George Allen, Cracker

In news closer to home, Sen. George Allen of Virginia called the lone dark-skinned person in the crowd a "macaca" while campaigning. I know what a macaque is, but I'd never heard of calling a person a "macaca." I investigated half-heartedly and came up with this better investigation. It turns out that "macaca" is white supremacist language. Huh.

UPDATE:

Wolcott:

Conservative New York radio talkshow hothead Bob Grant once said on the air that then-New York mayor David Dinkins (a far more elegant dresser than Grant, by the way) reminded him of a "men's room attendant".

On Imus in the Morning, Imus or one of his crew once joked about the pre-Washington Week in Review Gwen Ifill: "Speaking of reporter Gwen Ifill, he's said, 'Isn't the [New York] Times wonderful? It lets the cleaning lady cover the White House.'"

A week ago, Mickey Kaus's arm candy wrote, "Congresswoman Maxine Waters had parachuted into Connecticut earlier in the week to campaign against [Sen. Joseph I.] Lieberman because he once expressed reservations about affirmative action, without which she would not have a job that didn't involve wearing a paper hat."

And now the cover of the latest Weekly Standard brings us Al Sharpton as a Driving Miss Daisy faithful retainer "who dares not look his master in the eye."

Washroom attendant. Cleaning lady. Cafeteria worker. Chauffeur.

Notice a pattern?

UPDATE (16 August):

It has all been one big misunderstanding. He actually might have said "Mohawk," welcoming the Mohawk to America. Some theories suggest he might have said "macchiato." Perhaps even "muchacho." Perchance "Mankato"? "Margarita"? "Magnifico"? "Maharaja"? "Mahatma"? "Machinery"? "Magnanimity"? "Mackintosh"? "Macedonian"? "Macarena"? "Macrame"? "Macbeth"? "Macaroni"? "Metallica"?