Allen, 54, said he did not see racial overtones in the Confederate flag. He said he was a rebellious youth and viewed the banner as a “symbol against authority.” As a history major at the University of Virginia in the early 1970s, he said, he also began to see the flag as a proud heritage symbol for those with ancestors from the South who fought in the Civil War. “What I appreciate, and wish I had sooner, is that that symbol, which for me was fit for simply rebelling against authority, and for others was fit for pride in heritage, was and is for black Americans an emblem of hate and terror, an emblem of intolerance and discrimination,” he said.

Translation: “I’m in free fall in the polls….”

Allen, in his speech Tuesday, said: “I’ve learned a valuable lesson about the power of words, about how words carelessly chosen, or in my case, even made up, can have a totally unintended meaning and impact for another person from another background or from a different cultural perspective.” Speaking softly, Allen added, “In a careless moment, I fell short of my own standards, of my own positive way of living and what I strive and aspire to be.” Allen, the son of a legendary football coach of the Washington Redskins and Los Angeles Rams, suggested that his football background may have numbed him to some racial complexities. “On football teams and every team sport, you don’t care about someone’s religion, race or their ethnicity,” he said. “All you care about is if that person can help your team. Can he block, punt, pass or kick. It’s a true meritocracy… and it’s that meritocracy that you see on a football field and on a football team that we should aspire for in our society here in America.”

Translation: “I still think I’m right and that everyone’s making a big deal about nothing.”

By the way, his “football background”? Because his dad was a coach?? Hmmm, maybe I should start talking about my background in neuroscience. George Allen, you’re no Jack Kemp. Um, except to the extent that you are:

[Kemp:] Now as an old quarterback, (really old) IÂ’ve had fun over the years making fun of soccer as an imported brand of Third World or European socialism…. I admire the speed, skill and athleticism of soccer players and itÂ’s great exercise, but as they say in politically correct jargon of Washington, D.C., if I offended anybody, anywhere in the world and if anyone is emotionally hurt by my words, I officially apologize. OK?

Wow. I think someone with “brown” skin was just told to go back where they came from. That’s gotta be a first!

And you don’t have to love your country/flag like a 4 year old loves his mother, with the presupposition that she’s perfect in every way and can do no wrong.

Yes.

(if he is I’m amazed at my self – never learned a word of American history in high school!)