This is a crazy story. I think everyone heard about Sen. George Allen calling his opponent’s cameraman, S.R. Sidarth, “macaca” at one of Sen. Allen’s fundraisers, and then telling the Indian-descended S.R. Sidarth, “Let’s give a welcome to Macaca, here. Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia.” Watch the video above and it’s pretty obvious that he is mocking the fact that S.R. isn’t a white American. What’s worse is that “macaque” is a french racial slur against North Africans. Why is that a big deal? Sen. Allen speaks French and his mother is from Tunisia. Macaca is also apparently common among American white supremacists. Sen. Allen claims that it was a reference to the nickname “Mohawk” that his staff had given S.R. Here is a picture of S.R. I don’t see how that qualifies as a mohawk. Apparently this is nothing new for Sen. Allen. Who used to fly a confederate flag in his home and had a noose in his office among other things.

And then today, Sen. Allen offers this apology:

“I’m concerned that my comments at Breaks Interstate Park on August 11th have been greatly misunderstood by members of the media.

“In singling out the Webb campaign’s cameraman, I was trying to make the point that Jim Webb had never been to that part of Virginia – and I encouraged him to bring the tape back to Jim and welcome him to the real world of Virginia and America, outside the Beltway, where he has rarely visited. I also made up a nickname for the cameraman, which was in no way intended to be racially derogatory. Any insinuations to the contrary are completely false.

“Yesterday, I apologized to anyone who may have offended by the misinterpretation of my remarks. That was certainly not my intent. On every stop on my Listening Tour – I have talked about one of my missions for this country – to make it a land of opportunity for all. I have worked very hard in the Senate to reach out to all Americans – regardless of their race, religion, ethnicity or gender. And I look forward to continuing to advocate this important mission for America’s future.

“I never want to embarrass or demean anyone and I apologize if my comments offended this young man (emphasis mine). Even though he has signed onto my opponent’s campaign, I look forward to seeing him on the trail ahead.

Daily Kos has already torn this apart so I won’t bother duplicating, but I highlighted my favorite part. How despicable a human being do you have to be to insult a person and then in your supposed apology blame them for it?

Also – Jon Swift (the second funniest Jon S. I know of) does some of his best work in explaining why this now makes George Allen the favorite in the ‘08 presidential election.