George Allen - Under Fire For Rumors Of Using "N-Word" In Past

Senator George Allen's under attack regarding race and yet again. This time an old classmate comes along reporting that he used the N-word in the past -- the 70s. The Senator responded that this was not true. My take on this is it probably was and because I went to college in the South and in the early 80s. Even then I heard the N-word used by white males, and once directly toward me.

At that time, far less so now, there seemed to be a kind of "need" that if a young white male wanted to be "one of the guys" he had to express a mild form of racism. I attribute President Reagan's popularity amoung white males on campus at the time to Reagan's apparently hard stance on race issues like affirmative action and busing. And it seems that white women who wanted to be liked by white guys would annouce "I'm Republican" without knowing why. It was a crazy time in my view.

Anway, here's the latest video on George Allen: