Aug 16 2006
George Allen’s “Incident”
George Allen noted a ‘spy” from his challengers campaign in the crowd at an event recently and teased the poor lad. The young man had been around the Allen campaign so much he had been given a nickname or two by Allen’s campaign staff. Allen used one of those nicknames, Macaca, when he teased the young man about being, yet again, at his event. The young man went back to Allen’s challenger, Webb, and told him his feelings were hurt. Webb got all media-hyped upset and, with the media’s help, made a big deal out of the whole thing. No wonder Webb is losing badly. A little teasing and his entire campaign loses focus on the big issues of the day. While the media plays it up and the handwringers wring their hands, everyone else is just shaking their heads. If Webb’s team can’t take a little joke like this, what are they going to do about Al Qaeda? Cry to the UN? Get serious.
Macaca (Portuguese), A short handled whip used by the cart or wagon drivers. More literally it means female monkey in Portuguese. It’s used as a racial epithet in Brazil for negroes much as “mono” is used in Mexico.
The French and Belgium colonialists in West Africa probably picked it up from their Portuguese predecessors.
I wouldn’t be surprised that Allen learned it at maman’s knee.
That seems doubtful, RiverRat, that Allen was aware of that type of connotation and used it in front of a crowd. Even if he lacked the breeding and civility I believe he has, his political savvy wouldn’t allow that type of really stupid gaffe.
I don’t know whether his staffers had used “Macaca” as one of their nicknames for this guy; they had been calling him “Mohawk,” an (apparently inaccurate) allusion to his haircut.
If Allen had heard the “Mohawk” name used, but couldn’t quite recall what it was he’d heard, it would make sense that he might simply mispronounce the tag on the fringe of his memory. I’ve done similar with unfamiliar words a million times, and so have most people.
This looks like just another Dem-ado-about-nothing.
RiverRat and MerryJ1,
Allen got the term from the nicknames given out by his staff. The term means many things, mostly monkey. It was a joke. Allen’s father was famed Redskins coach George Allen Sr, – which means junior grew up amongst the hard hitting and foul mouthed NFL locker rooms (I know, I grew up a mile or two from their house). The left can whine all they want because America doesn’t elect whiners. And Virginians never do either. Welcome to VA!
No matter where George Allen learned a word, he is sharp enough not to use a word that would be perceived as degrading to a person, in front of that person. I saw the video and I believe the way he used it was as if he were familiar with that person being referred to by that name. I heard nothing derogatory at all in the way he used it. ( I believe that his staffers probably referred to him by that name, even when speaking to him, I don’t think they were being deliberately racial)
I grew up in the very rural South back in the days before desegregation and everyone, and I mean everyone, referred to black people by the N word. Nobody, at that time, thought it was insulting to black people. After I got older, I realized that the N word is indeed a racial word that should not be used and I absolutely know that word is not to be used in any circumstances, even behind closed doors. I believe George Allen is at least that smart and therefore, he would not use a word that he considered to be “wrong”.
I don’t care what Allen called this spy. The name is not known in ths country. I have never heard of it. I wouldn’t care if a democrat called a republican this name. It means nothing. I will say that with everything going on in this world, they have to report on something petty like this. But that’s the MSN and the democrats for you.