Senators Fear Having A "Macaca" Moment

Smallest Slip-Ups Can Tank A Campaign, Thanks To YouTube

(The Politico)  By The Politico's Carrie Budoff.

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The fear gnaws at senators, embodied in a catchphrase that conveys their dread: Don't be the next George Allen.

In Republican campaign strategy sessions and conference calls, candidates and consultants are invoking Allen's name as a verb — to be "George Allen-ed" — and devising tactics to avoid a fate similar to that of the former Virginia senator, taken down by a shaky, 51-second video that volleyed around the country via YouTube.

"You have to assume there is a recording device of some kind on you at all times — that is what I am telling all of my people," said Sen. John Ensign, Nev., chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which will work with 21 incumbents up for re-election next year.

Campaigns have long operated on a need-to-show basis. But with the method (cell phones) of capturing embarrassing moments and the means (the Internet) of disseminating them so universally, early discussions about surviving the 2008 election cycle are all about control.

A list of rules, if one existed, would nix jokes, stumbling or snoozing in public. Don't berate aides, ambush an opponent at a news conference or do anything humiliating enough to tank a career.

"The idea of tracking a candidate, the opposition filming and turning it into an ad — yes, it is concerning," said Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, who faces re-election next year.

Gaffes can afflict members of either party, but Republicans seem more fixated than Democrats on managing the new political world order. After all, it was one of their own — a likely (and, at the time, competitive) presidential contender — who became the highest-profile casualty.

"Some of the old bulls are saying, 'Can you believe that someone had a video camera and was taking my picture as I was walking around?'" said Sen. John Cornyn, Texas, vice chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, who is up for re-election next year. "They seemed astonished. It's a little cognitive dissonance of the scrutiny we will all undergo, and it will change the face of American politics."

When the National Republican Senatorial Committee convened a "lessons learned" seminar earlier this month on the 2006 election, campaign officials for Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee and former Sens. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and Jim Talent of Missouri put the power of video at the top on the list, Ensign said.

A camera caught former Montana Sen. Conrad Burns with heavy eyelids at a Senate field hearing. Another camera recorded Democrat Harold Ford confronting Corker at one of his events. Republicans dubbed it the "Memphis Meltdown" — and pundits later called it a turning point in the race that Corker won.

But Allen's public mocking of a volunteer staff member for Democrat Jim Webb as "macaca," considered a slur to someone of Indian descent, remains the symbol of what not to do in 2008. Political analysts attributed Webb's razor-thin victory to Allen's mistake.

"You hear it every day," said Fred N. Davis III, a California media consultant who worked for Corker and has signed on with John McCain's presidential campaign and the re-election campaigns of four senators. The fear "is more than sitting in the back of their minds. It is very much in the forefront."

Davis used to view successful campaigns as winning on three fronts: fund raising, media and grass-roots organizing. Now, he said, there's a fourth: the blogosphere.

"We are trying to put as many resources there as possible," said Davis, adding that he just spent 20 minutes with a Senate candidate hashing out strategies to avoid being "George Allen-ed."

It means training and controlling the candidate. Instill a discipline: Remember you're always on. And make sure there is always someone with the candidate who watches everybody else.

"We will obviously do what they are doing," Craig said. "You have to hire an extra staffer. You have to raise more money. You have to track them and turn it around in their face."

Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg, D-N.J., said the fishbowl existence might cut down on his levity.

"You can't ignore the fact that every word you say is being recorded," said Lautenberg, who faces re-election next year. "It is hard to make jokes, and a large part of my routine, my view of life, carries humor with it."

Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, who has already faced ridicule for describing the Internet as a "series of tubes" — a clip that has been parsed repeatedly on the Web and Comedy Central — said he doesn't fear his own George Allen moment in the 2008 campaign.

"Not unless you start," Stevens said, chiding a reporter before scooting quickly off a Senate elevator.

[thgdriver]

Hillary already made Bill the butt of a joke when asked about handling evil men. I think the joke was in bad taste and I am also sure she was told by her handlers not to do it again. We'll see what happens,
only 600 or so more days till election day.

Pass the aspirin!!

[lily_ayanami]

Does anyone else finds it offensive that the title of this article uses a racial slur?

[davey214]

Sad for the people that Senator Allen represented: he was a great person who made a thoughtless mistake. Sure it was his pride and insensitivity that caused the mistake, but why cant the people just forgive and forget. My mother used to say that if the preacher's sermon didn't apply to you, then just forget it. Either the man was a macaca or not. Now we know he wasnt, so God bless the man for bearing it.

[erichsh]

Thanks to youtube? Give me a break! How about thanks to CBS, ABC, MSNBC etc etc., that beat the Allen comment to absolute death (along with his campaign) for weeks. And in the meantime, Biden's comments about Obama being a "clean" African-American are pooh-poohed by Katie Couric as nothing more than an "oops" moment and quickly forgotten. What a despicable double-standard.

[tibu987]

I predict that many more Washington pols will put their foot in their mouth.
Why?
These are guys and gals who, in their ivory towers, arrogance, megalomania, do not live in the "real" world, oblivious as to what the man in the street does and how he feels. Thus, the likelihood of saying something that might alienate, embarrass, or otherwise put down a person in a humiliating manner.
My contenton is that living in a political bubble like Washington, the pols are completely out of touch with the common man/woman. They belong to an elite club that has little use for the little people except at election time.
Frankly, they don't impress me, or, at least, as little as I impress them.
'Nuff said.

It is true that politicians general had been criticized unnecessarily criticized too critically for unimportant small things, i.e., Josef Biden yesterday praising Sen. Obama, some thing like as a mainstream black, he is clean, intelligent, smart, handsome%u2026 People start questioning what mainstream (?), what is clean (?), as such. There should be no such criticism. Sen. Biden meant well. I at least understand he meant no harm, but praise for Sen. Obama.

In case of macaca case Mr. Allen fully try to humiliate a person just because he is East Indian decent. Mr. Allen%u2019s intention is plainly apparent to harm some one. As an Asian decent I can fully understand how humiliating to be said such a thing. I see the clear difference between them. When politician try to humiliate a person, he can be also humiliated by political defeat.

[bvckvs-2009]

With such a damning article on how immoral and out-of-touch the GOP is, I'm not surprised to see a flurry of posts here, all attempting to change the subject.

There's one thing the GOPers could do to innoculate themselves against this problem. All they have to do is behave like grown-ups instead of like petty, third-world, potentates.

[huskerarmy]

No macaca heart... no macaca moment.

[randalds]

SHOULD THE PEOPLE THAT VOTED FOR WILLIAM JEFFERSON OF LOUISIANA BE EMBARRASSED ALSO??????
Posted by b48151 at 02:47 PM : Feb 02, 2007

Of course there are corrupt democrats. The difference is that we admit it and work to weed them out. The republicans give their corrupt officials the Medal of Freedom handed over by Der Fuhrer Bush himself. Might as well be the Iron Cross these days. I don't agree with what he appears to have done, but that doesn't make it just as right for the republicans to elect as big of a racist as*shole as Allen.

[randalds]

If he hadn't screwed up with his "Macaca" moment (and don't give me this lie that he didn't know what it ment or that he made it up on the spot) it would have happened some other time. He's a dic*khead and always has been. Anyone who ever voted for him should be embarrassed! He's an embarrassment, but a classic example of a republican politician.

[bigdarkie]

I love my Macaca - I think everyone should own one . . .

[karlimhof]

It's a little cognitive dissonance , says Ex-Sen. George Allen....boy oh boy, has underestimated the power of the Net !! But a good vocabulary nonetheless.

[wny14127]

Someone once said that politicians are like diapers and they should be changed often and for the same reason.

[frankly6]

George Allen was such a horses @ss. The nation is better off without him.