Hope it comes out before the parties.

Given the headline.  We'll see...

Well, a Rasmussen poll a couple of days ago put Lieberman up 5% after the primary.

Maybe Katherine Harris' staff has quite en masse again. Hah.

on what Felix meant by "macaca." 

It doesn't matter

The real story is easy to grasp:  George Felix Allen belittled a kid and "welcomed him to America" because the kid isn't white.  He singled out the kid because of his race, pure and simple.

I saw you kissing up (er, bad choice of words), smoozing, er. Tell us what you know! I can't take it!

I have no idea, and NO, anyway.  But, yeah...my "kissing up" was hilarious, and really for other reasons.  The "reason" mainly?  I love Ben.

no smoozing, c'mon now! ;) nod is good as a wink, nuff said, know what I mean, nudge nudge. Guess it's tomorrow to see what NLS is up to. It better involve monkeys, tutus and trampolines.

Just got done with the house party in Blacksburg. Great fun. Need to get the NLS story up now!

Very impressed.  I went down to visit my sister in law and saw two sets of 4x8' WEBB signs on private property of course.  Just super you guys and gals.  The farmer's market was fun too.  I organized ours here in Clarendon with the Arlington crew (Webb tabling) Did not get to meet Elizabeth at your farmer's market, your FM captain, but met the vendor organizer, Johanna I believe her name was. They all seem interested in JIM Webb.
Good work to all in Blacksburg. kc

Went to a house party in Chesapeake.  Really friendly and enthusiastic crowd for Webb there tonight.  The energy was inspiring.  People donated, signed up to volunteer, and just had a great time.  Thanks Nancy, Eileen, and Anne for putting the event together!  You are terrific.

...for the report, Susan!

My satellite service is down because my provider is going with a different company.  This is GOOD news because I would have stayed up 1/2 the night waiting to see what this is all about.

We made a frame for a 4x8 Webb sign and dragged it up a hill so it would be on a cliff.  I'll try to get pix of it...

phriendlyjaime has some sort of inside scoop, but she's not talking.

with something like this in the back of my head

ya I'm already behind on my morning reports cause of this story

Head over to dKos and recommend Lowell's latest diary:
http://www.dailykos....

Saw you on KOS saying you saw it. Come on now.

Take a look: www.notlarrysabato.typepad.com

I'm posting this in several places because I think the primate species theory is going down the wrong track..

Makaka is a last name e.g., Alice Mukaka of Rwanda.

And Mukaka is a feminine aboriginal first name. See http://www.aborigina...

This word is most likely being used as a generic ethnic/ racial derogatory term such as Sambo.

This supports that idea.
http://answers.yahoo...

In Russian makaka is a derogatory term for blacks, and the monkey origin applies.

Go here and search on makaka:
http://www.answers.c...

The word обезьяна means monkey in Russian -
pronounced obyezyana.  That's why it's in parentheses next to makaka.

the word "macaco" or "macaca" is a seriously derogatory term to describe dark colored people.  Allen is offensive.  Allen does not deserve to be a representative of any kind.  Punto!

if we think he actually knows Latin American slurs.  That said, whatever Allen meant, it wasn't a very smart thing to do and not something you'd expect from a "seasoned politician."

Latin American slurs, but I do!  Any Latino American who hears this will be disgusted.

To an audience of rural whites, it's probably just a funny word with no specific meaning.

It seems entirely plausible to me that a kid in LA would learn plenty of racial slurs.

It also seems like way too much of a coincidence that Allen would use a word that just happens to be a racial slur.

And it ("macaco/a") is a highly derogatory and racist term used against people of color both in Spanish and in Portuguese (Brasil).

I Agree with Arturo!

Nick (dabloguiman)
Los Blogueros

it confirms a few things.  One, Allen is pretty dumb.  Two, he knows how to play to a country crowd (you can tell that stuff went over well to those in attendance).  Three, having campaign trackers is a good thing (notwithstanding the abuse Allen's tracker took).

All that said, this might be much ado about nothing.  We'll have to see how the MSM plays it.  To me, the video doesn't look as "racist" as the transcribed words read.  Any way you look at it, however, it was just a dumb thing for a politician to say.

Seems that everytime I see a picture or read a story about
Mr. A's "listening tour"...HE's the one doing all the talking.
Now that he is back in VA (from his busy NH-Iowa and other state tours)..he may be surprized to discover that Virginia is becoming a more diverse state. WELCOME TO VIRGINIA- Mr. Allen..much has changed since you have been busy rubberstamping in D.C.

I was hoping for something bigger.  Everyone already knew (or should have known) that Allen is a racist.  I’m not sure this qualifies as a “MAJOR SENATE RACE SHAKEUP” or merits 10 toupees.  I’m afraid that it will be lost amid the mudslinging.  Let’s see if it is even reported by the Virginian-Pilot or if the story lasts beyond one news cycle.

I don't really care about the Allen supporters trying to play this down, say it has no legs. I grew up with these folks, really closely I might say without getting myself into too much trouble, if you know what I mean, and the whole thing just took me way back. This is people I know. People I wish didn't feel the way they do. And the way they feel, believe and act can only be described as racist. Made my neck hairs stand up and lots of memories come rushing back.

Good luck making this one go away Georgie. I'm emailing the link over to Olberman then popping up a huge bowl of popcorn before 8 to watch the fireworks begin.

I smell a 'Worst Person in the World' in Felix's future...

No reason more folks can't do the same. What a wonderful clip to watch tonight on the TV machine.

Sheesh.

If I do say so myself. Such tension and excitement. We are all Borg.

It is bad enough when a racist bigot refers to some amorphous 'those' of whatever their object of hate is but to point your finger at someone while spouting your hate speech is beyond contempt.

There is no defense for Allen.

http://www.websters-...

English words defined with "MACACO": Woolly macaco. (references)

Etymologies containing "MACACO": Macacus. (references)

Non-English Usage: "MACACO" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses.
Italian (macaque), Portuguese (ape, hoist, jack, jackanapes, macaco, macaque, monkey, simian), Spanish (barbary ape, bigwig, macaque, silly, ugly).

At first I thought that NLS might just be exaggerating a minor incident, but after seeing the video, I have to say that I'm appalled.  This is good ole boy racism at its rawest -- throw the raw meat to the crowd, even if it's human meat.

The other thing that really stuns me is just how breath-takingly stupid George Allen is to do all this when he knew he was being filmed.  I mean, I never thought I'd see someone make Dubya look like a brain surgeon by comparison, but I guess we now have an answer to the burning question of which of the two Georges is dumber. 

Did he think he could use a word no one knew and no one would look it up and find its meaning?

They might be quite interested in it.

Webb is certainly a more attractive candidate than Allen!

I gotta say, I was very skeptical of this when I first started reading about what Allen said.  Surely it wouldn't come off like it seemed.  Surely Allen wasn't enough of an idiot to make this type of insult.  Surely...

Here's what tipped it for me, made me really angry, made me hate the fact that George Allen represents me right now - watching that video.

"This fella over here... Macaca or whatever his name is," and "Welcome to America," both of those are hardly what Wadhams is claiming.  Those are flat out insults, the first a racially charged one based on his skin color, and the second one an insult to all immigrants. 

I'm sick of this Republican b.s., of spreading intolerance as a political campaign tool, or worse, a stump speech joke.  It's disgusting. 

The Webb campaign needs fully leverage this.  It needs to go to every TV affiliate news producer in Virginia, as well as the cable networks, radio stations, VA papers and national papers.  And most definitely, to minority-focused publications and organizations.  This is a big deal, and shows a rather troubling side to Allen that many of us knew about but that more Virginians need to see.  This may not play well in the reddest parts of the state, but it is important to many of us in places where Dem turnout will be essential.

Like I said, I'm all kinds of fired up right now.

Paragraph three hits it right on....."Welcome to America"...what a class act our dear Senator.  He can play it any way he likes, but that assuming-one-is-new-to-the country based on their looks... that says it all.

What's funny is Georege Allen has a French Tunisian mother.  He is as "foreign" as the guy he ridiculed.  Oh yeah be he is white...so I guess that makes him different!!

Macaca is a racial slur in French, Spanish and Portuguese, and ,apparently, Felix's mother is French-Tunisian.  Gotta watch what you say in front of the kids, right?  Obviously, this means that Felix knew exactly what he was saying.

I have to give George Allen credit for something .... he's a very sophisticated racist. Maccaca is not a mental error or slip of the tongue .... anyone whose been around portugese would know .... this amounts to nigger ... there is no getting around it ...

And it just flows right off the Senator's tongue .... stupid yet sophisticated.

My God we better win this race!!

If there's any way for someone here to get in touch with whoever put the YouTube video up, it would be great to have even more tags on it, and a longer description.  There's nothing there that identifies it as addressing a Webb staffer, uses the word "macaca," etc., so people searching for it might not find it.  Just a thought.

The WashPost has its updated story on this issue up on its Web site:

http://www.washingto...

According to this, the piece will be page A01.  Now I'd prefer a headline better than "Sen. Allen's Remarks Spark Ire," and a lede that used "racist" instead of "demeaning and insensitive," but that's a prime placement and the type of thing that needs to be just a first step in pointing out Allen's racist background.  Of course, the article does a nice job of some of that as well, giving a recap of his interest and displaying of the confederate flag.