Allen's Backing of Boykin Should Seal His Political Coffin

It is the worst-kept secret on the Potomac that Senator George Allen, the former Republican Governor of Virginia, would like to be his parties nominee for the presidency in 2008. It is an even more open secret that politicians will stoop to any depth of craven pandering to appeal to a perceived "base" of voters. With Republicans it is that tiny but vocal minority called the Christian Right.

You remember Jerry Boykin, right? Jerry "My God is bigger than their God" Boykin? Lt. General Jerry "Our Enemy will only be defeated when we come at them in the name of Jesus" Boykin? Armageddon promoter and warrior for Jee-Zus, Lt. General Jerry Boykin. (Well Jer, I hate to tell you this, but this here little ole Jewish gal has access to every military installation you do, and she’s every bit as much a patriot as you are. Stuff that in you "We are a Christian Nation" pipe and take a big ole hit, ‘kay?)

But George Allan wants to be president, and he needs the lunatic fringe of the right wing to achieve that goal. So he fired off a letter to Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld, singing Boykin’s praises and asking that he be let out of the box. Not just let out of the box, but promoted to head of the Army’s Special Operations Command when Army General Bryan "Doug" Brown retires in the near future.

"I am told, and I believe it to be true, that no special operations officer currently on active duty is more highly respected or admired by his superiors, peers, or subordinates alike, than Jerry Boykin." Allen, the Junior Senator from Virginia wrote.

Well the Junior Senator doesn’t sit on the Senate Armed Services Committee. The State’s Senior Senator, Republican John Warner does, however. He doesn’t just sit on the committee, he chairs it. And he dismissed Boykin as unacceptable, out-of-hand. Bravo Senator Warner!

Even if we can manage to forget what Boykin has said, what he has done, and how he comes off (offensive even to an American open-minded enough to hate blacks and arabs) the Muslim world will not. As long as the Boykins of the world are not brought to heal, the Muslim world will continue to perceive us – Americans – as enemies of Islam. Period. I don’t want him speaking for me, that is the bottom line. Jingoistic fools like that get young men killed, and excuse it as biblical. That’s not leadership. That’s not even sane.