Let me say it clearly: Sen. Allen is a racist. On top of that, anyone who would say something like that to an opponent's volunteer with a camcorder in his hand is too stupid to be elected to any office, nevermind president (although smarts have not been a criteria lately for at least half of Americans).

in Salon, Scherer discusses various possibilities of what "macaca" might mean, but settles on it being something obscure that Allen's audience is unlikely to grasp...

in Slate, John Dickerson also gives us an elaborate etymological detour through various possible meanings(I'm guessing you guys are paid by the word), but only after suggesting in the title that it's unlikely Allen is racist:

"Once a Boob, Always a Boob? George Allen's biggest problem isn't racial insensitivity."

(http://www.slate.com/id/2147786/nav/tap1/)

but BOTH of you identify exactly what Allen was going for, albeit indirectly:

Scherer, in the title: Stepping in "macaca"

and Dickerson, far more circuituously, not until the third paragraph:

"Immediately Allen, who has his eye on the 2008 GOP presidential nomination, found himself in the deep macaca of accusations of racial insensitivity."

Why the song and dance? It seems both of you understood exactly what Allen was doing, and I'm pretty sure he knows it too: even if Allen is as learned as the pedagogical trips down dictionary lane in both these articles speculate he might be(I seriously doubt he is), he knows it's far less likely his audience is, and he tried to connect with them more simply, by alluding to a children's word, basically saying that Sidarth was a fecal-like darkie.

To Scherer's credit, he doesn't let Allen off the hook the way Dickerson does. This was the most salient part of the Scherer piece for me:

It is not just a matter of what Allen says, but very much a matter of how he says it. He has singled out one member of the audience, a 20-year-old volunteer whose ethnicity already distinguishes him in a former bastion of the Confederacy. Allen is smiling. He is enjoying himself. It is exceedingly difficult to see Allen as doing anything other than connecting with the crowd by attempting to humiliate another human being -- to make him feel like an outsider, like he doesn't belong, like he will never belong. "Let's give a welcome to macaca, here," the senator crows. "Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia."

When I first heard this slur, I thought Allen was referring to "Malacca"--as in the Straits of Malacca, which separate Sumatra from the Malay Peninsula--an area constituting an extremely important shipping pathway between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. It's importance as a trade route is so great that it has been a focal point for piracy and terrorism.

My friend does this routine when we haven't seen him in a while where he pretends to have been a willing captee, held for weeks by a band of "Malaccan Terrorists."

Is it at all possible Allen was "welcoming" this "foreigner" sarcastically, and in turn casting Sidarth, who could appear to be of Southeast Asian descent, as one of those Malaccan Terrorists? That would certainly make a clear implication that Webb cavorts with and harbors terrorists, no?

Or am I giving Allen way too much credit to even know where on earth the Straits of Malacca are?

Either way, I appreciate that Allen has tipped his hand to the public at large sooner rather than later. My gut instincts are always about 100% accurate, and I didn't like him from the start. But then again, what do I know? I haven't voted for a winning candidate--in any race!-- in over a decade, with the glaring exception of one William J. Clinton in 1996.

Actually, if you listen to the tape, Allen used the term twice.

I am somewhat suspicious that Allen honestly made up a word and said it - with no intention of that word being racist.

What are the odds that somebody would make up a gibberish word to describe somebody, and it turns out to be the exact word used as a racial slur in the country his mother was raised, and in the deep, racist pockets of his home state? Allen needs to buy a few lottery tickets. He appears to be hitting some long odds this week.

Talking out of class here, but growing up in California, I knew a lot of these guys. Would sprout off their crap and push around smaller Asian-American students, chuckling because of their size difference. After school, 10 friends would take out these guys like a mechanic dismantling a car. No more racist crap from them for the rest of the year. Ah, the good old days...

I remember my step-father telling me about one of these "Allen" type guys in Korea. He was a big from Indiana, and thought it was funny to go pick on little Korean men. One evening he picked on a ROK Marine. When he was released from the hospital, he was a very humble and quiet guy. He never picked fights and was never really the same guy. Bullies are usually cowards down deep inside.

Or am I giving Allen way too much credit to even know where on earth the Straits of Malacca are?

Nooooo. Allen and Bush are well versed in geography!

I was as offended as anyone at Allen's bullying caught on video. Unfortunately, I don't think the term "macaca" is something that most red-blooded Americans are going to see as offensive (and therefore shun Allen for saying it). It may be offensive in another language or another country, and regardless, his tone and the way he singled out Sidarth was unacceptable behavior - the "Welcome to America" part is what really pisses me off.

However this guy is running in Virginia. Have you been to Virginia lately? The guy is in a very red state. Perhaps my hope in American voters has been crushed thanks to the 2004 elections, but not only do I think this won't hurt Allen in midterm elections, I also think it may not have any negative affect on his 2008 presidential plans. After all, Bush was a drunk and a coke user who couldn't pull it together for years. The US public has a short memory.