Saturday, August 19, 2006

Bubba meets Macaca

Is Senator George Allen a bully? Obviously. Is he a racist and xenophobe? Apparently. Is he not very bright? We already knew that.

Senator Allen, who has so far has had an undistinguished career as a member of the ruling party in the United States Senate, has finally made a name for himself. Well, actually, he made a name for a Webb volunteer. For the few people on the planet not familiar with the story, Senator Allen was speaking before an all white crowd in Southwest Virginia and during this speech singled out a dark skinned volunteer for the Webb campaign who happened to be videotaping the speech. He twice called the young man “Macaca” – the name of a monkey and common racial slur used in Europe. He said “Welcome to America” as if the color of his skin made him an alien. His reference to Webb visiting Hollywood movie moguls may or may not have been a veiled reference to Jews. (Mel Gibson was too drunk to remember the code words.) You can watch the whole thing here.

The Senator’s choice of words has generated more than a little comment across the internet. Here are a few:

Melissa McEwan in the Guadian

Senator Allen's explantion at Hotline


A new explanation for Macaca at Hotline


Virginian’s feel the remark was inappropriate but evenly divided as to whether it was a racial slur or not

He really meant to call him a shithead

Kathleen Parker says the Senator is a rude cad

The distinguished Senator has a Mel Gibson moment

The nativity test

George Allen’s America

Poll shows gap narrowing since Macacagate

The Sidarth family v Allen

The defense: he meant to call him a shithead

Allen’s immigrant problem

Allen’s race problem

The Dem’s ideal Republican candidate for president

Senator Shithead

Virginia bloggers chime in

“Welcome to America, Macaca.”

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