The "macaca" bit on "The Daily Show" wasn't informative.

[Eric J in MN]

They should have told the audience that "macaca" means monkey. Also, that the man with dark skin being ridiculed was born in Virginia.

[demnan]

1. Wow it hit the Daily Show?

Too bad I can't watch the early one tonight, I'm making campaign calls for Andrew Hurst.

[Eric J in MN]

4. They played the video clip of George Allen, but

...didn't explain why the remark was offensive.

[NewJeffCT]

2. While it's not an excuse

they might not have known. I mean, it was not common knowledge beyond DU, DailyKos, & similar sites until later in the day yesterday, which might not have been enough time for TDS writers to work their magic.

[Eric J in MN]

5. A Washington Post editorial yesterday morning said

"Mr. Allen said last night that no slur was intended, though he failed to explain what, exactly, he did have in mind. Macaca is the genus for macaques, a type of monkey found mainly in Asia."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/14/AR2006081401114.html?sub=AR

[tanyev]

3. Good piece about it on this morning's Good Morning America.

Showed the video, talked to Sidarth, explained the background of the slur, mentioned previous Allen racist faux pas. I was pleasantly surprised.

[Eric J in MN]

6. Cool. NT

NT

[Cha]

10. I'm shocked! Mainstream corporate

news showing something like that about a republiCon senator?

[Buzz Clik]

7. You turn to the Daily Show for information?

Yikes.

[RaleighNCDUer]

16. It's at least as accurate as CNN. nt

[DemonFighterLives]

8. I think it was CNN

that offered the explanation yesterday that it might have been "mohawk"
referring to what some called him for his strage mohawk type haircut.
:eyes:

[Cha]

9. Sounds like cnn..grossly misinformed.

And making up shit as they go along.

[Caution]

11. that's because it isnt meant to inform. it's a comedy show.

[lonestarnot]

12. What you get your news from the Daily Show also?

[underpants]

13. I got the sense that they left that up to the viewer to find out

or more likely this probably was a big item running through the internets tubes yesterday.

[TheFriedPiper]

14. Probably has something to do with it being COMEDY

It is comedy for the already informed.

The uninformed don't get the jokes.

[Beelzebud]

15. The Daily Show is an ENTERTAINMENT SHOW.

They are not there to keep you informed, and to do real investigative journalism.

Bitch about the actual news media that IGNORED this detail, not a COMEDY SHOW.

[Igel]

17. Two questions.

What does the word 'shit' mean?

Gotcha. If it's English, it's excrement. If it's in Russian, it means 'it is sewn.'

How about 'zhid'? If Russian, it's 'kyke', and clearly an insult. If Czech, it's the standard word for 'Jew', not an insult.

It's been shown that Allen could have known the offensive meaning of the word, if his mother decided to use it. Strikes me rather like a Jewish mom's calling herself a 'kyke', or my half-brother's father's calling himself a 'dago', if I follow things correctly. But it's possible.

"Racism" is a harsh charge to toss around. "Possible" has been assumed to mean "he definitely did it". People just can't stand anything that's not cut and dried, it seems, and are prepared to reject the notion of proof or even sound argumentation to achieve clarity.

"One must make things as simple as possible." "Yes, but you shouldn't make them simpler than possible."

[Sinti]

18. Problem is Allen IS a racist

This is NOT his "first" offense. Every Virginian (I lived there most of my life until this past year) knows he's racist. He's still against MLK day, but he wants Confederate History Day (isn't that something like a Patriot saying, let's have Tory day, not that I'm Tory, but we don't need Independence Day). He hung a noose in his office as Governor, don't know if he still displays it as a Senator. He flys the battle flag at his home. His policies are racist. He defended Trent Lott's Thurmond comments. He's been trying to clean his act up since 2002 because he decided to run for president, but while you can change your clothes, sometimes your skin still shows through, this was one of those times.

[AlCzervik]

19. Any Du'ers from VA--how is this being covered locally?

please and thank you.