bizarre George Allen "macaca" incident

[Mr. Morden]

I have no idea what to make of this.  According to this article:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/14/AR2006081400589.html

there's a 20 year old Webb volunteer of Indian descent who has been trailing Allen with a video camera, and Allen pointed him out at a campaign event, and refered to him as "macaca", though his name is S.R. Sidarth.  The Webb campaign claims that "macaca" is a racial slur:

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""I think he was doing it because he could and I was the person of color there and it was useful for him in inciting his audience," said Sidarth. "I was annoyed he would use my race in a political context."

Allen campaign manager Dick Wadhams said the Webb campaign's complaints about the comments are unfounded and he said Allen had "nothing to apologize for" to the young man.

Wadhams said Allen campaign staffers had begun calling Sidarth "mohawk" because of a haircut Wadhams said the Webb staffer has. "Macaca was just a variation of that," Wadhams said.

He said Allen's comment welcoming Sidarth "to America" was not an insult. "Welcome to the real world. Welcome to Virginia. That's all that was," Wadhams said.

Kristian Denny Todd, a Webb spokeswoman, said the campaign wants to know what Allen meant by Macaca.

"We would like Senator Allen to tell us exactly what he means by the comment," Todd said.

Depending on how you spell it, the name Allen gave Sidarth means different things.

If spelled M-a-c-a-c-a, the term refers to a species of monkeys in the Eastern Hemisphere. "Is he saying Sidarth is a monkey?" Todd asked.

The word M-a-k-a-k-a refers to a town in South Africa."
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According to this site:

http://listofethnicslurs.quickseek.com/#M

macaque is a French slur used to describe North Africans.  Allen speaks French, as his mother is French Tunisian, so it's plausible that that's how he was using the word.  Here is the video of Allen making the comments:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9G7gq7GQ71c

[nini2287]

I don't think that George Allen is smart enough to know those terms.

[Virginian87]

I was at the Webb campaign office when I heard about this, so of course many of our minority campaign workers were outraged.  The person he called a "macaca" was S.R. Sidarth, a University of Virginia student who was videotaping Allen's statements for the Webb campaign.  It wasn't just the comment that Allen made that made this act in bad taste.  It was because he was speaking to an all-white audience in a backwoods town (Breaks, Va.) and purposely singled Sidarth out because of his minority status and ridiculed him for working with Webb.  He said, "Lets give a welcome to Macaca, here. Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia." 

The comment was totally uncalled for, and it also shows how much of an idiot George Allen can be at times.  Unfortunately, depending on how the media covers this incident, it's not likely to affect Allen's lead by much.

[Akno21]

Watching the video makes Allen seem even worse. It's a shame that there are people who say these things as part of their normal conversation, as it appears Allen did, and audiences that don't seem to care.

[TheresNoMoney]

I was at the Webb campaign office when I heard about this, so of course many of our minority campaign workers were outraged.

Thanks for volunteering, bro. Webb is a helluva candidate. I like him a lot.

[All life is a blur of Republicans and meat.]

Virginia is a pretty racist state in general, so I doubt this is going to go anywhere.

[Deano963]

He said Allen's comment welcoming Sidarth "to America" was not an insult. "Welcome to the real world. Welcome to Virginia. That's all that was," Wadhams said.

Sooooooo, let me get this straight......

George Felix Allen, who was born and raised in California (and who probably has spent a lot more time around Hollywood than this kid Sidarth ever has)......tells this young man who was born and raised in Fairfax, Virginia "welcome to Virginia, welcome to the real world" simply because he is of Indian decent and therefore assumes he is not a Virginian?

Where does Felix think Sidarth was living before he saw him at his cute little KKK rally that day, the ing moon?

[nick]

Here is the video....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9G7gq7GQ71c

Allen is such a goofball.  I used to think he'd be a good national candidate, but in reality, the guys doesnt stand a chance.  At least not after eight years of Dubya.

[nick]

Webb is live blogging now at Kos.  Here is what he has to say regarding Allen's comments on the film.

George was talking to a group of supporters in far Southwest Virginia when he made the comment to one of my campaign volunteers.  He also went into his usual banter about my being an inside-the-beltway guy who would never come down to SW Virginia, and that I was spending my time hanging out with a bunch of Hollywood liberals.  Stale stuff...

Actually, I make no apology for having done some business in the film world (I guess in his eyes that makes Ronald Reagan a Hollywood liberal).  And in truth, my dad's family came out of SW Virginia, and I still have many relatives living there.  I was going down to visit folks in SW Virginia when George Allen was still a Californian...

Re: his slur of my campaign volunteer, Mr. Allen will have to decide for himself what the proper course of action should be.

lol, good stuff, Jim.

[Rob]

George Felix Allen Jr. is a joke, and I really like Jim Webb.

Allen wins 53-47, though.

[WalterMitty]

ok.  let's dig up all of the intolerant things webb has written about women.

[Deano963]

Jim Webb liveblogging on DailyKos tonight:

George's Macaca comments (72+ / 0-)

George was talking to a group of supporters in far Southwest Virginia when he made the comment to one of my campaign volunteers.  He also went into his usual banter about my being an inside-the-beltway guy who would never come down to SW Virginia, and that I was spending my time hanging out with a bunch of Hollywood liberals.  Stale stuff...

Actually, I make no apology for having done some business in the film world (I guess in his eyes that makes Ronald Reagan a Hollywood liberal).  And in truth, my dad's family came out of SW Virginia, and I still have many relatives living there.  I was going down to visit folks in SW Virginia when George Allen was still a Californian...

Re: his slur of my campaign volunteer, Mr. Allen will have to decide for himself what the proper course of action should be.



Me and California (34+ / 0-)
 
One of the principal strategies of the Allen campaign is to imply that I'm not "one of the folks" in VA, that I have lived in a world of "fiction, not fact," which is one of the things that Allen said before he insulted my campaign volunteer. 

I find this highly amusing, actually.  I'm portrayed as a "rich Hollywood producer," which causes rich Hollywood producers to have a good laugh.  I've worked for everything I've ever gotten in my life -- I began working when I was 12 years old, got scholarships to college, went to law school in the GI Bill, got a $5,000 advance on my first book, etc.  I have had the chance to work on films -- which half of the people in this country would love to have -- and I've had a ball doing it. 

But I've also spent a year in heavy combat, gone around the world as a journalist, including covering the Marines in Beirut and the war in Afghanistan, known what it's like to be unemployed, constantly taken risks in order to work on the things that inspired me.  I know the real world, George.  Holding political office for 25 years is not the real world.  In fact (having worked on Capitol Hill for four years), there are more fairy tales going on in Washington than there are in Hollywood.

[Jake]

His freedom fighting continues. Though nini is right of course.

[MHS2002]

Virginia is a pretty racist state in general, so I doubt this is going to go anywhere.

Thank you for this insightful information.

And...Allen will still win this race, of course.

[All life is a blur of Republicans and meat.]

Virginia is a pretty racist state in general, so I doubt this is going to go anywhere.

Thank you for this insightful information.

And...Allen will still win this race, of course.

Well it is. Are you saying its not?

[MHS2002]

Virginia is a pretty racist state in general, so I doubt this is going to go anywhere.

Thank you for this insightful information.

And...Allen will still win this race, of course.

Well it is. Are you saying its not?

Umm...no, it's not. Have you ever even been to Virginia?

[Adlai Stevenson]

It seems it has gotten a lot of coverage.  Hannity and Colmes is showing the clip.  I think George Allen is stupid, racist, hateful and incompetent to serve in the US Senate - he deserves to lose for this remark alone and its sad that what many suspect is true; racism hasn't really gone away in America.

[??????????]

It seems it has gotten a lot of coverage.  Hannity and Colmes is showing the clip.  I think George Allen is stupid, racist, hateful and incompetent to serve in the US Senate - he deserves to lose for this remark alone and its sad that what many suspect is true; racism hasn't really gone away in America.

Do you know what other politicians are saying behind minority groups backs? No, neither do I, so I wouldn't go off just condemning one man for an insult (against a UVA student of all things ). How many of those rich folks either Republican or Democrat want to deal with lowly blacks, blue collar whites are any group they aren't "as good as them"?

[MHS2002]

I also love how the same people to call Allen an idiot (I will admit there are smarter Senators) think he is smart enough to know some racial reference that almost no one knows.

[opebo]

It seems it has gotten a lot of coverage.  Hannity and Colmes is showing the clip.  I think George Allen is stupid, racist, hateful and incompetent to serve in the US Senate - he deserves to lose for this remark alone and its sad that what many suspect is true; racism hasn't really gone away in America.

Do you know what other politicians are saying behind minority groups backs? No, neither do I, so I wouldn't go off just condemning one man for an insult (against a UVA student of all things ). How many of those rich folks either Republican or Democrat want to deal with lowly blacks, blue collar whites are any group they aren't "as good as them"?

This is why you should be a socialist, worker.

[??????????]

This is why you should be a socialist, worker.

Those are the worst kind!

[Adlai Stevenson]

It seems it has gotten a lot of coverage.  Hannity and Colmes is showing the clip.  I think George Allen is stupid, racist, hateful and incompetent to serve in the US Senate - he deserves to lose for this remark alone and its sad that what many suspect is true; racism hasn't really gone away in America.

Do you know what other politicians are saying behind minority groups backs? No, neither do I, so I wouldn't go off just condemning one man for an insult (against a UVA student of all things ). How many of those rich folks either Republican or Democrat want to deal with lowly blacks, blue collar whites are any group they aren't "as good as them"?

What can you possibly mean?  He insulted him and I think if Allen or anyone else in his campaign or on the right apologised then it would just be so much better.  No, I don't know what politicians are saying I admit - but I would hope that they don't say this and at least I know they don't in public.  Allen has a long history of shady possibly racist associations.  Welcome to Virginia!  He's hardly from the Cradle of the Confederacy is he, he was born in Whittier, California for God's sake!

[nini2287]

It seems it has gotten a lot of coverage.  Hannity and Colmes is showing the clip.  I think George Allen is stupid, racist, hateful and incompetent to serve in the US Senate - he deserves to lose for this remark alone and its sad that what many suspect is true; racism hasn't really gone away in America.

Do you know what other politicians are saying behind minority groups backs? No, neither do I, so I wouldn't go off just condemning one man for an insult (against a UVA student of all things ). How many of those rich folks either Republican or Democrat want to deal with lowly blacks, blue collar whites are any group they aren't "as good as them"?

What can you possibly mean?  He insulted him and I think if Allen or anyone else in his campaign or on the right apologised then it would just be so much better.  No, I don't know what politicians are saying I admit - but I would hope that they don't say this and at least I know they don't in public.  Allen has a long history of shady possibly racist associations.  Welcome to Virginia!  He's hardly from the Cradle of the Confederacy is he, he was born in Whittier, California for God's sake!

Allen did apologize:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/14/AR2006081400589.html

"I would never want to demean him as an individual. I do apologize if he's offended by that. That was no way the point[...]I don't know what [macaca] means."

[??????????]

It seems it has gotten a lot of coverage.  Hannity and Colmes is showing the clip.  I think George Allen is stupid, racist, hateful and incompetent to serve in the US Senate - he deserves to lose for this remark alone and its sad that what many suspect is true; racism hasn't really gone away in America.

Do you know what other politicians are saying behind minority groups backs? No, neither do I, so I wouldn't go off just condemning one man for an insult (against a UVA student of all things ). How many of those rich folks either Republican or Democrat want to deal with lowly blacks, blue collar whites are any group they aren't "as good as them"?

What can you possibly mean?  He insulted him and I think if Allen or anyone else in his campaign or on the right apologised then it would just be so much better.  No, I don't know what politicians are saying I admit - but I would hope that they don't say this and at least I know they don't in public.  Allen has a long history of shady possibly racist associations.  Welcome to Virginia!  He's hardly from the Cradle of the Confederacy is he, he was born in Whittier, California for God's sake!

It's not a really big deal in my opinion.

[Adlai Stevenson]

Well I think its a big deal and I don't like how people like Sean Hannity and Republican posters on the forum are trying to dismiss it as some kind of novelty and as Democrats making a fuss.