Chas you are right, it is a nuanced and excellent report. If only our cable news and network new could do the same!

The precedent of cinema verite, following fascist candidates and taping their every word, is a superb idea. Hang 'em with their own rope. By which appendage is your call. And, while we're at it, Duck Fixie.

I'm so sick of hearing about how great NoVa is and how the rest of Va is a tax-sucking backwater filled with racists. Sorry NoVa, but there is a lot of diversity outside the suburbs of McMansions and strip malls. We got progressives in Charlottesville, Richmond, Norfolk, Williamsburg, and even in Break, VA where Allen made his nasty comments.

Here's some numbers for you:

2000 Elections

Locality Allen Robb

NoVa aka "Civilization"

Fairfax Co 48% 52%

Loudon Co 57% 42%

Alexandria 34% 65%

Manassas City 56% 45%

Montgomery Co 51% 48%

Prince William 54% 46%

Other VA Counties aka "Backwoods"

Dickenson Co 46% 53%

Richmond City 31% 69%

Albemarle 48% 52%

Newport News 45% 55%

Brunswick Co 43% 57%

Henrico Co 54% 46%

You'd find that NoVa has quite a few Republicans. But I guess those are just the nice ones that other than not liking to pay taxes are really just Democrats. Perhaps the reason why some of VA counties don't vote Democratic is because they don't like being stereotyped as stupid hicks??? If the Dems want to win more voters, they actually need to go to these places and talk to them and convince them that Republicans that for all of their talk about working families and "family values" aren't looking out for them, but instead looking out for big businesses, for polluters, for their rich friends, etc.

So why do you think Allen was stumping in Dickenson County? It wasn't because he won that county in the last Senate race, it wasn't because it's the bastion of the Red voter (it went with Kerry in 2004), it was because he was trying to boost his support there and GAIN VOTES. That's what you need to do to win. Although, it seems, that you can also win by suppressing the voter turnout in your opponent's strongholds and strike their supporters from the voter rolls...

Thanks, George Allen, for revealing who you, and others like you, really are.

While Macaca may have many derisive meanings outside of the United States, and George Allen may be familiar with them due to his famiy's heritage, I imagine that his use of that particular nickname is far more obvious than Mr. Scherer indicates. My six year-old deciphered it easily: Naming someone "Macaca" is calling them "My Caca." Essentially, Mr. Allen is refering to the cameraman, and, by extension, his opponent, as a piece of shit. It is the act of a spoiled brat, not a responsible adult. Therefore, Mr. Allen should receive the punishment he deserves. He should have his mouth washed out with soap, and be sent to his room to think about what he's done until, say, 2010.

A (confederate) flag-waving jock from the south standing up to those damn liberals in the northeast? Stop playing, the man's got it locked up: this 'macaca' thing just upped his cred with the same people that elected bush, and he apparently does not have the Iraq baggage. Remember this in 2008...

Who's sitting around with the "Editor's pick" stamp, here? There are lots of great, insightful letters here, which are unstarred and some of the starred ones are NOT very insightful.

I can assure you that "macaque" is, indeed, so commonly used in everyday language - as in "monkey", for kids of any color AND also as a racist insult - that I am astonished it is not a word in English. If Allen's family has French origins and still speaks French, they must know this word, and all its meanings.

And, yes, "macaque" sounds a lot like "macaca".

Obviously Allen was referring to the young man as "Macoco," the Walter Slezak character in "The Pirate." Now don't you all feel silly?

The Macaca thing is rightfully getting all the play.

But when you think about it, wasn't the greater of the slurs was when Allen said "Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia."

This presumption on Allen's part really has no defense. He can squirm around with lame explanations of mo caca and mohawk and mo-whatever, but he can not escape this other bigoted remark at all.

It's right there on tape. He automatically assumed, as any racist would, that Sidarth was not born in this country and specifically, not in WHITE Virginia.

But there is more. He singled this person out with a pointed finger in such a way that surely must have reminded Sidarth that he was at the mercy of this fired-up crowd of white people. If you are a person of color, and even if you are not, think for a moment about how you would feel, looking out into that hostile crowd with all their eyes glaring at you.

Would Allen stop there, or would he continue with his lapse of judgement and maybe tell the crowd they ought to do something about this Macaca in their midst.

Allen gives me the creeps. But among his followers are a few of exactly the kind of night riders that a brown skinned person has legitimate reasons to fear.

By the way, it's coming out now that George Allen was not even born in Virginia, as Sidarth was. The "Welcome to American and real world of Virginia" remark is indefensable on any level and can not be blamed on any kind of "media misinterpretation" as Allen has suggested.

As an Indian - the article reminded me why I left the US the day after I graduated from college (and that was in the "liberal" north-East). On the other hand, nothing that US politicians say surprises me anymore (Even Sarkozy keeps a less overtly racist tongue). Why only focus on Allen, why not go to youtube and check out Joe Biden's reference to 7-11s and Dunkin Donuts - by implication that Indian immigrants were flooding the US! Same shit, different face!

I'm Just Sayin', you claim: "that 'macaca' was probably a reference to skin color..." [my emphasis] and later, "(f)urthermore, he picked on him because he works for his opponent, not because of his skin color." In fact, it had everything to do with classic race-baiting and, therefore, it is plenty worthy of discussion. Imagine this litmus test: he's campaigning in front of a crowd that includes Indian-Americans. Do you seriously think he would he have pointed to Sidarth, ostensibly as his opponent's camera man, and introduced him as "Macaca or whatever his name is"? Only the biggest of ignoramuses would do that. No, Allen did this little trick in front of a crowd that he knew would "appreciate" it. It's easy to point to a member of any [outnumbered] race and come up with a fake name that may not be racist in and of itself, but which will none-the-less resonate with a people who are prone to rascism.

You also said: "when I read 'Welcome to America', I did not immediately think Allen meant to imply the guy is not American. Considering the context, he meant that the location and the crowd were 'America', whereas the young man is from the un-American 'big city' and supports a candidate that is not sufficiently 'American'." I believe Allen's quote was more along the lines of: "Welcome to American and real world of Virginia." Not "welcome to small town Virginia Mr. City Slicker" or "welcome to rural Virginia where you'll find the real America and Americans." Besides, like others here have said, Allen had no more reason to assume he was from the big city than he did to assume his name was Macaca. All things considered, this was a splendid display of narrow-minded ignorance and the discussion about it should be loud and wide- even though it will probably mean he'll get MORE votes in 2008.

Despite your exhortations, maybe we're reading and thinking just fine- even when we don't agree with you.