A Tragic Figure

Now that the Senate election in Virginia has been called for Jim Webb, it is time to look back on the most tragic figure from this past election, George Allen.

George Allen just lost a Democrat who has only been a Democrat for 3 years, served in Reagan's administration, never has run for office, is a terrible campaigner (as evidenced by his victory proclamation), and as of 3 months ago, nobody knew who he was.

George Allen went from 2008 Presidential Candidate to out-of-work politician in the span of 3 months, all by his own hand. From the Macaca moment, to his recently discovered Jewish Heritage, to tackling people, Allen royally screwed up.

Perhaps the thing that sealed the deal, however, were Allen's own ads that attacked Jim Webb for Webb's novels about war. Allen criticized some of Webb's sexually explicit passages that were in the books that were based on events that Webb had personally seen. These ads were insulting to people's intelligence and ticked off more than a few veterans. If Allen had just shut up for the whole campaign, he probably would have still won. Instead he falls, mostly by his own hand. A tragedy that is very Sophoclean in nature indeed.