Apologies: a Great Tradition

OFFENDING REMARK: "This fellow here, over here with the yellow shirt, macaca, or whatever his name is. He's with my opponent. He's following us everywhere... Let's give a welcome to macaca, here. Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia."

Allen, the incumbent Republican seeking re-election to the U.S. Senate from Virginia, directed this comment in August 2006 at 20-year-old S.R. Sidarth, a native Virginian of Indian descent. The word "macaca" is a racist reference to blacks used in North Africa, where Allen's mother was raised in the former French colony of Tunisia. Sidarth taped Allen's rallies for Jim Webb, the Democratic challenger. Three days later, after the tape of Allen's slur appeared on YouTube and a media frenzy ensued, Allen apologized. In November, Allen narrowly lost the election to Webb, and the Republicans lost control of the Senate.

THE APOLOGY: "I would never want to demean him as an individual. I do apologize if he's offended by that. That was no way the point."