The fact that he had that in mind while talking about her is disturbing. I think that word associated with black people is worse than n!gger.
I do, too. He could've covered himself and just kept on going, saying "coon d'etat" and nothing more would have come of it, but he knew immediately what he had said and what it *meant.*
I was also shocked when Star Jones Reynolds, bleecchh, titled her autobiography "Shine." Surely she did that because of her name, like "starshine." But did she not *know* that "shine" is a word just like "coon" or "n"? Or did she do it on purpose as an "in-your-face" kind of arrogant turnaround of the word?