Tell John McCain to Ditch George Allen!
By: Lowell
Published On: 8/15/2006 5:23:06 PM
Given George Allen's hateful, divisive "macacca" comments, Senator John McCain should cancel his "Veterans Event with Senator George Allen" visit to Virginia scheduled for tomorrow. McCain's presence alongside George Allen in Norfolk would send a message that he approves of Allen's remarks. That is not acceptable.
Back in December 2002, here's how Senator McCain reacted to Trent Lott's comments that suggesting that segregation was acceptable:
"I have known Trent Lott for 20 years," McCain told CNN. "I don't believe he's racist. But he must proactively send a message to his colleagues in the Senate and the American people that he is absolutely opposed to any segregation in any form and racism in any form and discrimination in any form."
Today, John McCain should issue a similar statement about George Allen. If not, then he is de facto condoning Allen+óGé¼Gäós racism towards an American of South Asian origin. If anything, McCain should be MORE offended by Allen+óGé¼Gäós comments, given that he has an an adopted daughter from South Asia
Please contact Senator McCain at his Senate office, 202-224-2235 and tell him to skip the fundraiser with George Allen.
Lowell Feld is Netroots Coordinator for the Jim Webb for US Senate Campaign. The ideas expressed here belong to Lowell Feld alone, and do not necessarily represent those of Jim Webb, his advisors, staff, or supporters.
Comments
Thanks for the suggestion (RayH - 8/15/2006 5:43:12 PM)
Let's see how McCain responds.
Isn't McCain's adopted daughter a Bangladeshi? (JC - 8/15/2006 6:01:06 PM)
Bridget McCain is of Bangladeshi origin. McCain and his wife adopted her from an orphanage run by Mother Teresa.
I wonder if George Allen will call McCain's adopted daughter a "Macaca"?
McCain's straight talk express e-mail is: info@straighttalkamerica.com
Yes, she's Banladeshi. (Lowell - 8/15/2006 8:16:12 PM)
And, ironically (?), right-wing Republicans slimed McCain in the 2000 South Carolina with "push polls" asking shit like "would you be more or less likely to vote for John McCain if you found out that he had an illegitimate colored child." Something like that. Wonderful, huh?
Lou Dobbs on Allen (phriendlyjaime - 8/15/2006 6:08:12 PM)
oh, it was good. They got the video in, an interview with Siddarth, and reminded everyone of Allen's fasciniation with the Confederate flag.
The reporter closed with, "No telling how this will affect the campaign" and Dobbs says "Well, its part of the campaign now."
Webb and amazing free media, pholks. How sweet it is.
Lou Dobbs (lwumom - 8/15/2006 6:42:07 PM)
I was kind of upset that Lou Dobb's segment reported that the Webb campaign had e-mailed the news to journalists...making it sound like they are grasping at straws and have been filming Allen's stops in order to find something like this. Lowell took such pains to let "Not Larry" report this that I just don't think it was Webb's group who contacted journalists. I think Lou's story was a backhanded way of trying to make it a non-issue. I must admit that I have a prejudice against Lou Dobb's because I've been doing alot of research on Senate voting records and I know for a fact that Lou Dobbs doesn't tell the entire story about what's actually going on in Washington. He calls it the "do-nothing Congress" when, in fact, the Democrats have attempted to pass legislation that would help the average American, but their efforts have been rebuffed by the ReThug party line. You'll never hear the whole story from Lou Dobbs.
I have to admit I'm pretty addicted to this story- other posting (Doug Garnett-Deakin - 8/15/2006 7:22:44 PM)
I've been surprised by the range of blogs and news that have picked this story up and done repeated postings. John A. is in France this month and had this post up just recently:
http://americablog.b...
Again, that's the same phrase I recall from studying at the Universitie de Nice in 1988. The French then were a bit more open about saying it than people I knew were of using the N word (though I heard plenty of people back home use that in regular conversation). And the idiots who don't know French, especially southern French (yes its different than Parisian), say that "makaka" or "macaca" can't be macaque are just speaking out of ignorance. One big argument I keep reading is that "macaca" is the genus of the monkey macaque and so Allen is either really smart or really esoteric. Bull. He's pronouncing it just like any street bigot would south of Lyon.
Just Made Yahoo's Home/Top Stories Page (PM - 8/15/2006 7:49:58 PM)
http://news.yahoo.co...
It's the same story we've seen, but now it's nationwide
Pretty good coverage on olberman (Doug Garnett-Deakin - 8/15/2006 8:35:16 PM)
Ran a quick following segment about Macaca and the incident, but nothing beyond the original AP story. It sure would be nice for a reporter to call Allen and ask him how fluent his French is, if he knows the French racial slur, etc.
Agreed (PM - 8/15/2006 8:43:41 PM)
You've hit the nail on the head. I think candidates are shielded by their handlers, but a good reporter would insist on asking the question. And report a non-response.
Olbermann said (lwumom - 8/15/2006 9:27:15 PM)
that Allen's apology placed the blame on the recipient and not on himself. I thought that was pretty good!
Further on reporting (Doug Garnett-Deakin - 8/15/2006 8:58:16 PM)
Why has Siddarth not been on any of these stories? Put him on hardball opposite Dick Wad(hams). I'd put $500 on Siddarth in a heart beat. I mean $5,000. Rock on.
Yo maverick.. (drmontoya - 8/16/2006 12:14:21 PM)
do it, ditch Allen.
I will email him later today lowell!