Anti-Tobacco Activist Launches Allen "Nigger" Smear

Via Salon, Michael Scherer hits Republican Senator George Allen with the "nigger" smear, even though the vast majority of fellow teammates from Allen's college football days do not support the claim. But it appears there could be more to the story of the lone identified accuser, Dr. Ken Shelton.

Over the past week, Salon has interviewed 19 former teammates and college friends of Allen from the University of Virginia. In addition to the three who said Allen used the word "nigger," two others who were contacted said they remember being bothered by Allen's displaying the Confederate flag in college, but said they do not remember him acting in an overtly racist manner. Seven others said they did not know Allen well outside the football team, but do not remember Allen demonstrating any racist feelings. A separate seven teammates and friends said they knew Allen well and did not believe he held racist views. "I don't believe he was insensitive," said Paul Ryczek, who played center in Allen's year before joining the Atlanta Falcons. "He had no prejudices, biases or anything else."

In addition to supporting a Democrat through financial contributions, which Salon acknowledges, evidently Shelton didn't tell Salon of his role in starting Tobacco Free For Life.

Why that might matter is because Allen opponents have criticized the Senator for being friendly to the tobacco lobby. Senator Allen, (R-VA), has accepted a whopping $33,000 from tobacco political action committees in just the 2005-2006 election cycle. Thats more than any other member of congress has taken from the tobacco companies in the past year.

Tobacco Free for Life (TFL) is a grass roots volunteer coalition of educators, health care professionals, survivors and victims of tobacco-related illness, and concerned individuals. Our mission is to prevent and reduce underage tobacco use through education, awareness and community efforts on a "cost free" basis to the youth and community of Henderson County.

TFL started in 1996 by Dr. Ken Shelton of Hendersonville Radiological Consultants and is currently operating out of an office on the Pardee Hospital campus. Pardee Hospital Foundation acts as TFL's fiscal agent and provides TFL with 501c3 nonprofit status.

Interesting that Shelton claims that an Allen Presidential candidacy is what made him so suddenly concerned as to begin writing down recollections several months ago. Exactly how much prodding did his memory require if this was so significant at the time?

About four months ago, when he heard that Allen was a possible candidate for president in 2008, Shelton began to write down some of the negative memories of his former teammate. He provided Salon excerpts of those notes last week.

With nothing other than anonymous sources to support Shelton's claim and the vast majority of relevant individuals contradicting the story, it might better serve Scherer if he could produce a witness without a possible political motivation. Even sources that acknowledged Allen's fondness for a Confederate Flag in his college days stated they saw no signs of racism from Allen.

two others who were contacted said they remember being bothered by Allen's displaying the Confederate flag in college, but said they do not remember him acting in an overtly racist manner.

Comments

[Ed]

C'mon now. How many incidents from Allen are you going to try to write off before you admit, where's there's smoke, there's fire.

Allen is damaged goods, it's time to for him to retire and go off to K Street and make his fortune.

[Dan Riehl]

By that theory, if I write Webb is a repressed homosexual wife beater a thousand times, it must be true. Maybe it's time someone tried that on Webb for a change.

[Robert Crawford]

Allen's "damaged goods"; Byrd's "the conscience of the Senate".

[jamie]

Allen is damaged goods. Too many incidents to say otherwise.

And for the record, after having lived in Alabama for several years now, I have yet to meet a confederate flag-lover who was not a flaming racist. Thet can scream all they want about "heritage" but it's all just code for justifying their abiding racism. Thinking southerners shudder at the sight of that rag and all it stands for.

[Tano]

Sheesh.

The guy is a doctor. All doctors are anti-tobacco activists. It causes cancer, y'know.

And he tried to save some waterfalls?

And you are under some impression that these facts discredit the guy? What planet do you live on?

[jamie]

Yeah, Tano, apparently being against smoking and for cleanwater makes you a suspected "radical," while loving the confederate flag is perfectly reasonable, along with dropping the periodic n-word among friends.

Whatever.

[John Simpson]

Why are Democrats making such a big deal of this when they have Robert KKK "Sheets" Byrd representing them in the Senate? If their operatives have to dig back thirty years to find dirt on Allen, Webb is in trouble. Which is probably why they're doing it in the first place.

[Gekkobear]

'apparently being against smoking and for cleanwater makes you a suspected "radical,"'

Umm, well it doesn't make you someone with "no political animosity" who isn't "politically active"... as Shelton described himself.

Somehow he didn't want to admit that he already had several political reasons for wanting Allen to lose; then amazingly remembered that in College, Allen was a racist.

Lets see, I believe the quote is "I question the timing".

[Ed]

Gaius,

Where there's smoke, there's fire and another stong plume has just gone up.

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.

[M. Simon]

Tobacco is an anti-depressant.

[Rob W]

Not only that, but Sabato stood up for Shelton, who he obviously knows personally. All three are graduates of UVA and Allen and Sabato graduated together in 1974. This one is looking really, really bad for Allen. One in a series of gaffes. A GOP Senate operative who I know is right in the loop indicated to me personally on Saturday that Sen. Warner is staying well clear of Allen.

As for the anti-tobacco thing, Shelton's an oncologist. Crikey!

[Jack Bauer]

I've just found out something quite interesting that indicates to me Shelton is one big fat liar...

According to news reports: "Shelton said the incident with the deer head occurred during their college days when he, Allen and another teammate who has since died were hunting on a farm the third man's family owned near Bumpass, Va., 40 miles east of the university.

Shelton said Allen asked the other teammate where black families lived in the area, then stuffed a deer's head into the mailbox of one of the homes.

"George insisted on taking the severed head, and I was a little shocked by that," Shelton said.

"This was just after the movie `The Godfather' came out with the severed horse's head in the bed," Shelton told the AP. "

Okay, The Godfather was released nationwide in the US on March 24, 1972.

Now I'm no Deer Hunter (though it does have the De Niro link) so I checked with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries web site, as to when the Deer Hunting season falls:

Guess what? There are man various short seasons for the many and varied beasts of the deer variety. Antlered, non-antlered, female, male

But they all fall in the November to January timeframe in Virginia. Except one, which stretches into March. But unless Shelton is claiming they went hunting deer with a bow and arrow, I very much doubt if that is relevant.

So come on Shelton, how could you have been hunting deer three months past the season?

[Big Tent Democrat]

I thought this post was about Larry Sabato or Chris Taylor.

Funny Dan how when the innuendo and smears, which were not based on first hand accounts but rather nonsense, you credit the charges against Markos Moulitsas and payola.

You are really a piece of work.

[Jack Bauer]

Hey Big Tent Democrat -- get a clue. Your post doesn't even make sense.

[Socrates Abroad]

Even a cursory reading of what's going on - whether you support Allen or not - should immediately bring some questions to mind:

1) Why are these claims coming now?
Where has Shelton been all this time? And he lacked access to a PC, phone, or stamp with which to inform some member of the press?

2) How credible are these claims?
As I've mentioned elsewhere, just how much stock can be put in someone's memory of an event some 20 years ago? Actually, these supposed incidents are closer to casual asides than blatant racist behavior or action. And yet the claimants somehow recall all manner of detail - 20 years later.

3) How about considering the source?
Let's all remember that thus far claims have surfaced from 5 individuals, 2 of whom have not been identified. Anonymous accusers...a bit hard to defend against. But since we at least know Shelton is an accuser, we can look at who he is. An objective third party? Uhh, no, he opposes Allen politically on tobacco - and [quite likely] some environmental issues.

4) How about doing the math?
According to the article:
Salon has interviewed 19 former teammates and college friends of Allen
-3 who said Allen used the word "nigger"

That leaves 16. Funny, here the math favors Allen.
2 others who were contacted said they remember being bothered by Allen's displaying the Confederate flag in college, but said they do not remember him acting in an overtly racist manner.
7 others said they did not know Allen well outside the football team, but do not remember Allen demonstrating any racist feelings.
7 teammates and friends said they knew Allen well and did not believe he held racist views. "I don't believe he was insensitive," said Paul Ryczek, who played center in Allen's year before joining the Atlanta Falcons. "He had no prejudices, biases or anything else."

As regards Larry Sabato - or any souce of information, for that matter - the same questions apply.

Party affiliation is irrelevant...more important is critical analysis of information: these accusations of racist statements are 1) curiously timed, 2) refer to events some 20 years after the fact, and 3) are in some cases made by unidentified accusers.

That last fact is especially galling - Miller's The Crucible, anyone?!? - and should pique the curiousity of even Allen's most ardent opponents.

[claude francois]

NO SMOKING TEAM

www.equipeclaudefrancois.com

this will be the last ever team to join

in the formula 1 circuit

and the team would love to have you as a

partners in this

winning team.

Equipeclaudefrancois #1

In f1 since 1973

Sincerely yours

claude francois

NO SMOKING TEAM


WWW.EQUIPECLAUDEFRANCOIS.COM
Join a winning team now

claude francois lobbyiest owner pilot