Prediction: George Allen, Virgina Senator, Republican presidential hopeful, is toast. Why? Because he used a bit of French slang, “macaca,” the equivalent of “nigger,” for an Indian-American volunteer in his opponent’s campaign? Because of new revelations from his old football teammates that he used to stick to plain old “nigger” as a favorite slur? Because he’s a Confederate flag waver? Because he characterized questions about his Jewish background as “aspersions” cast upon his character? Nah. If Allen was an ordinary Republican, he could probably shove all this under the rug. The difference here is that for Allen to catch up to the McCain, he has to run as the Christian Right’s preferred candidate. And the Christian Right — the pro-Israel, pro-”racial reconciliation” Christian Right — doesn’t want a wanna-be cracker (Allen’s from California) carrying its flag. The liberal blogs, Salon, and now the mainstream media (AP) have been making hay out of Allen’s bigotry, but the media that matters in this case won’t be public. It’ll be email. It’ll be telephone calls. It’ll be the quiet, behind-the-scenes conferencing by Christian Right powerbrokers who are about to pull the rug out from Allen.
