George Allen steps into yet another potential bigotry problem

September 19, 2006

After Sen. George Allen’s (R-Va.) “macaca” controversy, and the photo of him with leaders of the Council of Conservative Citizens, and his suspect history involving nooses and the confederate flag, the senator from Virginia started to get something of a reputation. After last night’s debate with his Democratic rival, Jim Webb, it’s possible the reputation may be slightly worse.

It started with a question from WUSA-TV’s Peggy Fox who asked if Allen’s Tunisian-born mother has Jewish blood.

“It has been reported,” Fox said, that “your grandfather Felix, whom you were given your middle name for, was Jewish. Could you please tell us whether your forebears include Jews and, if so, at which point Jewish identity might have ended?”

By my standards, it was an inappropriate question and Allen, at least at first, was right to dismiss it.

Allen recoiled as if he had been struck. His supporters in the audience booed and hissed. “To be getting into what religion my mother is, I don’t think is relevant,” Allen said, furiously. “Why is that relevant — my religion, Jim’s religion or the religious beliefs of anyone out there?”

Quite right. It’s not relevant at all. One could maybe make the argument that Allen has raised his family’s background in the campaign — he’s mentioned a few times that his grandfather was in a Nazi concentration camp — but even that’s a stretch. Webb hasn’t brought the issue up at all, and there’s little to no public interest. It’s a rare public debate with a limited schedule, and Fox was wrong to ask.

Unfortunately for Allen, his good answer took a bit of a detour.

Allen challenged Fox to explain why she asked the question in the first place. “Honesty, that’s all,” she said, slightly taken aback.

“Oh, that’s just all? That’s just all,” the senator mocked, pressing his attack. He directed Fox to “ask questions about issues that really matter to people here in Virginia” and refrain from “making aspersions.”

Now, in context (Wonkette has a clip of the entire exchange), it’s possible Allen meant that perhaps it’s best to avoid all personal questions and stick exclusively to “the issues.” But it also sounds a bit as if Allen was suggesting that being confronted with Jewish ancestry is an “aspersion.” And if so, that’s a problem.

The comment seems to have sparked considerable discussion around the ‘sphere. The Plank suggested that Allen seems to have had “a visceral revulsion to being associated with Judaism.” Kos has three separate items on the flap today, concluding, “The issue isn’t whether Allen has Jewish blood or not. It’s the fact that Allen seems to have a problem with it.” Podhoretz thought it was “weird” that Allen “acted as though the question were absolutely beyond the bounds of all rational discourse.”

What do you think? Given his past, Allen hasn’t exactly earned the benefit of the doubt, but was his reaction really a sign of anti-Semitism?

Boy, this is actually a hard one. If there wasn’t the context of 40+ years of identifiable white supremacist beliefs and actions, one could take it as “this isn’t something we need to talk about,” which is of course right. But with his historical baggage, one is equally able to say the other, that he’s ashamed and doesn’t want to acknowledge the connection.

I think we should follow the advice of Dr. Samuel Johnson here: “To treat your adversary with respect is to give him anadvantage to which he is not entitled.”

No. We shouldn’t give him the benefit of the doubt. He’s made his bed, let him die in it.

  • No. We shouldn’t give him the benefit of the doubt. He’s made his bed, let him die in it.

    Agreed. 100%.

  • Actually, I wish Fox had pressed Allen about his feigned ignorance of the meaning of the word “macaca” on the Meet the Press debate. He’s opted to manage that controversy by banking on the fact that voters are truly stupid enough to take him on his word that Allen, with his odd francophone/neo-confederate heritage, has no idea that macaca is a french racist slur. Rather, he just “made it up” on the spot. Unbelievable. I really wish someone had asked him about that.

    The clip of his reaction to the Jewish question needs to be seen to appreciate the how truly indignant he was to the suggestion that there is Jewish blood in his family. Allen really does represent everything that is wrong in American politics and his defeat would be to the everlasting credit of Virginia voters (myself included).

  • No. No way. I can see how he would interpret her question as an attempt cast aspersions. (Egads, he’s a Jew!)
    Really, the more I read the question the worse it gets. “At what point Jewish identity ended??
    I can say Allen is out of line and out of whack and out of touch about a lot of things, but I won’t fault his response to a fucked up question.

  • If the liberals hadn’t complicated things in this country and restricted our basic freedom of speech with their political correctness, being a bigot wouldn’t be a campaign issue. We could be talking about important stuff, like, um, gay marriage. /scarcasm

  • Orange has the point nailed here. If Fox had not added the part about when he stopped identifying as a Jew then it would have been different. Only Allen knows if he was mad about being called a Jew or not but the question went over the line a bit.

    It does point out that Allen is walking a very fine line between reality and asshattery but he gets off on this one.

  • was his reaction really a sign of anti-Semitism?

    Not Anti-Semitism, although “casting aspersions” is an interesting choice of words. I think it’s more that the mask might have gotten pulled off.

    Here you have a man, born in California and raised in urban areas, who’s built a largely false image as a Good Ol’ Boy. Part and parcel of being a Good Ol’ Boy is being White, Anglo-Saxon or Scotch-Irish extraction, and Protestant.

    In fact, if you are a Klan member, there are three things you can’t abide: a N—-r, a Papist, and a Jew. (The good people of Marietta, Georgia, lynched a Jew in 1906 – for allegedly defiling a white girl. Sound familiar?)

    See the problem now? If, as reported, Allen is 50% Jewish, I don’t think the boys in the Kool Kids Klub are going to be happy. They may even ask him to return his Confederate Flag lapel pin, and noose.

  • Not an Allen supporter, but she did kinda pose a “gotcha” question to him

    he had two options

    1. Embrace question and explain he has a multifaceted background that he is proud of.

    or

    2. Try everything in his power to avoid being seen as being possibly being Jweish.

    Unfortunately for him he chose #2, and he F’d it up

    He has now created a bigger nightmare for himself….

  • Having watched the clip, it sounds to me like the reporter had a good question to ask, did a piss-poor job of it and Allen did what any politician would have done – turned it into an opportunity to talk about “bringing the country together” and “freedom of religion.” BFD.

    I guess there’s an issue about him refusing to say that he’s got Jewish blood – does he? He seems to say his mom was Italian or something but the wonkette site says she was in a concentration camp. I guess when you’re courting the Christian Conservative vote, you can be in favor of Israel but you can’t actually be a Jew.

  • Sorry, I’ve got to think that Fox’s question was okay and Allen’s interpretation of it being an “aspersion” to be thought to have Jewish ancestory is the issue. Allen probably doesn’t know when his maternal family ceased to regard themselves as Jewish if they ever were, but it’s not an unfair question. I have neices and nephews who are Jewish according to Jewish law but who are all Christians (well, mostly Christian 😉 ). Allen doubtlessly thinks of himself only as a Christian too, no matter what others might think.

    But I have to wonder at his defensiveness. Does he not want his white racist friends (and they are his friends) to know (or suspect), or is he just the image of the “Self-Hating Jew”?

    George Felix Allen Junior, open mouth, stick foot inside.

  • For orange the ?????? isn’t whether he has jewish blood its whether his actions through the years have made it an issue. You reap what you sow in politics. IE: Max Cleland being Swift Boated by idealoges inclucing Allen by painting him unpatrotic. So if he is jewish blood and he believes his own nonsense than he deserves what he gets.

  • Lib4 makes a good point. Allen has been trying desperately to get out of the deep end of the macaca pit and this would have been a perfect opportunity to make some diversity points.

    He could have just said something like, “I’m not sure but I would have no problem with that if it were true,” and move on. But it did seem like he was as much repulsed by the idea that he might be a landsman as by the inappropriateness of the question itself.

    Whatever, he’s dug himself another fine mess and another opportunity for people to develop a reasonable doubt as to his fitness for office.

    Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.

  • It kind of puts me in mind of the Cheneys’ response to John Kerry’s remarks about their daughter. He certainly said nothing at bad about Mary Cheney, but you never would have known it from their responses. No, I don’t think we should let George Allen off the hook, the GOP wouldn’t let a Democratic candidate off the hook for an ill-considered or misunderstood remark (See: Busby, Francine).

    I vote for CB to get the Time liberal blog gig, too. Now we just need to convince Time.

  • 11.
    I thought the fact he has Jewish ancestors was last week’s news, another reason I thought Fox’s question stupid.
    If Fox had followed up with a question about anti-Semetic remarks Allan has made I could see the point. Otherwise, why bother? The good ol’ boys won’t abandon him because of this. On the whole G.O.B’s have always been fine with individual members of the non-G.O.B. classes, as in: “I hate [minority] but Fred is OK.” They’ll probably start referring to Allen as “My Jewish Friend,” and all the assery that entails.

  • What struck me from the clip was the very beginning of Allen’s response: he gets a sour look on his face; the audience starts booing; then he goes off. What an odd dynamic. It was an off-the-wall question but not something that called for boos. (In fact, the way it’s prefaced, the question isn’t unreasonable either–if articles in the Jewish press are asking a question, why not pose it to Allen?) I think Allen was playing to his audience and went overboard in his answer. All he had to say was, “Though I may have Jewish ancestry, I’m not Jewish. Next question.”

  • That question was maliciously unfair, along the same lines as, “So when did you stop beating you wife Mr. Allen?”

    There is a reason why George Allen got pissy when he was asked this question and it has little to do with anti-Semitism. His finely tuned political antenna were positively set on fire because it made it impossible for him to send the “three fingers down” bigot-friendly signals, while simultaneously singing gospel of the “values” rhetoric.

    It was entirely out of bounds. I have little pity for him, especially in light of his colored past, but it was entirely out of bounds and informed democracy is worse for it.

  • CORRECTION:
    There is a reason why George Allen got pissy when he was asked this question and it has more to do with keen political pragmatism than it does with anti-Semitism. His finely tuned political antenna were positively set on fire because it made it impossible for him to send the “three fingers down” bigot-friendly signals, while simultaneously singing gospel of the “values” rhetoric—both of which he sees as vital to his re-election.

  • “They’ll probably start referring to Allen as “My Jewish Friend,” and all the assery that entails.” – TAIO

    Stephan Colbert, let’s make George Felix Allen Junior your “Jewish Friend”, okay?

  • It’s nice to see crass race bigotry (even, or especially, if contrived for political gain) blow up in G. Felix Allen, Jr.’s face. Couldn’t happen to more deserving yahoot. As to Ms. Peggy Fox, I think the First Amendment (speech, press) still trumps taste. If Allen can’t cope with reporter’s questions, then it’s too hot in the kitchen for him.

  • was his reaction really a sign of anti-Semitism?

    Well, if he knows what his audience wants to hear…

  • From WUSA, Channel 9 in DC

    Allen Confirms Jewish Heritage

    The Jewish newspaper, “The Daily Forward,” reported that Allen’s maternal grandfather was Jewish, and raised questions about whether Allen was hiding details about his background to avoid alienating voters in some parts of Virginia.

    Our reporter Peggy Fox asked Allen about that report during a U.S. Senate candidates’ debate in Virginia Monday, and it prompted an angry response.

    During the debate, Senator Allen did not directly answer the question about the religion of his grandfather, Felix Lumbroso. But late Tuesday, Allen issued a statement confirming his grandfather is Jewish.

    Senator George Allen’s Statement

    On Tuesday, Sen. George Allen issued the following statement in regard to Peggy’s questions:

    “Yesterday, I found it especially reprehensible that a reporter would impugn the attitudes of my mother, as Ms. Peggy Fox did in her first question at the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce Senate debate. My mother and father both taught me to abhor bigotry, and Ms. Fox’s suggestion to the contrary was deeply offensive.

    The notion peddled by the Webb campaign that I am somehow embarrassed by my heritage is equally offensive, and also absurd.

    I was raised as a Christian and my mother was raised as a Christian. And I embrace and take great pride in every aspect of my diverse heritage, including my Lumbroso family line’s Jewish heritage, which I learned about from a recent magazine article and my mother confirmed.

    On several occasions through the years, I have mentioned publicly that my mother’s father was incarcerated by the Nazis. I have never known whether he was persecuted by the Nazis because of his nationality, his religious faith, his role as a community leader, or his part in the anti-Nazi resistance.

    What I do know is that my grandfather’s imprisonment by the Nazis had a profound impact on my mother. It was a subject she found painful to discuss and so we almost never discussed it.

    Some may find it odd that I have not probed deeply into the details of my family history, but it’s a fact. We in the Allen household were simply taught that what matters is a person’s character, integrity, effort, and performance – not race, gender, ethnicity or religion. And so whenever we would ask my mother through the years about our family background on her side, the answer always was, ‘Who cares about that?’

    My mother has lived a long and full life, and I hope and pray she will enjoy many more years. She deserves respect and she also deserves privacy, especially where painful memories are concerned. I sincerely hope that simple decency will be respected.”

  • I think jc is right on the money…was reading the WaPo coverage and it looks like Allen’s mother was born to Jewish parents, making him – at least as far as Halakha, Jewish law and tradition (thank you, Wikipedia) – Jewish, too. WaPo is also reporting now that Allen is acknowledging his Jewish heritage. He qualifies this stating that his mother was raised as a Christian – whether she was ever baptized or confirmed will, I assume, eventually be resolved.

    Assuming this gets some play in the MSM, Allen is gonna lose a lot of cred with the Southern racist vote which was his backbone constituency all along…

  • “Yesterday, I found it especially reprehensible that a reporter would impugn the attitudes of my mother, as Ms. Peggy Fox did in her first question at the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce Senate debate. My mother and father both taught me to abhor bigotry, and Ms. Fox’s suggestion to the contrary was deeply offensive.”

    Boy is he spinning that one. He’s misrepresenting the nature of her question and it’s rather disgusting really.

    I’d like to see where the Webb campaign is commenting on it too.

  • re #22.
    O.K. George, time to move on. The question was offensive but your interpretation of the question is not the same as what the reporter actually said.

    “My mother and father both taught me to abhor bigotry, and Ms. Fox’s suggestion to the contrary was deeply offensive.”

    No, really George. You’re making an ass of yourself (again) and admitting you didn’t listen to mommy and daddy (or the reporter). Time to say nite-nite.

  • Will Virginia have separate water fountains and toilets for Jews? They didn’t shake off the ones for coloreds that long ago.And everybody who knows, knows that if your mother was Jewish, you are, too. His mother must have been, because he gets a big guilt trip whenever the subject comes up.

  • It would appear that the question of Jewish heritage came up at least as early as Aug 25, after the “macaca” incident. From TNR…

    “Bob Gibson, a longtime columnist for the Charlottesville Daily Progress, relays the following anecdote, which seems to clear things up:

    It’s funny, but the only time that George Allen ever wanted a correction from me in 27 years of covering his races was when I wrote about his mother’s Jewish family origins. He insisted, through a press secretary, that his mother was raised a Christian.

    http://www.tnr.com/blog/theplank?pid=33906

  • Being in VA, I watched parts of the debate when RaisingKaine posted the clips of it (I don’t watch TV, for lots of reasons) , and thus saw the relevant one last night.

    I thought Fox’s question was irrelevant; who the eff cares about his genes (except that I grew up believing that Jews were smart and, apparently, it’s not always true)? I thought he skewed his response a bit — she was asking more about the blood-ties than religious ones, IMO — but, even so, it was OK *to begin with*

    It was when he equated the question with “casting aspersions” that I blew my stack.

    I’m half-Jewish myself, also on the maternal side (which I’ve always considered a bit of luck; they “loved” and accepted me in Poland and during my summer in Israel ), which is why I have no family left on the maternal side at all. While asking about one’s antecedents (back to the 5th generation?) sounds Nazi-like to me, his response sounded like he thought he was living in Hitler’s Germany. Which Mr B is doing his damnedest to get us to, but which stage we haven’t reached yet.

    I think his original reaction is not going to go down well with the Jews in VA, despite his today’s retraction/admission (in a Jewish paper). And I think his today’s retraction/admission is going to cancel all his initial horror, with his Christofascist base, either.

    As far as I’m concerned, it’s a win-win situation for Webb (who’s been accused of some anti-Semitic tendencies himself; unfairly, IMO) and it couldn’t have happened to a more deserving skunk.

  • So he thinks religion should be kept out of politics? When is he going to tell chickengeorge bush that?

  • The question was out of line, but for Allen to say that the question cast aspersions shows a lot — how the hell is being called Jewish and “aspersion”?!

    Of course, I still find it funny (it literally makes me giggle) that white supremacists consider themselves Christians, yet hate Jews.

    It’s been a while since I attended church or studied the Bible, but last I checked Jesus was Jewish.

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