Only Post on Senator Allen Business.

Okay - so even though the storm has somewhat passed, the pundits are thinking about whether the idiotic comments of Mr. Allen were enough (this time) to knock him off the log for GOP 2008 hopefuls, there's a 3-page article in the Washington Post about the man, the myth, the word of the day. I learned a few things about the kid - can't hate on him for being where he was and doing what he was doing, and I can't really say that he was out there looking to be hated on, though it's a rough assignment to be out in deep Virginia (bordering Kentucky, no less).

But I can hate on him for supporting Joe Lieberman. Check this passage out from the article:

"The Webb campaign wasn't Sidarth's first foray into politics. In 2003, he contributed $2,000 to the presidential campaign of Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.), according to campaign finance records. The next summer, he was an intern in Lieberman's office." (full piece)

WTF?! To explain, that means "What the Fuck?!" First off, seems like he bought himself an internship. Second, where's the money coming from (clearly from his parents, one of whom is a "prosperous mortgage banker"). Damn. They not only backed the wrong horse with what seems to be far more than just $2000 (if he's dropping that cash, you can be sure that his parents were too), but it's Lieberman. Look, Joe's seen better days, but the guy is a bad egg, a corporate crony in the worst way, and more pro-war and as close to xenophobic as you can get without his saying something stupid like Allen.

So Sidarth's all-American credentials (at 6' 4'', he could easily kick my ass, for example) and his ballsy statement that Allen should personally apologize (which he eventually did) have gotten him the accolades of the brown world, I'm sure. But for me, I just can't stomach the PAC/old school politics and influence game that it seems was played, at least in the case of Lieberman. How can I feel any warm glow from any of this? Again, it's not that he has to be perfect, but let's just keep the guy himself out of it - he was a good way to get Allen to show some of his true, racist, xenophobic, scary self, but let's remember that the kid is a political operative, okay? Not a helpless victim.

All that said, he's been pretty good in the press, and it's a once in a lifetime opportunity to stare the grim spectre of unabashed American racism/xenophobia in a hostile environment and actually get to laugh last. So I have to tip my hat to the kid - he kept taping, and the country got to see, and dig deeper into, the psyche of the psycho.