Posted on 08/16/2006 10:17:53 AM PDT by PDR
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.)
John Reid, Allen's Senate communications director, said in a statement: "I don't think George Allen would ever try to publicly embarrass or demean a young person even if that person was working on an opposing campaign. The Senator has apologized sincerely and repeatedly over the last two days to the young man and to the public in general. He has been speaking with members of Virginia's Indian Community to reiterate that apology and assure them he did not mean to be derogatory. At some point I don't know what else can be said. I am hopeful that everyone who has heard about this has also heard the Senator's apology."
Kristian Denny Todd, communications director for James Webb, said the new explanation rings hollow. "I don't know what's worse; calling this innocent 20-year-old a "shit head" or a racist slur that was debatable that it wasn't," she said. "This is a kid that had done George Allen no harm. The term was used to demean him. That's the bottom line." Todd said Webb "just wants to get beyond all this" and focus on issues.
I have never heard of such ca ca since Bush was accused of subliminal messages by using the word RATS in a commercial.
Rush said that a guy that works for him said Macaca in Spanish means clown. Gee such an insult. Get over it libs.
Big mistake.
"That goofball who my opponent sends around to harass me? Yeah, I guess I referred to him as 'Macaca' - - I heard other people call him that and I thought it was his name. Oh, well.... Sorry if I offended anybody. Have a nice day."
Done. End of apology.
Thank you! I think if I hear one more public apology from a politician (or anyone else in the public eye, for that matter) I'm going to be forced to vomit profusely, hopefully hitting one of them about the head and face. Too bad I'm not famous, because my subsequent lack of an apology will go totally unnoticed.
Thank you! I think if I hear one more public apology from a politician (or anyone else in the public eye, for that matter) I'm going to be forced to vomit profusely, hopefully hitting one of them about the head and face. Too bad I'm not famous, because my subsequent lack of an apology will go totally unnoticed.
The media loves the likes of you. Their advertisers pay extra for an audience that believes whatever they're told.
Beautiful. Brilliant. You need to contact Senator Allen, he could use some good advice.
Actually, Allen' mother is from Tunisia, of French descent. He absolutely knew he was calling the kid a MONKEY. And he turned himself into a useful idiot for the dems.
Get off your high horse and stick your insults where the sun don't shine, lady. All I did was to point out the simple truth, sorry if you think that any word you don't know must not be a real word. Sheesh...
Main Entry: Ma·ca·ca
Pronunciation: m&-'käk-&
Function: noun
: a genus of Old World monkeys including the rhesus monkey (M. mulatta) and other macaques
Miss Kenton take some friendly advice: Life's hard, it's especially hard for the stupid.
Oh my gosh, you've got to be kidding . . .
That's about the most moronic statement I've heard in this whole mess.
I love that Allen made fun of the guy at a rally. That not only shows good humor, it shows life, something that's ever missing at political rallies that are usually made of plastic.
This is all about a good joke gone wrong. If they guy were white, there'd be no story. If he were black, Allen would never have said anything. That he's an Indian with a mullett is downright hilarious. That the campaign staff named him is classic. That Allen used it during an event is awesome. I'm liking the guy all the more just for this.
Next time I'm stuck talking to a Verizon rep about the molassas DSL service they squeeze into my neighborhood that's 7,000 miles away from the idiot on the other end of the phone, I'll have this image in my head. Too funny!
Nope. It is a well-known North-African racial slur. Allen's mother, the former Etty Lubrusso, was raised in Tunisia.
No, "macoque" (french usage) is a well known north-african slur. It has two syllables BTW.
"Macaca" is the spanish term. Some one has said that it is used as a slur by sephardic jews and therefore he may have heard it from his mother- assuming she was that crude.
Say... has the media ever said that Allen meant "macoque" and mispronounced it?
That way they could "prove", to their audience anyway, that he's a bigot and stupid too LOL!
Second time I've done that.
That his momma was North African doesn't mean that Allen actually knew the term. My mother is an old school WASP, and I still don't understand all of her stiff-lipped vocabulary. What I do get out of it is often most colorful!
Anyway, if Allen did know what he was saying, I'm glad for some bigotry, despite the proforma apologies. I doubt he knew it, though. And I'm damned sure it wasn't the first time the kid was exposed to the term. It was likely the first time he could substantiate it on film.
But that's just me.
"I rise today to offer a formal and heartfelt apology to all the victims of lynching in our history, and for the failure of the United States Senate to take action when action was most needed." George Allen (mini-W)
More recently, Allen joined calls for the Senate to consider an apology for slavery. However, in late May of 2006 he began to back away from a slavery apology proposal, explaining that "so far, we haven't seen much of a coalition of support for it". George Allen
The Senator has apologized sincerely and repeatedly over the last two days to the young man and to the public in general. He has been speaking with members of Virginia's Indian Community to reiterate that apology and assure them he did not mean to be derogatory. At some point I don't know what else can be said. I am hopeful that everyone who has heard about this has also heard the Senator's apology."
Jeez ....if he ever becomes prez he would way out do Bubba on an apology tour.
An alleged racial slur that no one had ever heard of- even the alleger.
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