Polishing a Turd

Sen. George Allen still keeps piling it up trying to explain exactly what he meant.

The question was fiercely debated all day: Was "Macaca," which literally means a genus of monkey, a deliberate racist epithet or a weird ad-libbed word with no meaning? And what was Allen trying to say by singling out the young man of Indian descent?

[...]

In a statement released Tuesday afternoon, Allen (R-Va.) said his remarks Friday to S.R. Sidarth, who at the time was videotaping an Allen campaign event on Webb's behalf, "have been greatly misunderstood by members of the media." He said Monday that "Macaca" was a play on "Mohawk," a nickname given to Sidarth by the Allen campaign because of his hairstyle. In Tuesday's statement, Allen said he "made up a nickname for the cameraman, which was in no way intended to be racially derogatory. Any insinuations to the contrary are completely false."

It's also been noted that the word could also be construed as something a little scatalogical:

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.

Okay, so they're saying he wasn't being racist. Just earthy.

Let's get a few things straight. One, Mr. Sidarth's haircut isn't a mohawk or even a mullet. (Trust me, I've lived in parts of the country where everybody wore mullets, including the women.) Two, if Mr. Allen was making up a word, isn't it the most amazing coincidence that he pulls a word out of his, uh, hat that just happens to be the North African equivalent for "monkey," and we're not talking Cheetah? And since he grew up speaking French, which he learned from his Tunisian mother -- and Tunis is in North Africa -- it's a little bit like Jackie Mason saying he doesn't know the meaning of the word "putz."

You'd think that someone as politically savvy as George Allen would know that there's no point in trying to put a polish on a turd.