Posted on 08/22/2006 5:44:40 AM PDT by areafiftyone
Republican Sen. George Allen, running for re-election in Virginia, can't wriggle out of this one with a Mel Gibson excuse.
The conservative lawmaker was cold sober when he deliberately insulted a young man of Indian descent with a racial slur. The man, S.R. Sidarth, was filming video of Allen's appearance at a public Republican rally in Breaks, Va., near the Kentucky border, as part of his work as a campaign volunteer for Allen's Democratic challenger, James Webb. Candidates of both parties commonly film their opponents' public appearances looking for gaffes and other campaign material.
Sidarth, 20, was apparently the only person of color in the small crowd.
This incident has especially dangerous implications for Allen's future political prospects because it revives his long history of racial insensitivity, which is unfortunate for a guy with presidential ambitions.
Allen, in the course of his remarks, singled out Sidarth and referred to him as "Macaca," adding that he welcomed him to America "and the real world of Virginia." The expression "macaca" was new to many of us, not a familiar word that trips easily from the tongue.
But it turns out the word is a common racist slur favored by French Tunisians; Allen's mother is of French Tunisian descent. The senator professed not to know what the word meant despite his mother's background.
Few people are buying that, including Sidarth and Webb. The Democratic candidate, a former Navy secretary, said bluntly that he thinks Allen "knew what he was saying."
Sidarth was even harsher. "He was doing it because he could and I was the only person of color there and it was useful for him in inciting his audience," he said. Indeed, the audience laughed at Allen's crude sally.
The Allen campaign, trying to stomp out the furor, explained defensively that the candidate had merely mangled the word Mohawk, a nickname he said his staff had given Sidarth to reflect the shaved sides of his unusual haircut.
Coiffure experts, however, said that excuse didn't work either. His haircut is a molette, a modified mohawk, but not properly defined as one.
To make matters worse for Allen's defense, Sidarth isn't a foreigner who needs to be introduced to Virginia. He grew up in Fairfax County and attended schools there and the University of Virginia. His father is a big Democratic contributor.
Ironically, it is Allen who did not spend his youth in Virginia. He was born in California, detoured to Chicago for eight years and moved back to California as a teenager, as the family followed his famous dad's football coaching career.
It was not until 1971, when his father was named to coach the Washington Redskins, that Allen became a genuine son of Virginia. But he had always been attracted to the notion of the Old Confederacy, driving around in high school in California with a Confederate-flag plate on the front of his car. He posed for his high school yearbook wearing a Confederate pin on his collar.
In his five years as senator, Allen has been a reliable part of the conservative Bush machine; party officials regard him as a logical presidential alternative if Sen. John McCain stumbles in 2008. Of course such a scenario assumes that he first wins re-election to the Senate.
But the sour GOP mood everywhere, even in Virginia, has made it necessary for Allen to concentrate on home base, skipping such early presidential sightings as the Iowa state fair, where several potential rivals were on display last week.
As governor of Virginia, Allen leaned heavily toward the old Strom Thurmond state's rights days. In his 1994 inaugural address as governor, he promised to "fight the beast of tyranny and oppression that our federal government has become." After his election, however, he took down the Confederate flag he had displayed in his living room, disingenuously saying it was merely part of a flag collection.
Allen semi-apologized for the "macaca" remark, saying he was sorry if the young Webb volunteer was offended. But he didn't say he was sorry he said it. There's a huge difference in the sincerity level involved here.
Consider how deliberately Allen used a word unfamiliar to most of us who do not have family roots in Tunisia. "This fellow over here with the yellow shirt, Macaca or whatever his name is, he's with my opponent. He's following us around everywhere." Allen said. "Let's give a welcome to Macaca here."
The video clip shows Allen smiling and enjoying ridiculing the young man. It also shows a man unworthy of becoming president. He's just a bully.
GREAT tag line....
Nobody knows that word of the top of their head, and no politician uses a foreign word while speaking publicly without being absolutely sure of it's meaning.
I believe this was a column by Marianne Means, not the Times Union. The TU's opinion columns were filled with more important things like: the Bush administration and its "obsession with secrecy" redacting Cold War weapons counts, and that the Federal Deficit, although falling more than $50 billion, is no reason for extending Bush's insane tax cuts.
Also included in the TU is the standard "liberal activist propaganda" articles and denouncing of charter schools (by a liberal columnist who alone gets the front page of the local section every day) littering this travesty of a paper.
BUMP!
Hey, didn't Hillary(!) call someone an effing Jew ba$tard once?
Where was THAT outrage?
Anyone? Anyone?
Oh grow up.
I'm one of the biggest Allens supporters around here. And areafiftyone and I have had our share of disagreements.
But she is most decidedly not a "DU troll."
get a grip on yerself.
If anyone is acting like a troll it is you. You are a nasty individual and need to go back under your rock where you came from. Name calling is not necessary. And you are a child for doing it.
Wish it wasn't true.
But he already said he didn't use it that way.
Good to know.
areafiftyone isn't a troll.
Thank you for sticking up for me. I am never posting any posts on Allen again. That shold make him happy. I am totally disgusted with that moron. He's pathetic.
Honest debate is useful.
I believe the TU has gotten worse. Their staff has no time to look into the corruption of the Democrat leaders (incl Hillary and Spitzer) and the failure of New York State, but have no problem giving front page stories to the "Bethleham Neighbors For Peace" watching the 9/11 fraud movie.
I believe the most liberal activist groups in Albany get very favorable mentions every day ...wouldn't surprise me if the TU reporters are charter members.
> I didn't know the audience consisted only of French Tunisians <
Surprisingly enough, there are many people of Mediterranean ethnicity in the hills and
hollows of Tazewell Co VA, where Sen. Allen was speaking.
They're known locally as "Melungeons" -- although they stopped speaking Ladino-
Sephardic and the other Mediterranean languages at least 250 years ago.
So there's no chance they would have known what "makaka" means.
Except Mr. Allen is French-descended, according to wikipedia (yes, wikipedia could be very inaccurate).
Don't let him bother you. You're a good source for articles here.
We need to know what's out there.
Thanks so much. I'm just a bit shocked by the harshness of it that's all.
Rather ironic that Hillary made the same type of slur.
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