Why not hound his ass everywhere he goes demanding a real apology--something like "The Kiss" float in Connecticut.  It might rattle Allen enough to get him to make some other kind of gaffe that could be capitalized upon.  After all, this incident is the result of him acting out his irritation that someone from the Webb campaign was following him and taping his campaign appearances. Allen's playing defense right now.  Keep him in a defensive crouch.  Force the errors.

As that famous Virginian, Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson said, "Once you get them running, you can stay on top of them, and that way a small force can defeat a large one every time."

He's running.  We need to stay on top of him.

That's a great idea, KernBlue!

Maybe a giant macaque monkey float following him around.

I say the damage was done.  Motives aside (there's really no way to know what he was thinking - although I subscribe to the "he picked it up unconsciously from his mother) was entirely insensitive and rude.  But calling on someone to apologize just looks petty, especially if it's not actually the person offended. Anyone who is going to be turned off by this has already been turned off.

"runs crying like a little girl to the liberal media"

This is hilarious.  George Allen is bad, bad man.

I say a poll will determine if you theories are right because I just dont see it.

I also think the 'collapse under the liberals' dynamic is going to be a problem for Allen.  

And I think it depends on how long this thing lasts.  If it goes a whole week--a whole news cycle as the story--I think it will be a serious body blow.  

I don't have a poll, but the traffic for the post I put on Frameshop is still growing--growing!  This story is spreading through local blogs in Virginia like cancer.  So I think it will have a motivating force, too.  

And with Garance's 'gigolo' article--it should keep Allen off balance for a while.  

A bigot who cries when the liberals shout at him AND who ran some kind of tech boom crooked company (e.g., conned my grandmother out of her pension)?  That dog won't hunt for long in Virginia (I don't think).

I just found "Who you calling Macaca?" T-shirts up at cafepress.  http://www.cafepress.com/macacashop

Allen should be hounded at every public appearance by folks wearing those shirts.  Don't let this issue die, keep the press talking about how his history of, if not racism, insensitive racial tone-deafness (and general buffoonery).  Make it Chapter 2 of the story thsat he's being dogged by this thing.  This clown just made a safe Red seat vulnerable!

Matt, that is one astute suggestion.

It's also very similar to how Republicans hammered Clinton after his post-Grand-Jury apology in August of 1998.  There was no apology that he made that they couldn't find something fishy about, and thus they demanded another, and another, to clarify.  The effect of these demands was demeaning and it kept the issue alive, with MSNBC polls and CNN questions of the day, etc.

Allen knew exactly what he was saying. He figured his audience would know what the word meant, but no one else would. He also figured no one would look it up. He also figured everyone else in the world is as dumb as he is. Oops.

George Allen told the Washington Post that he doesn't know the meaning of the word that he chose to use -- TWICE -- to insult someone who was present while he was giving a speech in public.

Asked what macaca means, Allen said: "I don't know what it means."

What a COWARD. Everyone, including his supporters, knows he's lying. If he would just admit he's a racist, at least then the racists he was trying to appeal to could respect him. What a racist coward.

Hey Matt,  

I think Allen is an idiot and I am working hard in Virginia to defeat him.

Pleae -- rethink the

"runs crying like a little girl to the liberal media"

Just say "runs crying" -- the little girl business is its own stereotype.

Sam

I really don't think his non-apologetic apology will be any problem at all for the racists and wingnuts who support him. They will just see it as part of the necessary deception of the media and electorate that they know and love so much. As to the comment, I am of the view that he made it knowing exactly what it meant. I don't think there was anything unconscious about it. I say that because of all the comments I have read here and elsewhere which show the word macaca to be used as a racist insult not just in France and Tunisia but also in Virginia. Perhaps he got it from his mother; perhaps he got it from the good old boys he runs with; perhaps he got it from the white supremacist cells that support him. But I personally have no doubt that he meant to demean Sidarth by calling him a monkey. I think the comment has already hurt him some and may hurt him more if there is successful follow through. I think his chances in 2008 are probably toast, but I care most about the Senate election and so far there has been only minor harm to him there. If the use of the term among white supremacists could be more full documented and some part of the press could be sold on that point that might do a lot. So I would suggest as much further research on the term as possible as well as efforts to find out if he used the term before (perhaps his sister should be interviewed; she seems to have his number.)    

I think Virginians should show up at his events holding "Welcome to America!" signs or "Welcome to Virgina" (Felix is not a VA native) or "Welcome to the Real World" as a little reminder of his outburst and the really offensive part about it.  

i just want to weigh in with: many of the little girls i know are, in fact, pretty tough, physically, mentally, and emotionally. My young neice, deep into her "princess" phase, nevertheless stands up for herself when confronted by her intimidated and intimidating older brother and his friends. she will not back down, dressed to the proverbial nines in the latest disney fashion statement. my neighbor's nine-year-old daughter is an hellacious softballer, and all the neighborhood boys know full-on-well to give her as wide a berth as possible on the field. off the field, she's a sweetheart, just don't say anything negative about her beloved orioles. so, maybe we might come up with a better tactic for making felix feel poorly about being an insulting wanker than being insulting wankers our own selves. just a thought.

I've seen Allen on national TV and he looked stiff as a board.  This Allen was relaxed and confident.  What came out in Breaks, Virginia was something close to the real guy. The "real Allen" is, to put it mildly, not a nice man.

I also wonder if the immediate break into terrorism as a subject after the insult didn't have a racial backdrop.  After all, when Zidane was taunted at the World Cup the insult for this North African french man was "terrorist."