Political Oddities

Would You Prefer a Racist or a Sexist Senator?

The Virginia brawl continues, as Salon digs up more stories of racism from George Allen's glory days on the football field and the neoconservative Weekly Standard disavows him for failing to embrace his own ethnic heritage. Meanwhile, "progressive" blogs have been mute about Jim Webb's history of sexism as partisan politics trumps "progressive" values yet again. Without actually living in Virginia, it's impossible to know how this is playing out with the voters, but we're guessing the next poll will show Allen up slightly and Webb down a good 3 or 4 points. The reason is simple: Studies show Republicans are racists at heart, but Democrats aren't, or aren't supposed to be, sexists. Allen emerged unscathed from his "macaca moment." What we don't know yet is how Webb's decidedly unchivalrous remark about "horny women" is playing among Virginians.

No, Wallace Hadn't Asked

Bill Clinton asked Chris Wallace whether he'd ever posed these questions to any Bushies:

WALLACE: I want to ask a question. You don’t think that’s a legitimate question?
CLINTON: It was a perfectly legitimate question, but I want to know how many people in the Bush administration you asked this question of.
I want to know how many people in the Bush administration you asked, Why didn’t you do anything about the Cole?
I want to know how many you asked, Why did you fire Dick Clarke?
I want to know how many people you asked…
WALLACE: We asked — we asked…
CLINTON: I don’t…
WALLACE: Do you ever watch Fox News Sunday, sir?
CLINTON: I don’t believe you asked them that.
WALLACE: We ask plenty of questions of…
CLINTON: You didn’t ask that, did you? Tell the truth, Chris.
WALLACE: About the USS Cole?
CLINTON: Tell the truth, Chris.
WALLACE: With Iraq and Afghanistan, there’s plenty of stuff to ask.

Think Progress found the answers: Wallace never asked about Clarke, and never asked about the Cole. So, Wallace lied to keep up Fox's absurd pretense of impartiality. Go figure.