Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Shock the Monkey
George Allen, Republican Senator from Virginia and SoCal's biggest Confederacy cheerleader, is one of the front runners in the Republican Party for '08. That, however, is likely to change very, very soon:
"This fellow here, over here with the yellow shirt, macaca, or whatever his name is. He's with my opponent. He's following us around everywhere. And it's just great," Allen said, as his supporters began to laugh. After saying that Webb was raising money in California with a "bunch of Hollywood movie moguls," Allen said, "Let's give a welcome to macaca, here. Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia."
Allen said this to S.R. Sidarth, a man of Indian descent. "Macaca", or "macaque", is a French word for monkey, and traditionally used by North African citizens of European descent as a derogatory term for native Africans. And Allen's mother was a French woman who lived in Tunisia before coming over.
Of course, Allen's spinning like Arachne, claiming that he was referring to Sidarth's (nonexistent) mohawk, that he's sorry if he offended anyone (translation: "I don't know what I did wrong, so I'll just cover my ass"), and, of all things, claiming that he "merely" meant to call Sidarth a shithead.
I can't say this is a big surprise. Even in an age where pundits can freely use slurs on TV and in public speeches and come off smelling like roses, hopefully we'll take our candidates to task for it.
"This fellow here, over here with the yellow shirt, macaca, or whatever his name is. He's with my opponent. He's following us around everywhere. And it's just great," Allen said, as his supporters began to laugh. After saying that Webb was raising money in California with a "bunch of Hollywood movie moguls," Allen said, "Let's give a welcome to macaca, here. Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia."
Allen said this to S.R. Sidarth, a man of Indian descent. "Macaca", or "macaque", is a French word for monkey, and traditionally used by North African citizens of European descent as a derogatory term for native Africans. And Allen's mother was a French woman who lived in Tunisia before coming over.
Of course, Allen's spinning like Arachne, claiming that he was referring to Sidarth's (nonexistent) mohawk, that he's sorry if he offended anyone (translation: "I don't know what I did wrong, so I'll just cover my ass"), and, of all things, claiming that he "merely" meant to call Sidarth a shithead.
I can't say this is a big surprise. Even in an age where pundits can freely use slurs on TV and in public speeches and come off smelling like roses, hopefully we'll take our candidates to task for it.
