Pitiful coverage of the George Allen flap!

[Bleacher Creature]

Here's a sampling of articles on this story:

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/08/15/allen.volunteer.ap/index.html

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060815/ap_on_el_se/allen_campaign_volunteer

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/15/AR2006081500833.html

What do they all have in common? Not a single one mentions the fact that his mother was Tunisian. Not a single one points out that he almost certainly heard this term used growing up. It's all this "he-said-she-said" journalism. Luckily, the facts alone are damning. But it's simply not journalism not to do some additional follow-up (beyond simply reading a dictionary) and stating that a reasonable inference can be drawn by certain facts.

George Felix Allen knew EXACTLY what he was saying. Period.

[blm]

1. That's our US media - maximize any perceived transgression by a Dem while

minimizing any real transgression by a Republican.

[The_Casual_Observer]

2. It's probably ok, he will do more stupid stuff before this is over.

They are watching now.

[msongs]

3. what matters is coverage in Virginia for local voters, so is it getting

coverage in that market?

Msongs
www.msongs.com/political-shirts.htm

[librechik]

4. Keith O also failed to mention this

did no one tell him?

[Cocoa]

5. what's the relevance of the Tunisian angle?

[Starbucks Anarchist]

6. Allen's mother is Tunisian.

And "macaca" may have been a mispronunciation of "macaque," as in the macaque monkeys found in Tunisia, so Allen would likely have known of the word's implication, according to some people.

However, I don't think that was Allen's intent -- I think he was simply trying to create a stereotypical Indian name for this guy, much like "Ahmed" or "Jose" is a generic (and usually offensive) shorthand for Arabs and Latinos. The difference is Allen probably never heard a real Indian name before, so "Macaca" is some lame (and racist) attempt to pinpoint the guy's ethnicity for his base.

[Cocoa]

7. I see...

thanks for pointing that out, it is indeed relevant information. I thought it was Sidarth's mother that was Tunisian.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

8. No, Sidarth is Indian.

Also, it'd be ironic if Allen drinks Pepsi or Pepsi products, since the new CEO is an Indian woman. :D

[indie_voter]

9. He is an American of Indian heritage. He was born in VA.

Disclaimer: I'm not saying this to flame.

I too am of Indian heritage (born here), I am an American. My parents became naturalized citizens of American (mid 60s, soon after Civil Rights passed I believe) , my dad died an American.

Allen had the nerve to welcome this young man to America, a person BORN in VA!! :p

Allen knew what he was saying. If he was looking for an Indian name he would have called him Gandhi or even Apu(Simpsons). He knew what he was saying.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

11. I'm of Indian descent as well.

Born in NYC, actually, to immigrant parents as well.

I still maintain he didn't use it that way, mainly because he's way too stupid to know such a "foreign-sounding" word. My guess is that he thought Sidarth was an Arab and therefore used an "Arabic-sounding" name like "Macaca" to demean him.

EDIT: I meant Sidarth was American/of Indian descent in the previous post. I guess I wasn't clear enough on that.

[indie_voter]

15. You're kinder than I am

IIRC, this guy wore a confederate flag lapel pin in high school. And got in trouble for using the N* word. If he didn't have a history of racist behavior behind him, I'd be more willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Then you add the information his mom comes from a place where that slur is used, it doesn't look good for Allen.

Also, if he really was making it up why first try to say he was mixing the word up with Mohawk, his stories haven't been consistent.

It seems too convenient to me that that his made up word is a common racist slur where his mom is from, perhaps he didn't know what it meant, but I wouldn't bet on it. ;)

[Richard Steele]

13. Actually, it's not just a word for monkey. It is a COMMON racial slur...

there, pretty much equivalent to "N*gger" in English.

Allen knew that, he knew what it meant, and that's how he was using it.
The notion that this was just an unfortunate word-coincidence
went right out the window when we learned that his Mother
is from there, and belongs to the racial group who uses that SLUR the most.

[never_get_over_it]

10. Please think about this

of all the words he could have chosen even if he was trying to come up with and Indian name what is the chance that he would pull up a word that is apparently a French Tunisian ethnic slur and the man's mother is French Tunisian - isn't that just too coincidental - I don't believe in coincidences HE SO KNEW WHAT IT MEANT - he just thought all of us were too stupid to figure it out....or else he is an idiot or he just doesn't care....or all of the above - but he knew

[Starbucks Anarchist]

12. It was insulting either way.

But Allen is clearly an intellectual dullard with the subtlety of a jackhammer, so it would surprise me he knew the word, even if his mother was Tunisian.

I'm of Indian descent, and I recall some dumbass kid in school many years ago calling me "Mahod" -- clearly a made-up name (AFAIK) meant to demean me because he thought I was Arab or Indian. He just used a foreign-sounding fake name for that specific purpose, just like Allen did, IMO.

[never_get_over_it]

14. Well you're certainly correct

that is was insulting either way - he may be a dullard - but it doesn't take a lot of smarts to learn a hateful word from your family. You mentioned the kid who used a made up word which appearrs to mean nothing but the word Allen used just happened to be a racial slur - as I said it is just too much of a coincidence for me - but unless someone who knows the jackass comes forward and says he uses the word and knows what it means we'll never know for sure but my gut tells me he had to have known - he has too many other indicators that he is a racist pig - and I can very well imagine his mother using the word around him while he was growing up.