Sen. Geoge Allen Apology Tour

Sen. George Allen's opponent in the fall election hired a campaign parasite that has been tasked with following Allen around with a camcorder in the event Allen says something dumb. Allen obliged and while pointed out the parasite to the crowd, referred to him as "macaca", which is basically a nonsense word but which some think refers to a type of African monkey. In typical Republican fashion, when a candidate uses a term that could have some sort of racial implication, the candidate then goes on an extended apology tour (see also Trent Lott). They apologize to everything that will stand still long enough to listen.

Dana Milbank thinks Allen's done enough apologizing:

HARRISONBURG, Va., Aug. 24 Sorry, but will Sen. George Allen please stop apologizing?

Since calling an Indian American man a type of monkey earlier this month, the Virginia Republican has apologized in two speeches, on Sean Hannity's radio show, in a phone call to the young man himself, in at least seven media interviews and in several statements from his campaign showing varying levels of contrition.

But when Allen arrived here in the Shenandoah Valley on Thursday to take a factory tour, the local NBC affiliate demanded another apology for the "macaca" moment. "I made a mistake," Allen obliged. "It was a mistake, and I'm sorry for it, very sorry for it, and I'm going to try to do better."

The words were barely out of his mouth when the ABC affiliate requested its pound of flesh. "Oh, goodness," the senator said with a groan. "I regret it, it was a mistake, I'm solely responsible for it, and I'm very, very sorry. . . . It was a mistake, I was wrong, it's my fault, and I'm very, very sorry to hurt anyone."

It seemed surreal to see such groveling from the former quarterback and aspiring presidential candidate. But Allen, who was cruising to reelection a few weeks ago, has seen his lead plunge in polls and has been exposed to national ridicule. The rattled candidate has lost his bluster; his aides trail him with looks of nausea.

You know what, if Allen had just called him a sh**head, he probably wouldn't have had to do all the apologizing (and he probably would have been more accurate).