What better way to kick off this site than with yet another racial slur by every Confederate's favorite Senator, George Allen of Virginia?  It's Manna from the Heavens, I tell you!  I could describe the event to you myself, but why not just go to the Paper Of Record?: 


“This fellow here, over here with the yellow shirt, Macaca, or whatever his name is, he’s with my opponent,” Mr. Allen said on Friday night at a rally in Breaks, next to the Kentucky border. “He’s following us around everywhere. And it’s just great.”

Mr. Allen, a Republican running for re-election, was singling out S. R. Sidarth, a 20-year-old volunteer for Mr. Allen’s Democratic challenger, James Webb. Mr. Sidarth’s mission was to trail Mr. Allen and videotape his speeches, in the hope they would yield grist for Mr. Webb’s campaign.  But it was Mr. Allen who supplied grist for his rival with his use of the term “macaca,” a genus that includes numerous species of monkeys found in Asia.


I don't think it's fair to just assume that George was describing this young Indian-American man, in a hall where he was the only non-white present, as a monkey.  It's much more likely he was describing him as a South African town.  Kudos to Larry Sabato for putting this gaffe into context:

Larry J. Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, said Tuesday that Mr. Allen was strong enough in Virginia that the verbal gaffe would probably not keep him from being elected to a second term.

But should Mr. Allen run for president, the word “macaca” will hurt him, Mr. Sabato said, “not only because it is offensive on its face but also because it fits into a long pattern of insensitivity by Allen on racial and ethnic matters.”

         
In 1984, as a member of the Virginia House of Delegates, Mr. Allen opposed a state holiday honoring the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  After being elected governor in 1993, he issued a proclamation honoring Confederate History Month.  He also kept a Confederate battle flag in his home, according to The Almanac of American Politics.


Sen. Allen also kept a noose hung from a tree on his property in the early 1990's.  He also wore a Confederate pin on his shirt in one of his high school yearbook pictures.  I think I dared a Star Trek pin junior year.  And yes, I am prepared for my own share of criticism.

One of my favorite facts about Allen's love affair with the Confederate South is that he is not even from the South.  He grew up in Richard Nixon's hometown of Whittier, California.  Being from Kentucky, I can understand that many white southern kids grow up with some Confederate fetishism as part of their regional/cultural surroundings, and might even—erroneously—accept it separate of any racial ideology.  I cannot understand how someone who is not raised in the Confederate cultural milieu just gravitates towards it, long before moving to the South.  Unless of course, there is, as they say, a problem there.

John McIntyre over at the conservative blog RealClearPolitics has an unfortunately typical conservative reaction:


It is pretty clear, at least to me, that Allen is good naturedly ribbing a guy who is following him around and harassing him. The reason for him being singled out is not because the Webb volunteer, is non-white, but rather because the guy is following Allen around, unwanted, trying to catch him on film in an embarrassing incident.

Do you honestly mean to tell me that if Sidarth was just there all alone, among a hundred people Allen would have singled him out because of his ethnicity? Gimme a break. The guy was singled out because he is there unwanted, filming.


The fact that Sidarth was there for the Webb campaign has not a wit to do with George Allen's decision to "single him out" for his racial characteristics in front of an entire crowd.  When John says that "the guy was singled out because he is there unwanted", he seems to be saying it is ok to single out someone for their race, so long as they are allied with one's political opponents.