Sen. George Allen (R-VA) stepped into a minefield of controversy this week after he was videotaped using what appeared to be an ethnic slur at a campaign event.

The first-term senator and presidential hopeful mocked S.R. Sidarth, a 20-year-old Virginian native of Indian descent who had been following him on the campaign trail, by calling him "macaca," a term for monkeys that is used as an ethnic slur in certain parts of the world.

As The Daily Show's Rob Corddry quipped, "I don't know what 'macaca' means, but it sure as s**t sounds racist. Here in Virginia, I'm still not sure if that helps or hurts a guy." (Watch Daily Show clip)

Forced to fend off charges of racial insensitivity, Allen's handlers are now attempting to calm the macaca storm by saying he made up the word by combining "Mohawk," in reference to S.R. Sidarth's haircut, and "caca," the Spanish word for excrement. "In other words, he was a s**t-head, an annoyance," one Republican close to the campaign explained, thus violating the number one rule of holes: when you're in one, stop digging.

Wonkette offers some other imaginative explanations for what Allen really meant.

Here's what Allen said:

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

Watch the video.

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