This is called making matters worse (and destroying your chances of a national GOP nomination because you are damaged good):
What does Macaca really mean? Three Virginia Republicans confirmed to the Hotline that several Allen campaign aides and advisers are telling allies that the word was a made-up, off-the-cuff neologism that these aides occasionally used to refer to tracker S.R. Sidarth well before last Saturday’s videotaped encounter.
According to two Republicans who heard the word used, “macaca” was a mash-up of “Mohawk,” referring to Sidarth’s distinctive hair, and “caca,” Spanish slang for excrement, or “shit.”
Said one Republican close to the campaign: “In other words, he was a shit-head, an annoyance.” Allen, according to Republicans, heard members of his traveling entourage and Virginia Republicans use the phrase and picked it up.
It was the first word that came to his mind when he spied Sidarth at the weekend’s event, according to Republicans who have been briefed on Allen’s version of the event.
The Hotline report notes various conflicting explanations that the Allen campaign has given in this controversy about whether he made an ethnic slur. If you go back and read them and then the latest one you must conclude (unless you are a partisan Allen supporter who is playing defense lawyer for “your team”): he’s trying to avoid taking responsibility for what his ill-considered, pevish statement and his the varying explanations suggest his later statement about regret didn’t mean anything.
The Hotline piece also contains this:
John Reid, Allen’s Senate communications director, said in a statement: “I don’t think George Allen would ever try to publicly embarrass or demean a young person even if that person was working on an opposing campaign. The Senator has apologized sincerely and repeatedly over the last two days to the young man and to the public in general. He has been speaking with members of Virginia’s Indian Community to reiterate that apology and assure them he did not mean to be derogatory. At some point I don’t know what else can be said. I am hopeful that everyone who has heard about this has also heard the Senator’s apology.”
Wait. If he would never “try to publicly embarrass or demean a young person” what did he do — you know, the thing that’s all over the Internet and on You Tube? Didn’t he do just that?
Or didn’t Allen know there were (hundreds) of people at the event.
So he thought he was at a private meeting with and handful of people there?
So Allen ACTUALLY meant that the student was a caca head.
Well, that sure isn’t embarrassing.
You can argue that this makes him unsuitable for higher office (and if you have standards or decorum for his present office).
On the other hand, given the quality and present level of political debate on the hustings, on talk radio and talk cable shows and even in Blogtopia you could say that Allen fits in just fine…
But Allen is now damaged goods: he hasn’t simply apologized and moved foward his side is KEEPING THE STORY ALIVE by spinning it.
In realistic political terms: why would the GOP nominate a candidate who’s eating up news cycles with this kind of….caca…for President? And why would any independent voters bother voting for him…for Senate (or President)?
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.