Thursday, September 21, 2006
Stories about Sen. Allen Being Jewish Continue
The Washington Post today had a front page piece on how Sen. Allen's mother told him last month about being Jewish, which means he lied this week in the debate with Democratic candidate Jim Webb when he said she was, "as far as I know," raised as a Christian.
Talking Points Memo posted a thoughtful piece in which a TPM reader talks about the Allen family secret and says "There is nothing in his (Sen. Allen's) behavior or speech, now or in the past, that suggests that he's not ashamed that his mother is Jewish."
I thought Allen had learned from his infamous "macacca" slur that denial, lying and twisting the truth only leads to more stories, keeping the issue in the news cycle. I thought that by "embracing" his Jewishness (if that's the word) he was seeking to put the story behind him, and trying to minimize the damage being Jewish might bring to his right-wing Christian conservative base.
Guess I was wrong. Guess Allen's Jewish roots will stay in the news.
By the way, Jim Webb is doing quite well.
Talking Points Memo posted a thoughtful piece in which a TPM reader talks about the Allen family secret and says "There is nothing in his (Sen. Allen's) behavior or speech, now or in the past, that suggests that he's not ashamed that his mother is Jewish."
I thought Allen had learned from his infamous "macacca" slur that denial, lying and twisting the truth only leads to more stories, keeping the issue in the news cycle. I thought that by "embracing" his Jewishness (if that's the word) he was seeking to put the story behind him, and trying to minimize the damage being Jewish might bring to his right-wing Christian conservative base.
Guess I was wrong. Guess Allen's Jewish roots will stay in the news.
By the way, Jim Webb is doing quite well.
