Posted on 08/15/2006 4:13:02 AM PDT by COBOL2Java
RICHMOND, Va. -- A volunteer of Indian descent working for Democrat Jim Webb's U.S. Senate campaign said Monday he felt insulted when Sen. George Allen called him a name that sounded like "Macaca" during a rally in western Virginia.
S.R. Sidarth, 20, spent last week following Allen's "listening tour" and filming the appearances for the Webb campaign, which distributed a video clip of Friday's appearance to reporters.
"This fellow over here with the yellow shirt--Macaca or whatever his name is--he's with my opponent," Allen said. "He's following us around everywhere."
Macaca is a term associated with a species of monkeys.
"This is not something we knew," said Allen campaign spokesman Dick Wadhams.
The name also could be spelled Makaka, which is a city in South Africa.
Wadhams said, however, that the name was a variation of "Mohawk," the nickname he said Allen campaign staffers gave Sidarth because he had a Mohawk haircut.
Whether the University of Virginia senior's haircut--closely cropped around the temples and above the ears, but otherwise full _ qualifies as a Mohawk is open to interpretation. Sidarth said he does not consider it a Mohawk.
"It's grasping--it's reaching," Webb spokeswoman Kristian Denny Todd said of Wadhams' explanation. "This was a term meant to demean Sidarth and his presence there at the event."
Asked what he thought Allen meant by using the word Macaca, Sidarth said: "I took it to mean that was the first thing that came to his mind when he saw a person of color. It does have connotations in Hispanic cultures of being associated with a monkey."
(Excerpt) Read more at dailypress.com ...
I agree. Unfortunately, there's a videotape of this incident, and in the alternate universe called "politics," Allen stepped in it. Remember, Democrats are always forgiven, Republicans are not.
I don't think this will get much traction. I just don't see people automatically assuming "macaca" is a racial or ethnic slur-- I don't think most people have any idea what it means (myself included). Seems like a real reach to me, and I think most people will see it as manufactured outrage. I do find it a little ironic that the Webb camp is upset over a sarcastic nickname given to one of their supporters-- after all of those juvenile "George FELIX Allen" references....
I agree with you. The guy is a Democrat and they are searching for a reason to take exception. Screw him.
I was just reading more about this "controversy" on other sites and I think it definitely will make most voters' eyes glaze over. There is the debate on whether the guy actually has a Mohawk (let's call in John Edwards, the Democratic leader on hair issues, for this one). Then there is the revelation that this term actually is derived from a European racial slur (guess there is one area where the liberals don't want us to be like Europe), followed by the "smoking gun" that Senator Allen's mother grew up in an area where this very racial slur was used. I just don't see this electrifying the voters. Anyone who thinks this is big news was going to vote for Webb anyway.
Get over it.
Gee, pehaps Mr. Allen should have called him what he really is....like maybe "dumbass" or something like that.
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"Sidarth said he does not consider it a Mohawk"
No - he considers it a mullet (exactly what he called it). We've reached a sad day when people proudly declare they have a mullet, not a mohawk.
You said: "I don't think most people have any idea what it means (myself included). "
Yes but when the MSM gets through about their 1000th repeat of the story everyone will know.
Are there any words in the English language which are not considered racial slurs? It must take a great deal of effort to memorize thousands of words and phrases to take offense at. I doubt that the twit democrat had even heard the word before.
George Allen 57/43.
I had a mullet once...
Even if they don't know the word, if it was spoken by a Republican it will immediately be suspect. The PC crowd even eats their own. In 1999, there was an individual in DC Mayor Tony Williams' staff - a white guy - who in a meeting used the word "niggardly" in describing a funding initiative. The word means "Meanly covetous or avarcious in dealing with others; stingy," and has absolutly no relationship with the dreaded 'N' word. Regardless, the staff member was forced to resign.
Given practically no one has ever heard of the term, I doubt it.
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