Ignorance only gets you so far
Republican George Allen, campaigning to be reelected as Senator from Virginia, repeatedly used a racial slur to describe an Indian volunteer for the campaign of Allen's opponent, Democrat James Webb. Allen later apologized, noting that he doesn't know what the word means.
That seems plausible given the context, but it begs the question of where Allen has heard the word before. The odds that he randomly invented an incorrect name to call someone that happens to be a slur against the exact race of the person being describing are astronomical. Allen must have heard the word somewhere, in a context that connected it to those of Indian descent. So if Allen is not a racist, the question becomes who among those he chooses to surround himself with is, and how much influence that person has.
posted by Cirrus of Malla @ 10:38 AM ⢠Permalink
4 comments
4 Comments:
Hey, Allen is a racist, just like the clown in Gathersburg. Look at his record with Confederate flags.
Unfortunately this attitude plays all too well with too many people in this country.
Allen likely picked up the term from his mother who was an immigrant (French-Tunesian). Hard as it may be to believe--George F. Allen actually speaks some French. NotLarrySabato who first broke this story goes into some of the background.
http://notlarrysabato.typepad.com/doh/2006/08/great_question_.html
The fact remains that he still hasn't given a reasonable accounting for what he meant. I'm sorry, but the macaca/mohawk confusion does not pass the smell test.
He'll get away with it, of course.
Hmm, now that the Allen camp is claiming macaca is Republican for "s**thead," I guess we can use it on other Republicans, like the MD Gov. and Lt. Gov.
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