The Washington Post is at it yet again. Almost a month after Sen. George Allen said "Macaca," it's back on the top of the front page of the Metro section again Sunday, with another happy-days-for-Democrats headline: "'Macaca Moment' Marks a Shift in Momentum: Allen's Gaffe, Demographic Changes Give Webb a Boost."
Reporter Michael D. Shear is clearly dedicated to making this nonsense word into the defining moment of Sen. Allen's entire political career:
Allen's "macaca moment" -- a term that has rapidly become part of America's political lexicon -- has breathed new life into Webb, a former Republican and Vietnam war hero who worked for Ronald Reagan.
Forget the macaca "moment" -- the Post has tried to turn this into Macaca Month. Inside the Metro section, the headline was "Allen's Slip May Have Improved Webb's Chances." Before the jump, Shear brought in political prognosticator Stuart Rothenberg:
In a flash, his presidential dreams have given way to a tougher than expected reelection campaign. "We have a real race," said Stuart Rothenberg, who edits the Rothenberg Political Report, a nonpartisan newsletter that tracks elections nationwide. "The race has changed fundamentally."
Once you get past the early happy talk on the front page (and face it, some readers jump off right there), Shear presented a more conventional article including Allen's advantages of money and incumbency, as well as how it may be problem that Webb is not a "fiery antiwar activist" like Ned Lamont in Connecticut. (As always, the Post seems allergic to identify the Ned Lamonts of the world as "liberals.") But some of the recent campaign happenings get skipped over. While the Post has a photo inside of Webb campaigning at Robinson High School in Fairfax County Saturday, Shear omitted what delighted the liberal blog Not Larry Sabato, Webb's crack about Allen's lack of Vietnam service:
The funniest part of his speech was when he was going after Allen's weak history and said: "I fought in Vietnam, and George Allen did not. Heck, even the French fought in Vietnam."
Shear apparently doesn't find it newsworthy that the Party of Draft-Dodging Bill Clinton feels free to knock Allen's lack of service. (Webb was born in 1946, like Clinton. Allen was born in 1952.)
