Washington Times blog points out the French link

By: Rob
Published On: 8/17/2006 4:11:39 PM

I'm as surprised as you, but the Washington Times political insider blog does no favors for Allen here:

Many in the mainstream media have left out a crucial detail in reporting the flap over Sen. George Allen calling a Democratic volunteer of Indian descent a +óGé¼+ômacaca+óGé¼-¥ in front of a crowd of 100 Virginians during a campaign event....

+óGé¼+ôThis fellow over here with the yellow shirt, Macaca, or whatever his name is, he+óGé¼Gäós with my opponent,+óGé¼-¥ the senator said, gesturing to 20-year-old S.R. Sidarth, a volunteer for Mr. Webb who was filming the campaign stop with a handheld recorder. It has been widely reported that +óGé¼+ôMacaca,+óGé¼-¥ depending on its spelling, could mean +óGé¼+ômonkey.+óGé¼-¥ It is also considered an ethnic slur referring to Africans.

But what nearly all media outlets have failed to mention is that Mr. Allen+óGé¼Gäós mother, Etty, is French. She grew up in colonial Tunisia on the Mediterranean coast of North Africa, and spoke French to her children. Mr. Allen has also been quoted as having performed well in French class.

Ouch - when the Washington Times starts fueling an incumbent Republican's scandal, you know things are getting bad.  The wildfire rages on.

Comments



Shimon Peres Knew What "Macaca" Meant (PM - 8/17/2006 4:26:51 PM)
http://mediamatters....

From Chris Mathews on Hardball:

MATTHEWS: Why they are struggling against admitting that it's a racial term, or ethnic term, right?

LIZZA: Right. They're saying he didn't know what it was. I mean, the interesting twist on all this is his mom is French Tunisian. And this is a word that's used in North Africa to describe --

MATTHEWS: We just had Shimon Peres here, the longtime great man of Israel. He knew the term.

LIZZA: Is that right?

MATTHEWS: Oh, yeah.

LIZZA: That's fascinating, then.

MATTHEWS: I think it's a term that is not so unfamiliar to people.

LIZZA: Look, he grew up in a house where his mom spoke five languages. It's not a big leap of the imagination to think that he --

MATTHEWS: Well, I can understand why he doesn't want to say, "Mommy taught me this word."

McCASLIN: And a very outspoken mother at that. I reviewed the book in 2000 that George Allen's sister Jennifer wrote, and I know Ryan wrote about it just this last April. She's a very outspoken lady.



Ouch!!!! (thegools - 8/17/2006 6:43:22 PM)
This wound just bleeds and bleeds, then salt is dumped on it......Oh this really does hurt.

That Hardball video is just painful.



Wow- an unlikely source! (RayH - 8/17/2006 4:29:15 PM)
Only problem is that their editor didn't make the connection that macaca means monkey in French, and the French ethnic slur derives from N. Africa. Some readers won't get the point.


I did a post on The Noose (Matt in VA - 8/17/2006 4:33:29 PM)
please read/recommend

http://www.dailykos....



I got e-mails (lwumom - 8/17/2006 5:39:39 PM)
from Barbara Boxer and MoveOn about Felix today!  They were also asking for people to send contributions to Jim Webb....fantastic!


New Poll (uva08 - 8/17/2006 6:21:44 PM)
Lowell.... SurveyUSA has a poll out on the comments.  A majority (56%) of those surveyed have heard about the incident and of those who have heard 67% think that the comments were inappropriate.  Another highlight is that George Allen's approval rating has fallen below 50% to 47%.


Do you have the link???? (thegools - 8/17/2006 6:44:29 PM)


See (Lowell - 8/17/2006 7:04:28 PM)
here.  Key question:

Do you think the incident will help? Or hurt Senator Allen's chances for reelection? Or will it have no effect?

7%  Help
46%  Hurt
46%  No Effect
1%  Not Sure

Another key question:

Do you think the incident will help? Or hurt Senator Allen's chances of running for President of the United States?

8%  Help
61%  Hurt
30%  No Effect
1%  Not Sure

Ouch.



And since it is still getting play on Hardball, etc. (Doug Garnett-Deakin - 8/17/2006 8:22:05 PM)
That 56% is going to climb. Maybe not much, but it will some and affect the opinion negatively.


And check out the (Lowell - 8/17/2006 8:43:09 PM)
crosstabs.  Very interesting results there.  George Allen's approval rating is only 31% on NOVA, compared to 57% in Shenandoah, 52% in Southeast, and 49% in Central Virginia. 

People are most familiar with this story in Southeast Virginia (62% familiar) and least familiar in Shenandoah (46%). 

Basically, no region thinks that Allen's remarks were "appropriate," although the percentages are disturbingly high (ranging from 23% in NOVA up to 32% in Shenandoah and Southeast).  How can anyone say that Allen's remarks were "appropriate?" 

Were Allen's remarks a racial slur?  A whopping 72% of liberals think so, compared to 50% of moderates and just 22% of conservatives. 

Similarly, liberals and moderates overwhelmingly do NOT believe Allen's "apology" was sufficient, while conservatives overwhelmingly (77%) do. 

Will this incident help or hurt Allen's chances for re-election to the US Senate? Almost nobody says "help," a sizeable chunk (46%) say "no effect," and another big chunk (46%) say it will hurt.  Even among Republicans, the ratio of "hurt":"help" is 6:1.  Among Democrats, it's 15:1.

Not looking good for George Allen, not good at all...



Channel 7 (Doug Garnett-Deakin - 8/17/2006 8:43:09 PM)
Since this was sponsored by WDBJ 7, I'm assuming this story is getting more play down here. I was dismayed there was very little in the news here as of yesterday, inlcuding the Roanoke Times, but they made up for it today with a column and a scathing editorial and cartoon today.

This is very significant because election analysis has Webb winning the state if he can go over 30% for the 22% of the population in the western part of the state. Am I remembering that correctly?



Noticed... (Arlington Mike - 8/17/2006 10:17:20 PM)
That there's not been much in Roanoke's paper on this that came out against Allen.

If folks want some LTEs and have people to sign 'em, I'm happy to draft up a couple (talking about Virginia values and fighting for all Virginians, etc.), just give me an email addy to send to.



I'm glad somebody is making the connection (LAS - 8/17/2006 7:29:36 PM)
I knew that Allen's mother was a French colonial from Tunisia. But I did not know that she was a Sephardic Jew (please correct me if I've been misinformed.) I think this fact makes the whole incident that much worse. Not only have Jews been the target of horrific prejudice for thousands of years; Sephardic Jews have been victims of prejudice from Christian, Muslim AND even within Jewish communities. You would think--hope--that this fact would make Allen more sensitive and symapthetic to minorities and immigrants. Instead he's chosen this braggart, jingoistic, racist, belligerent persona. What on earth is that about? I hate to use such a sensationalist term, but is this a new take on the classic "self-hating Jew?"


macaca ≠ n-word (mosquito - 8/18/2006 9:33:03 AM)
Macaca is NOT the same as the N-word. That's just ridiculous. It's not even about the word itself, but the way he said it. He could have used any three syllable combination (ababa, babalu, etc.) and it still would have been an ugly comment.

The reason the N-word is so toxic in this country is because of its cultural context. I'll never forget the time I was on an international airline and heard the song "My Neck, My Back" by Khia on the in-flight entertainment system. (This song is full of every vulgar word you can think of.) To us here, that would never be on an airplane where children could hear it, and if it was it would be a big news story. But for the nation whose airline I was on, those words did not mean anything because English was not their language.

"Macaca" has no cultural context in this country, so while I do think that Allen's intent was clearly ugly (and THAT'S the problem), I don't think he had a specific word in his mind when he said "Macaca."