Transcript for Sept. 17

MR. WEBB: You know, I went on, I went on “Nightline” right after Tailhook, and I was asked what I would’ve done, and I said if I had been president at Tailhook, I would’ve relieved the senior officer present in that corridor.

MR. RUSSERT: Mister...

MR. WEBB: What they’ve done is they took one incident in one corridor and and tried to damn the entire culture of the Navy, and that was wrong.

MR. RUSSERT: Mr. Webb, there are 23,000 women involved in the war in Iraq or Afghanistan, we’ve had 62 women killed, more than Vietnam, Korea and the first Gulf War combined. What happens now is that the Pentagon, rather than assigning women to combat, attaches them to combat.

MR. WEBB: Right.

MR. RUSSERT: You know that.

MR. WEBB: Well, here’s the...

MR. RUSSERT: Shouldn’t we just be honest and say women can be in combat?

MR. WEBB: Well, I think what you have is a misunderstanding of the term that was, was being debated back in 1979. Women have always been in combat. We had women win Silver Stars in World War II. The question in place was combat military occupational specialties. That’s what, that’s what the issue was.  Should, should all occupational specialties be open? Now, when I was in Afghanistan two years ago, I was with the Marine unit which had women attached to it for purposes of interrogating Afghani women, you know. And that was a, you know, they were in the same environment as the infantry troops...

MR. RUSSERT: Absolutely.

MR. WEBB: And that was an absolutely valid use of women.

MR. RUSSERT: LeeAnn Webster got the Silver Star for heroism.

MR. WEBB: Sure. And that’s, that’s an absolutely valid use.

MR. RUSSERT: For being shot at.

MR. WEBB: The question is, let the military decide whether, let’s say, in a rifle platoon, you want to bring women in. That’s the position that I had.  The dead hand should not steer the rudder, and I’m very comfortable with where the military is right now on these issues.

MR. RUSSERT: Senator Allen, you, too, have gotten in trouble with words that you’ve uttered. Let me bring you back to August 11^th. You were at a campaign stop, and a young man who was videotaping it for the Webb campaign was there also. Let’s watch.

(Videotape, August 11, 2006):

SEN. ALLEN: This fellow here—over here in the yellow shirt, macaca, or whatever his name is, he’s with my opponent. And let’s give a welcome to macaca here. Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia.

(End videotape)

RUSSERT: And here’s the young man, S.R. Sidarth, he’s a resident of Virginia, an American citizen, straight-A student at Fairfax High School and now goes to the University of Virginia. Critics say that “macaca” is a racist slur, and that you used it because he was dark-skinned. What did you specifically mean when you said, “Welcome to America and the real Virginia”?  Why did you use those words toward a dark-skinned American?

SEN. ALLEN: Tim, I made a mistake. I said things thoughtlessly. I’ve apologized for it, as well I should. But there was no racial or ethnic intent to slur anyone. If I had any idea that, that that word, and to some people in some parts of the world, world, was an insult, I would never do it, because it’s contrary to what I believe and who I am.

MR. RUSSERT: Well, where’d the word come from? It must’ve been in your consciousness.

SEN. ALLEN: Oh, it’s just made up.

MR. RUSSERT: Made up?

SEN. ALLEN: Just made up. Made-up word.

MR. RUSSERT: You’d never heard it before?

SEN. ALLEN: Never heard it before.

MR. RUSSERT: What did you mean...

SEN. ALLEN: And if, and if I did, honestly, Tim, if I thought that that was slurring anybody based on their ethnicity or their race or their religion, I would never do it. It’s not who I am. It’s not how I was raised.

MR. RUSSERT: But why would you say to someone “Welcome to America, welcome to the real Virginia”?

SEN. ALLEN: Because he was the cameraman for, for Jim Webb. He was following us around all over, all over the state. And we were going to small towns and rural areas and places that, while my opponent that week was out in Hollywood raising money, and I was talking about Virginia values. And so the point was, as you’re talking to the cameraman, to talk to Mr. Webb, to say, “Hey, here’s—welcome to the real world of Virginia,” as opposed to Hollywood, which is a world of make-believe.

MR. RUSSERT: This is not the first time that people have looked at your record, and, and, and raised questions. The New York Times said, “In 1984, as a member of the Virginia House of Delegates, Mr. Allen opposed a state holiday honoring the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. After being elected governor in 1993, he issued a proclamation honoring Confederate History Month.” And the Associated Press says, “Allen used to keep a Confederate flag in his living room, a noose in his law office and a picture of Confederate troops in his governor’s office.” Can you imagine black Americans, black Virginians reading that? What would they be thinking about George Allen, and why did you do that?

SEN. ALLEN: There are a lot of things that I wish I had learned earlier in life. I grew up in a football family, as you well know, and my parents and, and those teams taught me a lot. And one of the things that you learn in football is that you don’t care about someone’s race or ethnicity or religion, it’s a meritocracy, it’s a level playing field, and it’s what we should aspire to in our society. And that’s why I’ve always been advocating, making sure America and Virginia’s a land of opportunity for all.

There’s a reason why state Senator Benny Lambert, a Democrat, an African-American, the senior African-American in the legislature, this past week endorsed me, because he knows my record on a variety of issues, particularly in education, and improving the opportunities at historically black colleges and universities. Through the years I’ve learned and I’ve grown, and I’ve learned from people. I’ve learned in the civil rights pilgrimage that I went down to Selma and Montgomery and Birmingham, and, and listened to heroes of the civil rights struggle...

MR. RUSSERT: So no more, no more Confederate flags?

SEN. ALLEN: On the Confederate flag—look, I wish I had had these experiences earlier in life, because I would have made decisions differently.  The Confederate flag—as, as a kid, I was rebellious, anti-establishment, I still am. And I looked at the flag as a symbol for that.

MR. RUSSERT: But you were governor.

SEN. ALLEN: Now as—and I look at the flag, also, and some others do, as heritage and as regional pride. But I’ve also seen, over the years, talking and listening and learning and growing, that that flag, to African-Americans, represents repression, segregation and violence against them. And I would never want to have anything to insult or offend someone, and so that’s why I would not be utilizing that flag, because that’s not who I am, and I would never want to have that image or, or harmful impact on fellow human beings who I want to make sure are part of team America, because we do need to compete much better against countries in six and seven times our population. We need more women, we need more African-Americans, more Latinos interested in science and technology and engineering for us to be the world capital of innovation.

MR. RUSSERT: I want you to respond to that, but also address your comments about affirmative action being “state-sponsored racism.”

MR. WEBB: May I respond first to what he just said?

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