So much has been written about this that I can’t tolerate it. I am beginning to agree that this is near fatal to Allen’s Presidential hopes. The reason is not that he’s a racist. It is that it continues to highlight questions about him:
- Is Allen smart enough to be President? One of the standard talking points about George Allen has been that he just isn’t that smart. I have been told this by leading conservative journalists. In response to this, I have gotten the answer from very serious people that, “the press said Ronald Reagan was dumb too. They were wrong then too.” I don’t think that anyone can possibily compare Allen to Reagan again. Reagan had grace, Allen was mean. Reagan could communicate, Allen cannot, even 3 and 4 days after the fact.
- Is Allen mature enough to be President? What kind of guy attacks one person in the audience? This guy wants to be President. He should be talking about his message, not attacking people. He looked like a bully.
Ultimately, these questions will kill him in the next 18-month long pre-primary. Hell, they might just kill him in his re-election. See the latest Rasmussen poll where he is only up 5. (H/T The Plank)
Therefore, the question is where will people go? David Adesnik at OxBlog recommends Brownback. A recent Human Events article recently argued that it should be Gingrich (over Romney). The conservative movement has attacked Huckabee pretty aggressively.
Where do they go?
2 Comments
Charlie Cook says Allen “is no longer a real contender” at eyeon08.com · August 21, 2006 at 1:31 PM
[…] I hinted at some of these reasons before here. […]
On McCain being a frontrunner at eyeon08.com · August 21, 2006 at 10:33 PM
[…] Is the Blogosphere going to make a big difference? Can they outbuzz someone with 100% name ID, great popularity, etc.? Can they pick up on something stupid? Sure. But we aren’t dealing with someone like Allen who just wasn’t read for prime time. So the question is, does McCain have a strategy? And can he actually win? […]
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