Macaca moment
- 10 Nov 06, 05:06 PM
There was frustration with Iraq and concern about corruption - but you could argue that the real clincher for the Democrats, in the Senate at least, was the presence of mind of a young American of Indian descent.
When Virginia鈥檚 (now outgoing) Republican turned his gaze towards 20-year-old S R Siddarth - a 鈥渢racker鈥, filming the Allen campaign for his Democratic rival, Jim Webb - and referred to him as 鈥渕acaca鈥, a type of monkey, it turned the campaign on its head.
The footage of the incident became a and Senator Allen was accused - not for the first time - of casual racism.
He may have been able to shrug it off, were it not for his status as a potential presidential candidate and the awkward way he handled the later revelations of his Jewish heritage.
In a few short weeks, the senator went from being a shoo-in to getting booted out of office.
For their part, the Allen camp tried to portray their opponent as a sexist; using comments he鈥檇 made about women when he was in the Navy and passages from his novels as evidence. But it didn鈥檛 work.
A majority of Virginia鈥檚 women voters supported Jim Webb. And so - crucially, as it turned out - did a majority of independents. Six years ago, they鈥檇 largely swung towards George Allen.
What role the macaca moment played in all of this is hard to judge, but it was a reminder that race is still a politically volatile issue here. And - in the contest which finally deprived the Republicans of their Senate majority - it may have even been a decisive one.
Jamie Coomarasamy is a Washington correspondent for 大象传媒 News.
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Allen鈥檚 unacceptable behavior was a blatant and tiresome instant replay of 6 years of GOP slimeball politics. Decent Americans despise it. What鈥檚 really unacceptable is this: Racism and worse have not been mistakes, but TOOLS used by the GOP and their king, the 鈥済reat divider鈥 to turn America against American. Fomenting hatred is the heart of their plan, here and worldwide. Decent Americans said NO MORE. Webb won because of voter outrage against the GOP and because he鈥檚 a great candidate. I hope the GOP enjoys their 鈥渕acaca moment鈥 courtesy of Allen, because they own it. Hooray for YouTube, well done Mr. Webb, and let鈥檚 get back to work crowning America the Beautiful with the brotherhood our country is all about.
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Good grief, will anyone get it right ? A MACAQUE is a sort of monkey. "Macaca" in French means "my poopoo" except it should be "mon caca" (masculine).It is absolutely a derogatory term.
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I actually felt sorry for Allen. The idea that he'd intentionally hurled racist abuse at an opposition observer on camera seemed plain preposterous, and his retraction struck me as genuine.
That was until his heavies started assaulting inconvenient questioners like it was Berlin in '32. Politicians need to think twice about such Brownshirt tactics, or those of us who initially assume honest error may end up having our perceptions revised by the spectacle of obnoxious but peaceful critics being slammed against windows by malicious thugs.
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>>Webb won because of voter outrage against the GOP and because he鈥檚 a great candidate.
ermmm......no
Allen was miles ahead until he made a racist remark - he could've not campaigned and still won
The Senate would be still be in Republican control (I'm glad it's not) if not for one remark on camera.
With all this talk of 'landslide victory' and the 'voters have spoken' let's try to remember that we would have a divided house and senate if not for one man's slip.
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yeah right how can anyone defend a racist like Allen? Just see what he has to say on the whole affair on
www.prayukth.co.nr
Even i was shocked when I read this article
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