Allen's excuse was classic, saying there was no racial motivation behind the name-calling and that he didn't even know what "macaca" meant. He said it sounded like "mohawk" and that he used it to describe Sidarth's haircut, which was actually what most of America would refer to as a mullet.

The outrage demonstrated by Asian American voters at the time helped Webb defeat Allen in the election by about 8,000 votes.

The event — featuring Penn, Northern Virginia Democratic Party political director Joe Montano, Democratic strategist Toby Chaudhuri, and Asian American Obama supporters — is taking place as we speak, but the rest of us can still ponder the stupidity of racists and the power of the Asian American vote.