It looked like it was dying down but it turns out the “Macaca” story lives on, thanks to the two-faced message coming out of Senator George Allen’s camp. Apparently the incident has severely harmed him in the polls, so he’s finally apologized to S.R. Sidarth, the Webb campaign worker whom he twice called “macaca” and asked an all-white audience to “welcome to America.” Allen actually got on the phone:
“He apologized for his comments,” said Mr. Sidarth, who is an American of Indian descent, in a telephone interview from the University of Virginia, where he has resumed his classes. “He took the blame for saying them, and he said he didn’t realize how offended I was until he heard my comments from the media.”
End of story, right? Politician says something stupid, pays price in the polls, apologizes, hopefully learns lesson. Except for one thing. At the same time that Allen is apologizing, his staff is telling Republicans worried that he’s going soft on them that the whole incident was what the papers call “a barnyard epithet” (that’s newscode for “bullshit”) and that it’s Allen who is actually the aggrieved party. [Update: Here’s the campaign manager’s memo.] Here’s today’s editorial in the Washington Post:
[Allen campaign manager] Mr. Wadhams, an itinerant political hit man known for his nasty attacks on opponents, told Republican leaders in a memo sent over the weekend that the Webb campaign and the media had ganged up “to create national news over something that did not warrant coverage in the first place.”
He continued: “Never in modern times has a statewide office holder and candidate been so vilified.” In other words, Mr. Allen is the victim — not the 20-year-old student whom he mocked with an insulting, possibly racist slur in front of scores of chortling supporters and demeaned by saying, “Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia!”
Unlike Mr. Allen, whose contrition has become increasingly abject over time, Mr. Wadhams has been consistent. His first pronouncement to journalists, a week and a half ago, was to refer to the “macaca” story with a barnyard epithet and insist that the senator had nothing to apologize for. He has stuck with that assessment.
With Mr. Allen plummeting in the polls and his reelection prospects now in doubt, he and Mr. Wadhams are in damage-control mode. They have dropped their far-fetched insistence that the word “macaca” referred to Mr. Sidarth’s hairstyle. But they ought to get their stories straight. Is the Allen campaign really sorry? Or are the senator’s adversaries just making a mountain out of “macaca”?
We report, you decide.
Is this clown’s apparent flip-flop from aggressive, recalcitrant, white supremacist to contrite “wuss” ever going to be picked up by the “liberal media”?
I was listening to Hannity’s radio show the other day and he was interviewing Allen. Allen was apologizing for his “mistake”, profusely. Sean, on the other hand, introduced the episode as Allen “joking” with “a Webb campaign worker” (no mention of Sidarth’s name ever) and then went on attacking the “drive-by media” for vilifying Allen over nothing. Post-interview, he stuck to the talking points of media double standards and kept playing old sound bytes of democratic goof-ups – Dean, Hilary, Byrd. The game plan seemed to be that Allen would be contrite and the others would do the dirty work for him. After years of listening to Rush, Sean and Savage, it was quite predictable.
An LA Times editorial shows off a little homework on Allen. His remark was not an accident or misinterpreted.
“THE BEST POSSIBLE INTERPRETATION of Sen. George Allen’s twice pointing at an Indian American videographer at a campaign rally and sneeringly calling him “macaca” is that, in the words of Allen’s own spinmeisters, the Virginia Republican and putative 2008 presidential contender was just playfully combining the words “Mohawk” (to mischaracterize the cameraman’s haircut) and, well, “caca.”…That’s the best spin, mind you. The worst — and more believable — is that “macaca” is an Americanized version of the similarly pronounced French racial slur “macaque,” which literally refers to a species of stub-tailed monkey, but is figuratively used to insult North Africans and other people with dark skin. It’s the French equivalent of “darkie,” making all decent people who hear it shudder. Allen’s mother is French, from the North African country of Tunisia. He speaks the language well.”
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-allen21aug21,0,6781238.story?coll=la-opinion-leftrail
Had Webb’s staffer been black and Allen called him the n-word, would Hannity have been able to say with a straight face that Allen was “joking” with a Webb staffer?
Here’s my op-ed on the Macaca fracas at the American Prospect online. It includes a photo of my two-year-old triplet sons wearing Osman’s t-shirts, 30% of the profits of which he says go to Jim Webb’s campaign
The op-ed was written before news broke of Allen’s supposed “apology” to Sidarth, which sounds like it’s a another “I’m sorry if I offended you” rather than the apology it should have been. And it sure sounds like it’s part of a “having-it-both-ways” strategy.
Here’s my George-Allen-fantasy apology: “I’m sorry that my mother, a French-Tunisian immigrant, taught me slurs about dark-skinned people. I’m sorry that I used one and ‘welcomed you to America’ and ‘the real world of Virginia’ when you are as American and more Virginian than I am. I’m sorry I sought in that moment also to humiliate you in front of an all-white audience and rally them to view you as unAmerican. Oh, and I am firing my campaign manager for saying this was no big deal because it is, and for continuing to try to undermine my apology.”
Now that would be impressive.
I’ve said it before and will keep saying it. If you really want to hold Allen accountable, there is only one way. Deny him re-election by investing financially in his opponent, Jim Webb’s campaign.
After years of listening to Rush, Sean and Savage, it was quite predictable.
Please do yourself a favor and stop listening to this mainstream conservative tripe. If you really want to find out about what the conservatives are saying, you can do that and also not lose your sanity by going to conservative places like here here here here
his campaign manager’s name is Dick Wadhams. how appropriate!
Subodh, you have The Cutest triplets ever, and they have fantastic taste in fashion!
PS: enjoyed the op-ed very much, as well 🙂
This goes back to how leadership and being responsible for your words and actions, right or wrong, and the appearance of it is as important as the message you’re trying to deliver. It hurt Bush, it hurt Kerry, and GA is another person in a long line of spoilt folk who just don’t get it. If the guy had any vision or foresight, anted up immediately and apologized, he would atleast look geniune. Waiting after polls are affected and then complaining about bias only makes you look weak, like a child stomping his feet.
The next argument that will come up is “Look, even when he apologized, he is being blamed. Can’t win either way!”. He could have won over the crowd had he done (an apology) what he needed to when the time was right/ripe.
Timing of statements/propoganda/spin is as important as the message itself.
damn, subodh, those are three seriously adorable-looking little macacas you got there! great photo… oh, and nice article too.
new t-shirt: the Macaca triplets doing hear-see-speak no evil with the caption “Who you callin macaca?!”
macacas have feelings too. macacas are adorable. macacas will cut a biyatch, if you cross them.
Hail Macaca!
Very cute photo subodh. Is the guy with the crew cut the family trouble maker? 🙂
yeah, dude in the middle looks like he’s up to no good!
Every single Indian needs to contribute to bring this Racist Down: Send Money to Webb campaign
Allen grew up in Southern California (not in Virginia), yet he
Wrote anti black graffiti on school walls, made to apologize on school PA. 3.Wore confederate flag pin on his high school year book photo. 4.In college had confederate stickers on his car.
5.Had confederate flag prominently displayed in his living until recently. 6.Had a noose hanging from a tree (symbol of lynching)in his law office 7.Led opposition to Martin Luther King Holiday. 8.Opposed All Voting Rights Bills 9.Replaced the only black trustee of Univ of Virginia 10.Used a term equivalent to “nigger” to refer to an Indian American
George Allen is a racist
He is only sorry that his chances for being president or even VP has blown up; he might even loose his senate seat
Ok, I don’t think I’ve laughed that hard in a long time.
Thanks for buying the Macaca shirts Subodh. The hours I toiled in anger, hunched over Photoshop, furiously spinning Macaca designs late into the night have been rewarded by your photograph. Would you mind if I tossed the pic up on my blog too?
Though I absolutely agree with the need to bring down Allen, his opponent is no liberal either. I am having a hard time supporting Jim Webb who was pretty conservative till he decided to run for election.
True, I don’t have to do it to know what they are saying, but I have a rather long commute and over the years have found the tripe quite insightful – the callers in particular.
Osman, go for it. Personally, I like my “Macacas with attitude” banded-sleeve t-shirt.
“See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” pose: coming up some day. Right now, at two-and-a-half, they’re a little uncooperative. Takes 30 photos to get one good one even when you’re not telling them to do anything with their hands.
Translated version: I apologize. Except to the extent that I don’t.
I had no idea you grew up in Oklahoma, Subodh. I moved to Tulsa during HS. So you can vouch for me and tell people that there are plenty of Indians in the Sooner State. If I were in Ohio, You’d naturally have my vote. However, I’m near DC, Virginia side, so i’ll just vote for Webb instead. Ha!
I’m for one hoping that this macaca stuff blows over (for now). I’m hoping he’ll be reelected, and become the Republican pres or VP nominee. That’s when this macaca stuff will be really valuable ammunition. At the moment, it doesn’t make any difference to voters in backwards Virginia.
Yo, can we have that fantastic photo up on SM? It’s genius, and it goes well with this post, I think.
And the macaca in the middle has won my heart. I’m guessing he “accidentally on purpose” set his hair on fire, much to mommy’s horror and daddy’s amusement.
Good work all around Subodh. M.W.A. indeed.
Thanks Subodh.
I’ve posted it to my blog HERE.
I also submitted your article to Digg. You might have to sift around for it on the link below, but the more people that Digg it the better. Here’s a link.
-Osman
Just tell me how to get the photo to you and I’ll send you the .jpg.
Photo: sweeeet.
great PICTURE 🙂
pied piper:
i concur 😉
Too late! We the monkeys in the basement are some smart macacas. That’s why they keep us around! Now if you’ll excuse me, it’s time for my grooming break. Talk among yourselves!
The macaca in the middle with the buzzcut is definitely looks like he’s up to something. But the macaca that has won my heart is the one on the left, with his coy smile.
here is my letter to the senator..:
Oh Senator Allen..
You don’t know the power of the brown Macacas…
Your false apology is pretty apparent to us…and the small lead that is getting smaller against your opponent is due to our outrage…
Take a class on sensitivity, racial equality… or better yet, drop out of the race completely…we don’t need confederate flag waving, noose carrying, bigots in DC…
I’m so happy we’ve bonded together over this because it shows that unity is definitely heard….
Mr. Allen, WELCOME TO THE MULTICULTURAL/RACIAL/ETHNIC AMERICA OF 2006.
AND YES I WAS BORN HERE.
Thank You.
Aw, fuck yes, T-shirts! I was going to make one of these myself if no one else did. This will obviously be the trendy thing to wear if Allen ever ends up being a presidential candidate.
I’m quite uncomfortable with the use of kids for political purposes. [Whether the kids wear suicide bombing outfits, t-shirts with political affiliations or crude messages in general.] Just my $0.02 worth. It is your blog.
LOL @ the three cute macacas
I believe the children are the future, as Whitney Houston once said, and what a future America has with macacas like that.
just to be proactive and trying to be fair, I went and watched the Sen. Allen video again and I have to say it offends me even more, after this BS backpedalling hollow-apology. He doesn’t even flinch, doesn’t seem to have a nanosecond where he looks like he considers “hmm, maybe that wasn’t the right word… oopsie!” Dude knew what he was up to, and all the backpedalling from blaming it on the mohawk (and it’s NOT a proper mohawk, gramps, come on! it’s a skater-do) to all his other Urkle-ish “did I do that” bakwaas.
It’s like calling somebody gora or kallu when you know you can get away with it. It’s still mean and hateful. And he thought he could get away with it, with his “authentic virginian” townie crowd.
Welcome to America yourself, Senator Allen. Racist Asshat.
Exactly. They are the future. Let us not steal the ‘present’ from them. They have a right to maintain the innocence of childhood until they become exposed to the cynicism, bigotry and other negative aspects of living that adults endure.
..and Siddhartha’s headline defeats the purpose of the messages on the t-shirt. He writes: “Now With Three Cute Lil’ Macacas”. Yes, I get tongue-in-cheek humour. But this is not it.
Subodh:
What are the children’s names?
Quizman, take two of these and call me in the morning.
That would be Allen’s second BS hollow-apology. Don’t everyone forget his first non-apology.
(My translation of that first one: I’m sorry that this guy’s so easily offended.)
By the way, why does all of this feel so familiar…. Oh wait! I know why:
Except that unlike Al D’Amato’s 180, George Allen’s second non-apology sounds a whole lot like his first one. Looks like George Allen is no Al D’Amato….
Subodh- Nice article. One thing that I didn’t like was the use of kids to make political statements.
Dr Kobayashi, always on call. 😉
Yo, can we stop with that already? Martin Luther King Jr took his kids on civil rights marches, and rightly so. Why? Because it concerned them, too. This isn’t just “politics.” This is a human rights issue. If Subodh is incensed at Allen’s remarks, it is precisely because of that adorable trio up there. It’s all so that, in 2025, some idiot won’t say to them, “Welcome to America.”
Far more disturbing (to Kobayashi the godless) is the forced conversion of billions of babies into their parents’ religious beliefs, but I don’t see y’all complaining about that.
Hey, that’s “Mr” to you. I practice without a license. (Here’s a secret: I couldn’t get into Evil Medical School).
Far more disturbing (to Kobayashi the godless) is the forced conversion of billions of babies into their parents’ religious beliefs, but I don’t see y’all complaining about that.
Hey, I thought you belonged to the Church of Macaca (Reformed), or did you say you go to the Maha Macaca Mandir? Y’all macacas all look alike, who knows WHAT you believe 🙂
Agree with Kobayashi on the explanation to the above. May be Mr. Chandra wants to make sure that his kids dont get asked whether “they were born in America”, or not … This is way bigger than any political issues. I am on record on this site claiming that this whole “macaca” thing is much bigger than any regular political issue.
Martin Luther King’s inclusion of children was justifiable since their legal rights were affected. Here, it is a battle of propriety in one senator’s transaction with an American of Indian origin. It is not a prevailing human rights (i.e. legal/constitutional) issue that affects the entire community of Indian-Americans. His election could implicitly bring such undesirable attitudes to higher offices and one does not want that. So we have every right to protest his election. More pertinent to the , And Martin Luther King did not make children wear t-shirts with racial epithets]
As I have stated, the writer is free to use his children and SM has every right to reproduce that photograph. That does not imply that I nor anyone else loses the right to express our anguish. We’re just mature adults exchanging differing opinions & having a healthy conversation.
macaca please.
quizman, non-rhetorical question: what do you regard this issue to be instead? can you elaborate on what you mean when you frame this in terms of “propriety” rather than something else?
From left to right, Karthik (“one who bestows courage and happiness”), Chethan (“conscious, sentient, mind, soul”), and Akaash (“one whose thoughts pervade the sky”).
Because my sons were almost born very prematurely around Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday, my sons’ middle names are Satya, Dharma, and Muktha (Truth, Justice, and Freedom). They are being raised by parents devoted to public service and to believe that they have a special responsibility to serve others. I hope someday to show them those photos and tell them that they were a part of correcting a terrible injustice. As third-generation Americans, they have a right to grow up without the least bit of angst. They can be equally proud of their heritage and the country that their grandparents adopted. And they should stand up for themselves too and never let anyone question their patriotism.
I don’t view these things–fighting injustices–as a political purpose. I view that as the purpose of life. I hope they do too.
And I am increasingly tormented by the fact that too few people in this wishy-washy world do.
I don’t know whether you have children. But after my wife and I experienced a challenging pregnancy, and brought these three amazing little fellows into the world, it has made me like a lion. Just about everything I do now I view through the prism of what it means for them.
Including showing the world that they are not to be messed with.
pied piper: I have already done so in my prior comment
Subodh (#48)
Amazing. Maximum, maximum respect.
Them boys have a father they can be proud of.
quizman —
well, i obviously was responding to that comment, which seemed to be taking two diametrically opposite positions. if it was self-evidently clear, i wouldn’t have posed the question asking you to clarify/elaborate.