Anyone care to defend Virginia Sen. George Allen ... or James Webb?

That is, anyone care to defend him without using the words "hymietown" or "Robert Byrd" or "Hillary's joke about Gahndi working at a gas station" or any one instances of Democratic stupidity? Because I don't think you can really defend this otherwise. Allen is either a racist, a complete moron, or he's both.

Quick summary: Allen, who some people (including many here at SportsJournalists.com) think could be the GOP's candidate for prez is '08, twice used the word "macaca" when refering to a staffer for his opponent's campaign at a campaign rally, while the staffer was filming him. The staffer is of Indian decent, and "macaca" is, depending on who you talk to, either a term for monkey, or a racial slur for dark skin people.

Allen claims he was teasing the kid about his "mohawk" which might just be the most ridiculous made-up lie of all time. I'm sure it had nothing to do with the fact that Allen was speaking in one of the most racists parts of Virginia, and that the staffer was probably the only non-white guy there.

See the clip here:

Read the fallout here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/15/AR2006081501210.html

http://salon.com/news/feature/2006/08/16/allen/

http://www.slate.com/id/2147786/nav/tap1/

 

Re: Anyone care to defend Virginia Sen. George Allen?

What a douche. But because of him, I now know what a macaca is. :

 

Re: Anyone care to defend Virginia Sen. George Allen?


If you are rich and white and making fun of those who are different, it seems that you are appealing to your Republican base, so I see no problem here.

Ironic, though, that the guy is there filming Allen presumably to use against him if he slips up or something, and the screwup up is a statement directed to the camera guy. Nice work, Georgie.

His opponent should send out an array of foreign looking people every stop now.

 

Re: Anyone care to defend Virginia Sen. George Allen?

You forgot Joe Biden's recent "joke" about Indians at 7-11's. I find it interesting that you put that condition to the argument upfront as if to say "it is OK for Democrats to say and think racist things but Republicans need a higher standard". That's BS.

As far as Allen is concerned - I agree with this sentiment:

http://betsyspage.blogspot.com/2006/08/george-allen-and-macaca.html

 

Re: Anyone care to defend Virginia Sen. George Allen?

A few points on this:
1. The audience was all white.

2. Sidarth had introduced himself to Allen previously so, while it is possible that Allen forgot his name, randomly choosing a potential racial slur in its place is very odd.

3. While it could be possible that Allen didn't know what macaca meant, Allen used the phrase, "Welcome to America," as if the guy isn't American.

In short, there really is no defense for Allen. He's a racist.

Remember, this is the guy that wore a Confederate Flag pin in his yearbook picture, despite growing up and attending school in California. He is also a guy that wanted to refuse recognition of Martin Luther King's Birthday as a national holiday. He also had a day recognizing the Confederate Army with no mention of slavery and he still hangs the Confederate flag in his home.

 

Re: Anyone care to defend Virginia Sen. George Allen?

I'd say, like your Hillary example, an inexcusable bout of idiocy.  Whether it's representative of him or a silly lapse remains to be seen.  The reaction has been predictably absurd. From WP:

 

Re: Anyone care to defend Virginia Sen. George Allen?

I read about this several days ago and was perplexed because I had no idea what in the world a "macaca" was. What a strange term to use.

Also, can we get a picture of the Indian guy with a mullet? I can't even visualize that.

 

Re: Anyone care to defend Virginia Sen. George Allen?

That isn't the argument at all. The statement made by Double Down is simply that pointing out the stupidity of others is not justification for your own stupidity.

"Byrd was a member of the Klan so that means Republicans can go off and hang homosexuals." The argument is shit and thus, it is thrown out.

 

Re: Anyone care to defend Virginia Sen. George Allen?

Well based on the other information about this guy, which I posted right before your comments:

It appears that this is very representative of him.

 

Re: Anyone care to defend Virginia Sen. George Allen?

No, Chris, I put that condition up front because if I didn't, you and the rest of the conservative army would immediately bog down this entire thread with shouts of "hypocrite" and "Democrats are racist" which isn't the point. I think what Biden and Hillary Clinton said was stupid, I think Robert Byrd is a puke, and I think Jesse Jackson is a clown. That's not the issue. Nowhere did anyone say it was ok for Democrats to make these kind of statements, but not repbulicans. It's not ok for either party of idiots to say this kind of shit.

Allen is a serious contender for your party's nomination. He may also be a racist. That's the issue here. If you know some other meaning of the term macaca, like it means "friend" or "dude", then that would be a reasonable attempt to defend Allen. But if the only response is, "Joe Biden hates Indians!" then there's no point in discussing it further.

 

Re: Anyone care to defend Virginia Sen. George Allen?

The staffer in question: