reading the Hook -- or at least wasting our time with your nonsensical rantings on this blog.

It is saddening to see such arrogance and ignorance comingling in your mind. Indeed: what is your point? Surprise us and say you have one.

The point is that people only see what they want to see and disregard what doesn't support their viewpoint.

I note that you didn't answer my "nonsensical rant' , Cinematic Steve. When the facts are against you, accuse Republicans conservatives, or dissenters of arrogance and ignorance. God forbid someone offer a different point of view or disagree with this blog.

I won't stop to your level, CS, and accuse you of being a moron. The point, since you can't figure it out, is that the liberal media (like many of the posters on this blog) can dish it out to Allen, but don't apply the same standards to their fellow travelers. Hypocrisy, thy name is the Hook.

Seek help. You are an angry and disturbed little man.
