Dog Whistle Bigotry Comes Out of the Closet

George Allen’s reference to one of Webb’s campaign filmers certainly deserves a better explanation than the one offered.  Listen to the YouTube above — does it sound like Allen is saying "mohawk?"  Sounds a lot more like macaque – and as Atrios notes, that is a racial slur.  

orangejumpsuit in the comments:

I have no clue as to its reliability, but I googled on “macaca (plus) tunisia” and pulled up an entry that referred to the Macaque monkey that is indigenous to Tunisia and other places. The wiki entry refers to the fact that Allen’s mother is of Jewish heritage and is from Tunisia.

August 14th, 2006 at 4:04 pm

Earl, what exactly did Allen want to infer by calling the Webb tracker “Macaca”?

If you don’t know it, macaca is a derogatory and very prejudiced term used in Tunisia in reference to blacks and dark-skinned people.

Guess what? George Allen’s mother is Tunisian so I can bet you, he knew exactly what he meant when he called the guy “macaca”.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Felix_Allen

Disgusting.
—furrycat

I’m sure Michelle Malkin, on full bigot-watch, has her outrage-ometer pinning.  Does this guy look like he’s wearing a Mohawk to you?

Me either. 

Related posts:

1. Late Night: Mike Huckabee’s “Dixie” Dog Whistle
2. We’re Having a Contest: Which Democrat Has the Most Lobbyist Skeletons in Their Closet?