Why hasn’t the media focused on Jim Webb’s racial history, such as chasing black people around in a pick-up truck.

...

I could, with our hosts' indulgence, post the entire report. Perhaps Mr. Tano would like to speak with the attorney who wrote it -- or even accompany me to Zambia to interview the widow?

But would he break out from his cliches even then?

*I left out the word "allegedly" because none of the Allen critics used it

A Denver lawyer decided to dig up some dirt on a local politician who had spent some time in Africa. He hired a Zambian lawyer to find some dirt. The Zambian lawyer (surprise) wrote a report alledging some dirt.

A docket was opened because of a complaint - from the paid investigating lawyer, not apparantly from anyone involved in the accident.

The non-existence of any charges being filed is spun to leave an impression of guilt instead of the obvious implication - that there was no reason for charges to be filed.

When the attempted smear doesnt get picked up, for it obviously flunks the smell test, then blame the "biased media"

Title this piece: Anatomy of an Incompetent, and Unsuccessful Political Hit Job

So far, so bad. For his part, Senator Allen has produced at least five witnesses to attest that he did no such thing. Now let’s leave the Virginia Senate race and go to Colorado.

In 1987, Democratic Gubernatorial candidate Bill Ritter – then a state prosecutor – left his job to run a non-governmental agency in Zambia, Africa. Ritter returned to Colorado a hero and was appointed Denver’s District Attorney in 1993.

HEADLINE: GOVERNOR NAMES DARK HORSE DA PROSECUTOR RITTER'S MISSION IN AFRICA CITED AS A FACTOR IN CHOOSING NON-POLITICAL CANDIDATE (Rocky Mountain News, May 28, 1993)

Two months ago, the Denver Post reported the following in a background piece on candidate for Governor Ritter: "Barely a year into his service, he accidentally killed a man - an episode he rarely talks about and didn't bring up in multiple interviews with The Denver Post until asked."

Ritter explained that the death was accidental, his explanation was accepted, and the story died.

Then a Denver attorney decided to contact an attorney in Zambia to look into it. The Zambian attorney retraced the incident, the documents, the details. In a formal report, he claimed that Ritter had been speeding. He wrote that the widow of the man Bill Ritter killed, “complained bitterly that Mr. Ritter was not prosecuted and that no proper explanation was ever given by the Police or the Courts as to why Mr. Ritter was not prosecuted. She also complained about the family not having been compensated after the death of her husband.”

The report continued: “a police docket, or file was opened, to investigate the matter” and take action under a formal complaint. But, no charges were ever filed and “the docket and all other records of the case went missing in very suspicious circumstances.”

Bill Ritter worked for a very important non-governmental organization at a time when Zambia suffered under authoritarian one-party rule. Ritter left Zambia early and returned home to Colorado where he used his work in Africa to help him secure his first political office.

Democratic candidate for Governor Ritter has never produced a witness to corroborate his story. And strange for a lawyer, Ritter has never produced a single document to clear his name. You would think a prosecutor with political ambitions would have kept some document to clear his name – if one existed.

But Bill Ritter doesn’t have to, because the press has taken his uncorroborated word on the matter. Members of the Denver media are on record as saying “it was an accident” and refuse to ask Ritter for documentation or even call the Zambian attorney who wrote the report.

A naughty word said, a man killed. A Senate race in Virginia, a Governor’s race in Colorado. One a Republican, one a Democrat. Strange how these things work. I know what my conservative friends would call it. Maybe they’re on to something?

You are truly the most insufferable prig I've seen in a decade of being online. Reading your posts makes me nauseous.

break break

One named fella and two anonymous ones 35 years ago are just now recalling the Senator saying some rude words. Unbelieveable. Really - I don't believe a word of it. As pathetic as this is, it is compounded by the Democrats' inability to judge Webb by the same yardstick... I guarantee you were he running for the other team the Democrat slime squad would have little sexist/ racist gotchas in spades.

Oops. I said "spades." Better stay out of politics.

Larry Sabato, not a left partisan, just came on Hardball and told Matthews that Allen is lying when he says he never used th N word and basically admitted that he's heard Allen use it himself.

It may be all over but the counting.

Rest assured, I wont vote for you. Its a question of ones capacity for extending respect - a character issue. If you respect all people (excluding actual criminals or terrorists), then you might be a good representative of ALL the people in your constiuency. Granted, thats not necessarily a widespread virtue, but hey - we should be looking for the best amongst us for positions of power.

But I wont vote for your tormenters either, if thats any consolation.

So clearly, uttering any insult about anyone at anytime in the past should/should not disqualify a person for public office regardless of the actual record of representation.

Anderson: True. Still, it's mighty convenient that we're first hearing this stuff 35 years after the fact. Most of the Swift Boaters' charges against Kerry had been made decades before, at least.

I have decided to stop equivocating and say it outright: George Allen is, in the PoliBlog vernacular as it pertains to the nomination process, toast. I am not willing to call the Senate race, but I am willing to state that he isn’t going to get...

Passing sociological note:
It is good to see that the term "swiftboating" is now accepted, even by Republicans, as meaning an utterly dishonest smear job. Small consolation of course....

I'm sure Webb's military record will compare very unfavorably to the gallant George Felix Allen's.

George has a problem. It's not just one incident but a long string of...shall we say coincidences?

You can Google Shelton all you want and trace his politcal donations. Didn't work against Bob Perry did it? He's an anti-tobacco doctor? Now that's just scandalous. Shelton is not the only one making the accusation anyway.