Demagogue

Just when Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) thought the "macaca" phase of his campaign had ended, the Associated Press reported on Monday:

Sen. George Allen on Monday denounced as "ludicrously false" claims from a former college football teammate that he frequently used a racial slur to refer to black people.

Dr. Ken Shelton, now a radiologist in Hendersonville, N.C., also alleges that Allen, a former University of Virginia quarterback, once stuffed the severed head of a deer into a black household's oversized mail box.

In an Associated Press interview Monday, Allen vehemently denied the allegations Shelton made in an article published Sunday in the online magazine Salon.com and an AP interview Sunday night. His campaign released statements from four other ex-teammates defending Allen and rejecting Shelton's claims.

"The story and his comments and assertions in there are completely false," Allen said during an interview with AP reporters and editors.