Allan's new 'macaca' explanation...the guy was a shit-head...

[cynatnite]

What does Macaca really mean? Three Virginia Republicans confirmed to the Hotline that several Allen campaign aides and advisers are telling allies that the word was a made-up, off-the-cuff neologism that these aides occasionally used to refer to tracker S.R. Sidarth well before last Saturday's videotaped encounter.

According to two Republicans who heard the word used, "macaca" was a mash-up of "Mohawk," referring to Sidarth's distinctive hair, and "caca," Spanish slang for excrement, or "shit."

Said one Republican close to the campaign: "In other words, he was a shit-head, an annoyance." Allen, according to Republicans, heard members of his traveling entourage and Virginia Republicans use the phrase and picked it up.
It was the first word that came to his mind when he spied Sidarth at the weekend's event, according to Republicans who have been briefed on Allen's version of the event.

Opponents of Allen have said that Sidarth's hair was clearly styled as a mullet rather than as a Mohawk. Republicans are sending around a post by Chad Dotson, a Virginia prosecutor who blogs as "Commonwealth Conservative," which contains a photograph of Sidarth at an Allen event. Sidarth's hair appears to be shaved on the side and thick strands stretch over the top of his head from his neck to his temple. (Dotson is a Republican and unabashed Allen supporter.)

http://hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com/archives/2006/08/a_new_explanati.html

[karlrschneider]

1. We talked about this yesterday afternoon

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=1915046&mesg_id=1915046

[cynatnite]

4. Notice the changing explanation...

First it was the 'mohawk' and now it's this. It'll be interesting to see what new one they come up with tomorrow.

[karlrschneider]

13. You know, as goofy as it might sound at first blush, Allen might have

actually been better off had he just called the guy a shithead. I mean, that would at least give him
the chance to say something like "I let my mouth outrun my brain and I said something completely
stupid and I'm deeply sorry to have been such a dumb ass." Sure, it'd be a 'mea culpa' exposing him as a total asshole but it just -might- have kicked the legs out from under the story. And maybe even
endearing him to what seems to be a significant percentage of Virginians who're assholes too...


But I'm just spiffballing here, I might be fulla shit. :D

[cynatnite]

14. Maybe he was pretending to be smart by using the word...

He should've taken bush's example and dumbed it down to using 'shit-head'.

I do think you are right. It would have been easily forgotten by most.

[karlrschneider]

18. Sure could be that...or maybe he was trying to emulate Chimp

(not very successfully, obviously) by assigning a 'clever' apellation to somebody he wanted to
deprecate. Hey, Dumbya has cute nicknames for everybody, why souldn't Allen? :eyes:

[elehhhhna]

2. Had they known it was a mullett, he'd have been called MulQuaeda.

so it could be worse

[KamaAina]

3. I thought it was gonna be "I thought it was Sen. Akaka"

the Hawai'i Democrat. "I saw this guy with brown skin where he wasn't supposed to be, and I just naturally assumed it was my esteemed colleague, Sen. Akaka. So I said, 'Hi, Mr. Akaka!'" :sarcasm:

[deminks]

5. So we are supposed to think "shithead" is better than "macaque"?

I still would not vote for a senator who picks the only dark skinned person in the area and calls him a "shithead". I do not excuse that behavior no matter what was said. I expect better from leaders.

[ClusterFreak]

6. Have you ever witnessed such furious backpedalling in your life?

The spinmeisters on this one have been truly Rovian.

[MadMaddie]

7. He's a racist and a bully.....good riddance!!

[KAZ]

8. End Of Line. Next?

First Frist, alas Allen. Duds in the pack.

[durrrty libby]

9. Allen is a truly dumb liar. A 3 year old could do better.

I have my hip boots on because the crap is pretty deep

[never_get_over_it]

10. Yep they made up a word

that just happens to be a French Tunisian racial slur - and Allen's Mother is French Tunisian

coincidence - why of course it is

In a word

PUH LEASE

[LeftyMom]

11. Why is this an issue? We already knew he was a racist asshole.

http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=20060508&s=lizza050806

[theHandpuppet]

12. He can run but he can't hide!

Allen has long been associated with the GOP's neoconfederate lobby in Washington. Just do a search of "Southern Partisan" magazine and you'll see a laundry list of who's who in the GOP. I pulled up just a few links to Allen's racist footprints; most was information well known to me but there were also some surprises.

http://www.perrspectives.com/blog/archives/000192.htm
Past presidential aspirant Ashcroft is joined by future 2008 GOP hopeful, Virginia Senator George Allen. Allen, who in 2005 co-sponsored a resolution apologizing for the Senate's past use of the filibuster against anti-lynching legislation in the 1920's, displayed a Confederate flag and a noose at his home. While governor of Virginia, Allen declared "Confederate Heritage Month" and branded the NAACP an extremist group."

Some contend Allen's son "Forrest" was named for the Confederate General and founder of the KKK, Nathan Bedford Forrest: http://www.prospect.org/weblog/2006/05/post_281.html

Allen's long association with neo-confederate groups: http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/presidentialcandidates2008.htm

Now what is Bob Novak doing at a gathering of neoconfederates? And here's old Pat Robertson on the cover of Southern Partisan magazine, not to mention a photo of General Ricardo Sanchez (the man in command during the prison abuse in Iraq) with neoconfederate pals. WTF??? http://www.confederate.org/newsletter/2004news/newsletter_09-01-04.html

(From 2002)
Columnist Jeff E. Schapiro in the Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch examined the record of freshman Sen. George Allen, R-Va., saying that "Allen's history, as a private citizen and a public official, is replete with utterances and actions that enflamed racial sensitivities." http://www.maynardije.org/columns/dickprince/021223_prince/

George Allen and his racist GOP cohorts: http://archive.democrats.com/preview.cfm?term=Republican%20Racism
http://hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com/archives/2006/01/straight_talk_t.html

Keep track of the neo-confederate infiltration of our govt here! http://newtknight.blogspot.com/ or visit the website of the Southern Poverty Law Center.

[Marr]

15. The odd thing is, I don't understand why he's backpeddling at all.

He's courting the *Republican* vote. They've never had a problem with masked racism- and racism against a brown north african? C'mon- they'd eat it up if Allen came out and just owned it. He could top it off with another racial insult and just say he's justified in feeling that way, and his supporters would love it.

Christ, they'd take it as proof that he's on their team.

[ComerPerro]

16. That's just so much better

[noamnety]

17. Additional notes from a conservative

"First of all, it is NOT the end of the Allen campaign. “Macaca”, or something that sounds like it, could be interpreted as a racial slur. But in order for people to be offended by it, they must have a prejudged view of the word used. 98% of the Virginia electorate doesn’t have a preconceived notion that ‘macaca’ is a slur; even if you tell them that it is, they aren’t going to have a visceral reaction against it. And visceral reactions is the only way you get significant, immediate movement in the polls. This won’t have a major effect on the current election, and will be a footnote to Allen’s presumed run for the White House in two years."

Good news: It's not a problem because most people don't KNOW it's a slur!

"Second - people on the left, calm down. He used a word that sounds like a racial slur, yes, but that doesn’t mean that he meant it that way. The video plays MUCH kinder to Allen than the transcript reads, and the footage makes the Senator look downright playful. He looks into the camera. Allen is many things, but he is not politically stupid, especially on the stump. If he knew the phrase he was using was an ethnic slur, there is no way he makes the comment when he knows he is on camera. I really believe that the blogs/pundits who are portraying this as a “shuddering” statement are overplaying their hand to the point where they are bordering on “guilty by geography”, as Lewis Grizzard famously termed faulty accusations o racism against Southerners."

More good news: Allen would never be racist on camera.


quotes proudly reprinted at http://www.vaconservative.com/

[Jim__]

19. Right! They just happened to make up a word that is also a term

used by racists. Oh, now I get it.

[MADem]

20. Spanish slang for excrement....Eh?????

Isn't Feeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelix one of those "Speak ANG-LISH, ya furrin' bastards!!!" crew?

So why is he speaking Spanish to swear?

I don't BUUUY it!!! He is bullshitting, and doing it BADLY!!! That mohawk business is so damn LAME. And I imagine the American Indians wouldn't be too thrilled that their ethnicity is being paired with baby poo to make a point.

And if we want to be precise, caca is what a baby does in their diaper....MIERDA more accurately describes the VA GOP asshole Senator up for reelection this year....

[Ino]

21. Baloney!

The spin is baloney. I had a Greek boyfriend who freely insulted people in Greek, confident that no one understood him. Allen was being passive-aggressive, calling the guy a derogatory name & getting away with it... he thought.

(I asked my BF once how you say "shut up" in Greek, and I recognized the words as something he said to me ALL THE TIME. That was the end of that!)