Celebrating Macaca
Who would have thought that an Indian person would be so instrumental in helping the rebel Dems blow up the GOP death ship last week. Shekar Ramanuja Siddarth aka "Macaca" had the ignominy of being called a monkey and then being welcomed to his birth country by a man who until maybe 2 months ago was probably going to be the GOP Presidential nominee in 2008.
That little slip up has cost Sen. George Allen big time. He is now the former Senator from Virginia and with the loss of his seat the GOP has lost control of the Senate and thereby the United States Congress.
That little slip up has cost Sen. George Allen big time. He is now the former Senator from Virginia and with the loss of his seat the GOP has lost control of the Senate and thereby the United States Congress.
Read this article from the WaPo and draw your own conclusions about George Allen. At best he is an insensitive clod at worst he is an out of touch bigot.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/24/AR2006082401639.html
Siddarth was born in the US, in Fairfax County, Nothern Virginia, a son of a wealthy South Indian immigrant family (his father is a mortgage banker). He is an honor student, a very good chess player and also reasonably athletic (at 6 ft 4 inches he played tight end on his high school football team). His great grandfather accompanied Mahatama Gandhi to the Round Table conference in England in the 1920s and his grandfather was the Indian head of the World Health Organization. In short, Siddarth is the epitome of a successful all American kid from a successful over achieving immigrant family.
Only a person like the ham handed Senator, a man who proudly displayed the Confederate flag in his office window and a noose in his Washington office (presumably to harken back to the days when good ol southern white boys like him lynched uppity blacks) could be so woefully ignorant and dismissive of such achievement; perhaps because it was cloaked in dark skin.
What did Sen Allen mean when he welcomed "macaca" to the "real Virginia" - Did he mean that the town of Bear, Va was more real than the rest of the country because it was 99% white and overwhelmingly Christian? We will never know. Like Trent Lotts endorsement of the Dixiecrats this GOP SNAFU has had overwhelming and lasting consequnces.
Ultimately the hypocrisy of Bush's brand of compassionate conservatism contributed to the downfall of the GOP in Congress. President Bush must know that the Bible says that "Your Sin will find you". The GOP's sins of treating Cindy Sheehan like a leper, making fun of a Parkinsons patient (Rush Limbaugh on Michael J Fox) and treating black people in New Orleans during Katrina like second class citizens has all conspired to find the GOP and send them packing.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/24/AR2006082401639.html
Siddarth was born in the US, in Fairfax County, Nothern Virginia, a son of a wealthy South Indian immigrant family (his father is a mortgage banker). He is an honor student, a very good chess player and also reasonably athletic (at 6 ft 4 inches he played tight end on his high school football team). His great grandfather accompanied Mahatama Gandhi to the Round Table conference in England in the 1920s and his grandfather was the Indian head of the World Health Organization. In short, Siddarth is the epitome of a successful all American kid from a successful over achieving immigrant family.
Only a person like the ham handed Senator, a man who proudly displayed the Confederate flag in his office window and a noose in his Washington office (presumably to harken back to the days when good ol southern white boys like him lynched uppity blacks) could be so woefully ignorant and dismissive of such achievement; perhaps because it was cloaked in dark skin.
What did Sen Allen mean when he welcomed "macaca" to the "real Virginia" - Did he mean that the town of Bear, Va was more real than the rest of the country because it was 99% white and overwhelmingly Christian? We will never know. Like Trent Lotts endorsement of the Dixiecrats this GOP SNAFU has had overwhelming and lasting consequnces.
Ultimately the hypocrisy of Bush's brand of compassionate conservatism contributed to the downfall of the GOP in Congress. President Bush must know that the Bible says that "Your Sin will find you". The GOP's sins of treating Cindy Sheehan like a leper, making fun of a Parkinsons patient (Rush Limbaugh on Michael J Fox) and treating black people in New Orleans during Katrina like second class citizens has all conspired to find the GOP and send them packing.
posted by Sanjay @ 8:45 AM
2 Comments:
Sanjay:
Check out Frank Rich's NYT article -- "The politics of Macaca".
Also Colbert's take on the election the day after was brilliant. Check out word of the day "Sigh". BTW, i like the 10th standard photo! -sid
Sid, Thats a pic from 2004. Not from 10th Std...I guess Im ageless and timeless after all...all that clean living
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