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Allen’s Not Alone:
2008 and the Indian Vote

8/16/06, 5:03 pm EST

George Allen’s not the only 2008 contender, of course, to have made insensitive remarks to America’s Asian Indian population.

There’s Delaware Democrat Joe Biden, who was also recently caught on YouTube, marvelling at the explosion of Indian immigration and bragging about his “great relationship” with the community by saying: “You cannot go to a 7-11 or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent… I’m not joking!”

And then there was Hillary Clinton who tried to warm up an audience at a Missouri fundraiser and also set up a quote from India’s most famous pacifist by saying of Gandhi: “He ran a gas station down in St. Louis.”

It’s a wonder Allen didn’t just call his unauthorized videographer “Apu.” He probably could have gotten away with that one.


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Comments

Jack D | 8/16/2006, 7:04 pm EST

Are these idiots trying to be funny, or are they really that stupid? Or both? Are they trying to reach out to the klan constituancy? I’m not getting their thought process here.

C Co... aka I Smell Propaganda | 8/16/2006, 8:07 pm EST

Thank you for trying to be fair Tim. I really do appreciate it. I suppose this site is just too liberal to comment on Democrats being far more racist. But thanks for trying to be fair anyway. All politicians need to stop speaking out their asses.

Anonymous | 8/16/2006, 9:33 pm EST

this is the same man who used to have a confederate flag hung on his living room wall.

as governor of virginia.

Rober Essex | 8/16/2006, 11:28 pm EST

It just shows how deep racism permeates into American society.When the best educated representitives would resort to using slurs and insensitive remarks you know you have a problem with bigotry. I am sure there are a lot of apologists out there who will break out the old, enough of the pc, you’re all too sensitive.But they cecretly yearn for the good ole days when it was okay to call a brown skinned people monkeys and homosexuals f&gs.

binsima | 8/17/2006, 1:45 am EST

god forbid if macaca allen gets anywhere near washington dc. a macaca will surely recognize another

Whatever | 8/17/2006, 5:53 am EST

Calling this statement a racial slur is going to extremes. Calling it insensitive to the Indian population is more on the mark. But that doesn’t make it an intential racial slur. A public representative should know how certain organizations and certain portions of the public would take this. So saying he is an ignoramus and a maroon (thanks Bugs Bunny) for saying it is a no brainer. It is rediculous to make such a big deal over a statement like this. But the statement should never have been said in the first place. Why wasn’t such a big deal made of her Majesty’s comments when they were made? How rediculous!

Archana | 8/17/2006, 9:18 am EST

Considering that they come from both sides of the aisle, to me it means that politics have come to rely on laughing at the Indian “Apu” character for cheap points. It was racist and it’s not hyper-PC to say so… in an era where paranoia about foreigners is getting out of control in our national conversations about terrorism and immigration, these types of comments just solidify the perception that brown people cannot be Americans…

Anonymous | 8/17/2006, 4:05 pm EST

and the audacity of the drudge report not to print it.

Matt Weiss | 8/17/2006, 5:19 pm EST

I saw Allen’s comments, and they’re hard to parse. Clearly, the guy had a major brain cramp; if you want to call attention to the presence of an opponent’s staffer, even to poke fun at him, that’s fine, but the last thing you want to do is say something–anything–that will call attention to his racial or ethnic background, especially when he’s the only non-white guy in the crowd. That’s colossally stupid and bespeaks a deeper racism–if not a virulent one.

But as to just how deep that goes beneath Allen’s skin is tough to discern from the video I watched. I’m a Democrat and a liberal–cards on the table–but I have to say that I’d be surprised if the guy had the foggiest idea of any of the meanings of “macaca.” Does that make it okay to say something that seems clearly to be a mockery of what he presumes will be a foreign-sounding name? No–it’s still rotten–but to suggest that he knowingly called the gentleman a monkey seems a bit of a stretch.

And when he said “Welcome to America,” the comment was made in exactly the context he presented later; he had framed his opponent and those who support him as from inside the Beltway, as opposed to out in the real America. When I heard his explanation, I laughed, but when I saw the video, I found that defense plausible. He really didn’t seem to be saying, “Welcome to America, foreign rat,” but instead to be saying, “Welcome to the real world outside Washington.” For a guy representing a party with a total deadlock on all three branches of the federal government to make that sort of remark is typically insane and distressingly effective for the GOP, but it seemed to me to be made in that spirit.

So I think Allen deserves to be hammered for the remark, and for his association with what is arguably the least competent and most plutocratic administration in this country’s history, he deserves to get hammered at the polls, but the remarks were more subtle than they appeared in print.

chris | 8/17/2006, 5:46 pm EST

no, trust me. the guy’s a racist. look at his background.

Sunil Patel | 8/17/2006, 6:48 pm EST

Is this is the same George Allen who used to keep a noose in his Senate office to let African Americans know what he wanted to do to them?

As an Indian American I know I have arrived when Southerners at least have a name for me and my kind. It is nice to feel welcome. I wonder if he has a noose for me too.

Allen’s mother is a French person who was born in North Africa. George very well knows what macaca means when French people from North Africa use it to refer to brown and black skinned people.

To then say he meant to call the Indian American cameraman shit head doesn’t sound like a compliment to me either.

Both parties are racist. The Republicans are overt about and the Demos are covert about it. That is the only difference.

Anonymous | 8/18/2006, 7:34 am EST

very well said.

Mike A | 8/23/2006, 8:40 pm EST

This guy is a racest.We have establish this.What people dont get is why this is a big deal. Hes running for PRESIDENT. Not president of a country that doesnt matter.President of the US, a super power. The leader of the US makes descions that affect everyone in the world. His or her decions can end peoples lives like in war. It isnt good for anyone if there is a racist in office. A good number of his choices would be made from ignorance. The president is suppose to be our representative for the world.Do you really want a guy that calls people macaca to represent us. Hell no

Gonzo Nation | 11/10/2006, 3:15 pm EST

they’re both obvious idiots…but liberal guilt about speaking the truth is a little too reactionary…which is why Joe Paterno, Fisher DeBerry and Nolan Richardson all got into trouble for speaking the obvious truth as applied to athletics…

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