Allen claims he invented the term "macaca"

(Photo from Sullivan's blog.) While Allen's claim that "macaca" was just an invented nickname he came up with on the spur of the moment has always rung false to me, this photo makes that claim sound even more dubious. I believe he came up with it at the spur of the moment, but the fact that when he reached into his mental grab bag for a spur-of-the-moment nickname and came up with a monkey-derived insult that's a racial slur in the area his mother comes from says something about his psychology. It's particularly pathetic because Allen doesn't have the excuse of growing up in a particularly racist culture. He grew up in an upper middle class family in California (his dad was a famous football coach). All his racist cultural traits were adopted delibrately. (OK, it's possible his family environment was racist, but it didn't have all the cultural trappings of the racism that Allen seems to flaunt.)

I might be able to forgive a racial slur if wasn't a part of a pattern: displaying the Confederate battle flag, associating with known racist groups, reacting oddly to questions about his Jewish heritage, etc. Add to that his anti-gay bigotry and support for the Bush administration, and you have one Senator who needs to be retired. And remember, this guy was going to run for President in 2008. Let's make sure he loses to Webb in 2006.