Speaking of running the rascals out, Virginia's News Leader, "Serving the Central Shenandoah Valley," calls on Virginia's voters to send George Allen packing.
It's been said that leopards can't change their spots. This metaphor refers to the belief that once "hard wired," no amount of polishing, education or deception can mask a person's true character.
Sen. George Allen recently revealed his true spots — and they weren't pretty. At a fundraiser in rural Virginia, he singled out one of his Democratic opponent's campaign staffers, S.R. Sidarth, for ridicule and insult. Referring to him as "macaca," he got in some cheap jabs in front of a friendly crowd by "welcoming him to the United States and the real world of Virginia." Never mind that the staffer was born and bred in the state and currently attends the University of Virginia. Much fun was had by the all white crowd at Mr. Sidarth's expense. His sin? He is dark-skinned, sports an unusual haircut and of South Asian background. It probably never occurred to the good Senator that the Mr. Sidarth could possibly be a native Virginian not to mention an American citizen. Such is Mr. Allen's narrow worldview.
The term "macaca" may be seemingly innocent to the uninitiated but it packs a formidable racist punch in many parts of the world. Derived from "macaque", it refers to a monkey native to both North Africa and South Asia. It is also a common racial slur used by French speakers to describe non-whites (Arabs, South Asians and Africans). It was especially popular among the French of North Africa.
You see, Mr. Allen's mother is French and originally from Tunisia (probably an inconvenient fact not shared by Allen with the Francophobes at FOX Network News). No doubt Mr. Allen has heard this nasty insult before and thought it cute (and safe) to use it in front of a largely clueless audience. His later denial to intend to insult was insincere. No, the jibes were meant to insult, marginalize and disrespect! The video clip and accompanying transcript very clearly shows this. Here we have a member of our esteemed Senate acting like a smug frat boy mocking the class nerd.
Longtime political observers of our junior Senator shouldn't be surprised by Mr. Allen's boorish behavior. Mr. Allen's career has been dogged by allegations of bullying, racism and a nostalgia for segregation. Judging by his past use of racist language and imagery, he apparently has no place for non-whites in his world. He has largely dismissed the minority vote as unimportant to his reelection. As a public servant, Monsieur Allen needs to be a representative of all Virginians. Anything less would be a dereliction of duty. He needs to realize that "his Virginia" is becoming increasing multicultural and racially diverse. The nation is also experiencing a rapid "browning" of its population and the "white is right" demagoguery that passed for good politics 40 years ago is gone...or at least I hope it is?
In short, Senator Allen is no gentleman and doesn't deserve to represent Virginia. His past actions have brought shame to the state and we deserve better from our legislators. The fact that Mr. Allen has openly expressed being "bored by the office of Senator" and even entertains plans of running for the presidency should give us pause. An appropriate response from the voters should be to send him packing to anywhere but Washington, D.C.
Originally published August 27, 2006
In short, Senator Allen is no gentleman. If you're from Virginia, you know: that's gotta sting.
2 comments:
Smack that frat boy back to his KKK Kloset! As noted quite clearly, the VA Senator needs to represent ALL Virginians, not just those with charter membership in the Daughters of the Confederacy.
and even entertains plans of running for the presidency
then we could have two smug frat boys in a row.
hopefully not. besides, i really like webb.
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