Bush to fundraise for George Felix Allen, Jr., AP can't buy a clue

Where did Associate Press "reporter" Nedra Pickler study journalism? Clown college? More on that later.

First, I have bad news and worse news.

The bad news: President Bush is wading into the Virginia senate race on behalf of conspicuous racist George Felix Allen, Jr.

How's that big-tent Republican Party minority outreach working for ya, Ken Mehlman? Yeah, buddy, hot on the heels of the "Macaca Incident," President Bush is fixin' to fundraise for everybody's favorite Dixie darlin'.

President Bush has no qualms about raising campaign cash for Sen. George Allen despite the Republican's widely assailed quip in which he called a rival campaign worker of Indian descent a "macaca."

In recent days, Allen has faced a barrage of criticism since he used the word to describe Virginia native S.R. Sidarth, a 20-year-old University of Virginia senior who was video taping a campaign event for Allen's Democratic challenger Jim Webb.

Allen exhorted the crowd: "Let's give a welcome to Macaca here. Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia."

Macaca is a genus of monkeys including macaques. The name also could be spelled Makaka, which is a city in South Africa.

Allen, a potential 2008 presidential candidate, has said he just made the word up. He said he didn't mean to demean Sidarth and was sorry if he was offended.

"Senator Allen apologized," said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino. "And I think it's in everyone's best interest, in this day and age of politics when everyone is trying to improve the tone and discourse, to accept apologies when they're offered."

This brings us, of course, to the worse news.

Apparently, it's not bad enough that my president is publicly embracing a racist whose so-called apology was nothing of the kind.

No, on top of that, I have to read an Associated Press "news story" that reports on the controversy of Allen's "macaca" remark without explaining at all why it was controversial. With all due respect, Ms. Pickler, the outrage has not one bloody thing to do with the fact that Makaka is a city in South Africa! Goodness, woman, how do you manage to tie your shoes in the morning?

Say it with me: RACIAL SLUR. The "macaca" insult was an outrage because it was a RACIAL SLUR. That, and because it was accompanied by Allen saying "welcome to America" to a man who was born in Virginia. Yes, that Virginia. The one on the East Coast of the United States.

See that paper bag up there, Nedra? Try to report your way out of it.