Sen. George Allen’s slur against an opponent’s Indian-American volunteer has been killing him in the polls:

An exclusive Survey USA poll… shows that Allen’s once-double-digit lead over Webb has shriveled to three points — 48% to 45%… “Allen has lost support across all demographic groups, but in particular, among younger voters, he has gone from Plus 23 to Minus 17, a swing of 40 points…” [Link] Allen’s lead has shriveled, so he’s ‘very, very sorry’

A News-7 SurveyUSA poll found that a majority of Virginians (56%) had heard about Senator George Allen’s remarks… Of the 309 people who were familiar with the story, two-thirds (67%) thought it was inappropriate for Sen. Allen to refer to the college student of Indian descent as “Macaca…” 61% thought the comments would hurt Allen’s chances in a campaign for President of the United States. [Link]

“Clearly this has damaged his presidential aspirations…” … it became grist for late-night talk shows and Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” with Jon Stewart. “In politics, when you become fodder for David Letterman and Jay Leno and Jon Stewart, you know you’ve had a bad day… [Link]

So after 12 days of hemming and hawing and non-apology (’I'm sorry you’re so sensitive’), he backpedaled — fast. Allen apologized three times yesterday. It was the same day as a Dubya fundraiser in his honor:

Allen and Dubya

Virginia Sen. George Allen apologized directly to S.R. Sidarth yesterday…

Allen’s telephone call to Sidarth was the first direct contact between the two since Allen (R) was caught by Sidarth’s video camera calling him a “macaca”…

… Allen’s campaign has probably seen polling data that suggest he is losing support in Virginia, where he is fighting for a second term, and nationally, where he might run for president in 2008. “The fact that the senator has been so profusely apologetic suggests that he and his campaign strategists know that this incident has really hurt him…” [Link]

The public apologies sound real:

The call followed a series of public mea culpas , including one heard across the country Tuesday on a conservative radio talk show hosted by commentator Sean Hannity. “I take full responsibility. I’m not offering any excuses because I said it, and no one else said it,” a somber-sounding Allen told Hannity’s audience of more than 12 million listeners. “It’s a mistake. I apologize, and from my heart, I’m very, very sorry for it.”

Allen also apologized Tuesday at the Greenspring Village retirement community in Springfield, saying “from the deepest part of my heart, I’m sorry and I will do better.” [Link]

But the call to S.R. Sidharth, the volunteer, sounds like the old non-apology:

“His main point was he was sorry he offended me,” Sidarth, a fourth-year University of Virginia student, said in an interview later. “He realized how much he offended me from the comments I made in the media.” [Link]

When asked why he took so long to apologize, Allen concocted yet another lame excuse:

Sidarth… asked Allen why it took him so long to apologize personally. Allen said he had expected to see Sidarth on the campaign trail again and had wanted to apologize in person… [Link]

“… we Googled his name, found his number and the senator called him this morning…” [Link]

Sidharth accepted the apology, but reserves judgment on its sincerity:

Asked whether he thought the apology was sincere, Sidarth declined to comment. [Link]

The WaPo deems the apology cynical and false since Allen’s campaign manager continues to claim his client is the real victim:

Even as he apologized, his campaign continued its two-faced strategy of simultaneously scoffing at the entire incident… “Never in modern times has a statewide office holder and candidate been so vilified.” In other words, Mr. Allen [claims he] is the victim… [Link]

Before the apology was made, Dubya shrugged off the slur en route to the Allen fundraiser:

… a White House spokesperson said Allen’s [non-]apology was good enough for them and that the President has no qualms about helping Allen. [Link]

Republicans have rallied around Mr. Allen as evidenced by Mr. Bush’s decision to go ahead with the fund-raising event at the northern Virginia home of Ed Gillespie, a former national party chairman and Washington powerbroker…

Mr. Bush has been less tolerant of racially charged comments in the past even when apologies were proffered. His lack of support for Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi as majority leader in 2002 after a racially tinged remark was instrumental in Mr. Lott’s being ousted by Senator Bill Frist of Tennessee… But Republicans are in a close fight for control of the House and Senate and need every seat… [Link ]

Allen, you’ll recall, is a charming character, as narrated by his sister:

“My brother George welcomed [my boyfriend] by slamming a pool cue against his head…

“Once, when Bruce refused to go to bed, George hurled him through a sliding glass door. Another time, when Gregory refused to go to bed, George tackled him and broke his collarbone…

“George hoped someday to become a dentist. George said he saw dentistry as a perfect profession - getting paid to make people suffer.” [Fifth Quarter: The Scrimmage of a Football Coach's Daughter] [Link ]

Unlike Sidharth, who was born and raised in Virginia, Allen started out as a carpetbagging redneck poseur:

… he admitted to prominently displaying a Confederate flag in his living room. He said it was part of a flag collection–and had been removed at the start of his gubernatorial bid. When it was learned that he kept a noose hanging on a ficus tree in his law office, he said it was part of a Western memorabilia collection… He issued a proclamation… declaring April Confederate History and Heritage Month. The text celebrated Dixie’s “four-year struggle for independence and sovereign rights.” There was no mention of slavery…

In Palos Verdes, an exclusive cliffside community, he lived in a palatial home with sweeping views of downtown Los Angeles and the Santa Monica basin. It had handmade Italian tiles and staircases that his eccentric mother, Etty, designed to match those in the Louvre. “It looks like a French château…”

He once shot a squirrel on campus, skinned it, ate it, and hung its pelt on his wall. “He was trying to be more Virginian than the average Virginian…” [Link]

That’s like Dubya, who’s originally from Connecticut and bought a dude ranch just before his first presidential election.

A less mature person than I might point out what Allen’s campaign manager’s name, Dick Wadhams, sounds like when truncated. But I’d never point out such a thing. That would be stooping to Allen’s level

Related posts: More fun than a lifafa of macacas (updated), How mutineering changes things, Not Biden his tongue