ALLEN CHOOSES TO RE-LITIGATE ‘MACACA’…. As expected, former Sen. George Allen (R) launched his comeback bid in Virginia yesterday, hoping for a rematch against Sen. Jim Webb (D), who narrowly defeated him in 2006.
As has been well documented, his use of a racial slur, “macaca,” contributed to Allen’s defeat, and will no doubt come up quite a bit over the next 21 months. At this point, the Republican needs to work on his defense.
In an interview with a Virginia political news outlet today, Former Sen. George Allen (R-VA), who has officially launched a campaign for the Senate seat he lost in 2006, kicked the hornets’ nest that may have cost him the seat in the first place.
Allen said he regrets using the term “macaca” to describe a Democratic campaign tracker, but still maintains it is a “made-up” word, not a racial slur.
Allen has had more than four years to come up with a compelling explanation, and he’s still getting it wrong. What on earth is this guy thinking?
“Macaca” is not a word Allen just “made-up.” As Blue Virginia explained yesterday, “As voluminously, extensively, repeatedly (although not always by the “lamestream” corporate media) documented in the 2006 campaign — and not just by Democrats either — the word is an extremely common racial slur in French North Africa, from where Allen’s mother’s side of the family hails.”
Also keep in mind, Allen’s defense is even more implausible given that his explanation evolved repeatedly. Originally, the Republican campaign said Allen used the word, but didn’t know what it meant, which was itself odd. The campaign then said he was referring to S.R. Sidarth, who is Indian, as “Mohawk,” which didn’t make any sense. The story then changed again — Allen was going for “caca,” Spanish slang for excrement.
Michael Froomkin joked at the time, paraphrasing Allen, “I just happened to pick a nickname for the sole dark face in a white crowd that just happens to be the same as a common racial epithet. Could happen to anyone, right?”
Finally, Allen changed his story again, characterizing “macaca” as a “made up” word, which it obviously isn’t.
Why Allen would want to start this argument all over again is a mystery, but I suspect the DSCC is pleased.
