George Allen To Pen Treatise On "The Triumph Of Character"

Via Wonkette comes the news that former Virginia senator and mutterer of racist exotica George Allen is going to be writing a book, and that book is going to be titled The Triumph Of Character. This, naturally, raises the question: What does George Allen know about character and/or triumph and/or writing books? Who knows? But with every GOP contender for 2012 quitting his job or taking off on foreign sexcapades or being named "Haley Barbour," the time is not right for George Allen to Establish A Narrative(TM) and bring his Bold, New Ideas(TM) to the political conversation.

But what a narrative! Wonkette has the publisher's description of the book, which I'm recommending for next year's online blog-book craze "Extremely Finite Summer":

In The Triumph of Character, Allen brings together two all-American passions--politics and sports--and reveals what Washington could learn from the enduring principles found in athletic competition and team sports. Having spent the better part of his life with one foot in both the world of sports and the world of politics, Allen will draw parallels and contrasts between the two arenas. Using his own engaging and entertaining personal stories, Allen will illustrate how "characters with character" in the meritocracy of sports can provide principled, competitive examples of the ways to surmount challenges facing America.

Politico's Ben Smith makes note of the way the book will put Allen's "football...prowess at UVA" to good use, but I think I'd better point out that in terms of UVA Football, "prowess" is a relative term.

As near as I can tell, Allen was the quarterback of the UVA football team in 1972 and 1973, very much before the time frame known by UVA Students as the "George Welsh Era," which is also known as "The Era Where UVA Stopped Sucking Out Loud, Tremendously, At Football." The Cavaliers posted 4-7 records during Allen's time there, which actually were some boom years for Virginia, if we're talking about the 1970s. That said, this was back during the time that Virginia fans used to celebrate each, rare, first down by getting blinding drunk and then puking all over each other, for weeks and weeks, just the way founder Thomas Jefferson intended.

Anyway, I can't wait for the "Macaca" chapter, because remember, this book is about the triumph of character, people.

[Would you like to follow me on Twitter? Because why not? Also, please send tips to [e-mail] -- learn more about our media monitoring project here.]

Get HuffPost Politics On Facebook and Twitter!

Comments

[jacobomorales]

Character as in bigotry, hate and racism. He understand conservative southern character.

[annie g]

I get it now. This writing must be in the form of a comic book, because I do not believe that Allen knows what real character is.

[yellowdoggie]

Well, the article doesn't say whether the character he's going to write about is good or bad character, so I guess it's okay. Just so he titles it something like, "The Triumph of My Bad Character."

[tomasedison]

His dream was to become President of the United States....I'm so glad we stomped all over that.

[KarateKid]

Mr. Macaca is a character all right.

[joeblow]

Very generously, this---writing a book on character--- can only be chalked up to Mr. Allen's 'macuckoo moment.'

[grf67]

A book on character by a man with none, brilliant. The next republican books will be a book on ethics by cheney and a book on fidelity bu sanford. What great men.

[alice09]

Be sure to include a chapter on how wrong it is to target people you believe are foreigners, singling them out and making fun of them in a crowd in order gain political points with the crowd at the expense of the target. And also remind readers to be careful not to assume anyone darker skinned than the people you hang with, is not an American. .

[batspaul]

Part of a series, to include:

"The Amy Winehouse Book of Etiquette"
"Sarah Palin's Guide to English Grammar and Syntax" (First Edition)
"The Art and Practice of Sportsmanship" by Mike Tyson and Tonya Harding
"On the Straight and Narrow, a Memoir" by former Sen. Larry Craig

[lovethesinner]

Interesting that Allen chose "Triumph" in his title, since it calls up a particular character that conservative voters might sympathize with:

Triumph of the Will:
"... I suppose you might say. He [Adolph Hitler] wanted a film which would move, appeal to, impress an audience which was not necessarily interested in politics." — Leni Riefenstahl[

Also, I wonder if this particular story from George Allen's past is responsible for Allen choosing to define character through the metaphor of sport:

Woman says Allen used racial slur repeatedly:

"When George Allen stood right up and said he had never used that word, and that just blew me away,” Waring said.  “I thought, ‘Boy, you could, IF YOU HAD ANY INTEGRITY, you would say yes, I may have made some mistakes in my youth, in my younger years, but, and I'm sorry.’  But to hear him lie about it when I know he is lying." 

(includes video of Hardball interview)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15051663/

[the964kid]

To many in the right wing being racist is a respectable part of one's 'character.' I'm sure there's an old and all white audience out there for this book.

[Ponderus]

HAHAHAHAHA­HAHAHAHAHA­HAHAHAHAHA­HAHAHAHAHA­HAHAHAHAHA­HAHAHAHAHA­HAHAHAHAHA­HAHAHAHAHA­HAHAHAHAHA­HAHAHAHAHA­HAHAHAHAHA­HAHAHAHAHA­HAHAHAHAHA­HAHAHAHAHA­HAHAHAHAHA­HAHAHAHAHA­HAHAHAHAHA­HAHAHAHAHA­HAHAHAHAHA­HAHAHAHAHA­HAHAHAHAHA­HAHAHAHAHA­HAHAHAHAHA­HAHAHAHAHA­HAHAHAHA

We are amused.

[Chas53]

I hear that James Frey is going to be his ghost writer and the new title will be: "A Million Little Maccas".

[Imhotep40]

His constipated facial expression always made me queasy . . . .

[4evryoung]

Fiction right?