I don't know, I'm having a hard time believing that Allen was so unsettled by this kid that he'd let loose with a racist insult knowing full well he's on camera, yet he'd be able to come up with a French slur to throw at him. Did Allen's family immigrate from France within the last few generations or something?

My guess is that "macaca" was just some gibberish that popped into Allen's head as he was pointing at the kid, not knowing his real name. He's still guilty of assuming the kid was not Virginian (or even American) because of his ethnicity, which is pretty bad in and of itself.

Did Allen's family immigrate from France within the last few generations or something?

According to various media sources, yes. Allen's mother was raised in Tunisia and his grandparents were French colonists in North Africa.

see forex:
http://mediamatters.org/items/200608170001

I should clarify that I think he may not have been using a racist epithet deliberately. He may just have been trying to be sarcastic and condescending, and his subconscious dredged up something nasty he learned as a child. Either way, though, sarcastic and condescending is bad politics, even without overt racism.

I'm not surprised he's doing OK in the senate race. The conflicting explanations coming from Allen are a bit odd, but for a lot of us out here in flyover country, the "macaca" episode looked like a lot of opponents stretching things to the limit trying to find a racial insult in a strange word. I don't know whether the critics are right or not, but the attacks on Allen have an odor similar to the "niggardly" episode in DC (http://www.cnn.com/US/9902/04/dc.word.flap/). I think your point about a guy running for president needing a thicker skin is spot on, and will be what kills Allen's presidential ambitions.

Um, you evidently have to be from Tunisia to be familiar with the term. Jeffrey Feldman at FRAMESHOP (WARNING:  This findings in this post contain language that many readers may find offensive) did some research on the term and found that, " 'Macaca' or 'macaque' is a nasty racial epithet alright.  It is often used by American white supremacists to describe black people.  In Belgium, it is a racial slur for 'dirty arab.' "

He then links to numerous examples of its usage on sites such as Vanguard News Network Forum and Stormfront White Pride World Wide.

Forget what us liberals are saying about it, I think Ramesh Ponnuru on the NewsHour last week pretty much declared that any national aspirations George Allen might have had are now over. Judging by the latest polls coming out of Virginia, his Senate career might be, too.

BTW, if you believe one of Feldman's commentors (student from Southeastern Asia) who did his grad studies at Duke, the term is quite common/popular among some whites in that part of the country.

That should have been, "you evidently DON'T have to be from Tunisia..."

Sorry.

So, not only does Allen come across as rather dull, and not only is he so touchy that he was obviously offended by the presence of that cameraman at his event, and not only is he possibly racist, but he uses a FRENCH word to insult someone. Has he not offended every political sensibility imaginable? Here's hoping that McCain holds his frontrunner status. With primary opponents like Allen, that mightn't be difficult.

Possibly racist, indeed. Check this article out in the Nation that examines/explains his connections to the Council of Conservative Citizens, the successor organization to the segregationist White Citizens Council and among the largest white supremacist groups in the US.