Sabato Admits to Repeating Hearsay Re: Alleged Racial Remarks by Allen

At first, he said he knew for a fact that Allen made insensitive remarks about blacks; now, University of Virginia political science professor Larry Sabato appears to be doing a little CYA:

LOUISA, Va. (AP) - One of Virginia's best-known political analysts said he had never personally heard Sen. George Allen use racial epithets, despite saying on television a day earlier that the senator "did use the n-word."

Larry J. Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics, said Tuesday in an e-mail to The Associated Press, "I didn't personally hear GFA (Allen's initials) say the n-word.

"My conclusion is based on the very credible testimony I have heard for weeks, mainly from people I personally know and knew in the '70s," Sabato wrote.

Sabato, a classmate of Allen's at the University of Virginia in the early 1970s, said Monday on MSNBC's "Hardball with Chris Matthews" that he knew Allen had used racial slurs, but declined to say whether he had witnessed them.

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My Comments:
Sabato is (and always has been) a partisan hack. Just remember that the next time he's on your radio or TV offering his "unbiased analysis" of the upcoming elections.

The University of Virginia should sanction Sabato big time for this. Having tenure doesn't give you the "academic freedom" to slander people based on hearsay.