"Macaca" (2006) w/ Peter Hamby

This Day in Esoteric Political History

Jody Avirgan & Radiotopia

History

4.6 • 982 Ratings

🗓️ 10 August 2021

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

It’s August 10th. This day in 2006, Virginia Senator George Allen is caught on tape referring to S.R. Sidarth, a young man filming his event, as “macaca.” This video became an early viral moment and helped lead to Allen’s defeat later that fall — showing how viral video could transform politics.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie are joined by Peter Hamby of Snapchat and Puck News to discuss the incident, how the internet was changing politics in the mid-2000s, and whether Allen’s comments would have been so controversial today.

Find a transcript of this episode at: https://tinyurl.com/esoterichistory

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Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Julie Shapiro, Executive Producer at Radiotopia

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to this day in esoteric political history from Radiotopia.
0:07.0	My name is Jody Avergan.
0:09.0	This day, August 10th, 2006, the incident actually happens on August 11th 2006
0:15.6	George Allen was on a campaign stop in breaks Virginia near the Kentucky border
0:20.7	George Allen was running for re-election as Virginia senator.
0:24.0	He had also been Virginia's governor, but today he stepped in it because on this day in 2006 he was caught on
0:30.4	camera.
0:31.4	What was he caught on camera doing, Peter Hamby? He was saying, give a big
0:36.0	welcome to my friend Makaka over here. Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia, or something
0:42.4	like that. something like that.
0:43.0	Something like that.
0:44.0	That is of course the voice of Peter Hamby, who we have on because he does such a good George
0:48.1	Allen impersonation.
0:49.5	We just were like, who does the best George Allen in the world? But now Peter Hamby is political
0:54.2	journalist, host of Good Luck America at Snapchat, contributor to the new outlet
0:58.6	Puck News, but also I think a great fit for this conversation because he is to my mind one of the best
1:03.5	chroniclers of how new media and new technology has transformed politics and that in many
1:08.8	ways is what this story is about an early viral moment that truly changed an important election.
1:14.5	So Peter Hamby, this is your formal intro.
1:17.0	Thank you for doing this.
1:18.0	Thanks for coming on the show.
1:19.0	Thanks for having me.
	...

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