Journalists' favorite gotcha question for candidates used to be "Have you ever smoked pot?" This year it is quickly becoming "Have you ever used the n-word?"
After Sen. George Allen's (R-Virginia) macaca moment, a former teammate came forward after decades and several gubernatorial and Senate campaigns to suddenly recall Allen using the racial slur as a young man.
Now Allen's Democrat opponent Jim Webb has had his own "I didn't inhale" experience.
When asked if he had ever used the n-word, he said "I don't think that there's anyone who grew up around the South that hasn't had the word pass through their lips at one time or another in their life."
He apparently realized his inadvertent clarity and said "I have never used that word in my general vocabulary or in any derogatory way."
Interesting to note, at the end of this AP story about the ordeal, talking head Larry Sabato injected himself into the controversy by saying one day he knew Sen. Allen had used the epithet, before admitting the next day that he didn't know any such thing.
No word on if Sabato has any lies to tell about the Democrat Webb.
What a silly mess.
