A Racist Republican Senator From Virginia: Should We Be Surprised?

Well, I hadn't heard this until I clicked on an article from today's LA Times. Here's the question that you should mull over as you read through these snips: Will this be enough to get him voted out in November?

Here's what a smiling Allen said to his laughing supporters Aug. 11: "This fellow here, over here with the yellow shirt, macaca, or whatever his name is. He's with my opponent. He's following us around everywhere. And it's just great…. Let's give a welcome to macaca, here. Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia." The object of Allen's ridicule was in fact born in the United States, but the senator's Confederate-tinted understanding of this country apparently has no room for people of color.

I had never heard of this term before this article, but at it's best:

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." As an Allen staffer explained to the National Journal's Hotline blog, he was "an annoyance."

At it's worst:

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.

Now will this get him voted out of office? Given that he is in Virginia, it's hard to say, saddly. That the man is a bigot may work in his favor - and there is no shortage of bigotry supported by members of the GOP.