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Ear to the Ground

Sen. Allen’s New Explanation for ‘Macaca’

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Posted on Aug 16, 2006

Apparently, the Virginia senator was intending to call a rival campaign volunteer a sh—head when he called him “macaca.” How’s that work out? Read it below:


The Hotline:

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.

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By robert puglia, August 17, 2006 at 11:15 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

macracka. it is all the more debilitating to shoot yourself in the foot when that foot is in your mouth.

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By Spinoza, August 17, 2006 at 3:10 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

Not only would he survive he will thrive.  This is the USA.

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By Bukko in Australia, August 17, 2006 at 2:37 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

Or is it a French-Tunisian ethnic slur? I’m listening to Randi Rhodes’ show on Air America Radio from Aug. 16 (we download podcasts of it down here). I strongly advise that you find a station and tune in.

Randi says Allen’s mother is a French citizen who grew up in Tunisia. For the white Frenchies, “macaca” is a derisive term applied to the dark-skinned North African natives. (“Caca” means human excrement in French, and a caller to Randi said “macaca” means “little turd.”) So we have Allen uttering an ethnic slur that his mother taught him, then lying about it with this made-up story about it meaning “mohawk.”

And it’s a French insult word! (Allen apparently speaks fluent French.) Do the Republican racists know that one of their U.S. senators is spewing French? If they did, they’d be after one of their own with pitchforks!

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By kevin99999, August 17, 2006 at 12:00 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

Are republicans born insensitive and stupid or they go to GOP institute of lying and scamming?

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By Hilding Lindquist, August 16, 2006 at 10:27 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

Well ... now we REALLY have it in a nutshell: Southern political strategy: The majority of voters are dumb, not just racist.

If Senator George Allen survives this on a national level ... I won’t just be surprised, I’ll be nauseated.

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