According to CBS: "During the event, however, McCain made a joke about a monkey flying an airplane, the Hampton Roads Daily Press reports. This comment came as Allen fights criticism for having called opponent Jim Webb's campaign worker "macaca," which is a genus of monkey." The original Hampton Roads Daily Press story is at http://www.dailypres...
McCain is no stranger to accusations of using bigoted language. During the 2000 primaries he was criticized for referring to his Vietnamese captors as "gooks", for which he later apologized. http://www.asianam.o...
The Daily Press rticle also noted the event was something of a bust:
"The evening was billed as a "veterans for Allen" rally, but the hotel's conference room was less than half-filled, even after a phone push for a larger turnout. Veterans came from as far away as Colonial Heights, but their numbers were little greater than the reporters and camera people who were there.
As it was, the rally started 10 minutes late and finished more than 20 minute early, according to a campaign worker's schedule."