Posted on 09/19/2006 4:16:14 AM PDT by nj26
First came Sen. George Allen's Macaca Moment. Then we learned of challenger Jim Webb's thoughts on the "horny" women of the Naval Academy.
Now, just when you thought Virginia's U.S. Senate race couldn't get any weirder, the Jews of Tunis are making a cameo.
At a debate in Tysons Corner yesterday between Republican Allen and Democrat Webb, WUSA-TV's Peggy Fox asked Allen, the tobacco-chewing, cowboy-boot-wearing son of a pro football coach, if his Tunisian-born mother has Jewish blood.
"It has been reported," said Fox, 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?"
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?"
"Honesty, that's all," questioner Fox answered, looking a bit frightened.
"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."
"Let's move on," proposed the moderator, George Stephanopoulos of ABC News.
Yes, let's -- but not before we figure out what that was all about. Turns out the Forward, a Jewish newspaper, reported that the senator's mother, Etty, "comes from the august Sephardic Jewish Lumbroso family."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
ping for later
Not probable. Virginia's Muslim population is small compared to its full population, and many Muslims tend to vote Democrat. It could have been used to shore up support for Webb, though.
That last part is troubling. Why would the fact whether someone is Jewish or not be an "aspersion"???
What's this about Webb's "horny" comment? Haven't the slightest clue what that's all about.
This is meant to be a hit piece on Allen. The above statement makes that plain and also the statement about how the poor anchor person was scared! Allen had every right to be pissed and he is correct: what was the point of asking this question except to stir the pot?
Was that called for? (rhetorical).
Muslims don't vote for conservative patriotic Americans anyway. They're more likely to vote Demcorat, since the Dmes seem to support Sharia concepts and are soft on Islam.
Persoanlly, it offends me when people start interrogating Americans about their ethnicity.
The only ehtnicity that counts is that they are Americans and consider themselves such, regardless of where their ancestors came from. At some point one of them decided they wanted to be American and not something else. At that point they did in fact become American.
Yup... that “Felix” thing had been used by Webb's people since day-one.
No Marquess of Queensbury rules on Free Republic.
When a sycophant raises his Liberal tail, we kick its ass through the uprights.
FREEPER WARRIORS RULE THE EARTH
Yes, I thought that that remark, and Allen's angry reaction, were a graceless way of responding. His response should have been an appearance of polite interest in the question of genealogy. All Virginians are interested in genealogy and he would have offended no one if he said, "Really? How very fascinating. You appear to know more about it than I do, so I can't really give you an accurate answer. And at the moment, I don't have time to do genealogy research. But evidently you do, so why don't you look into it? I give you carte blanche to rsearch my family roots. It's not clear, of course, what possible bearing my ancestry can have on my present character--that seems the kind of idea we gave up here 200 years ago--but I'm sure that no matter what you come up with it will only underline my ability to serve the diverse people of Virginia." Heh heh heh. Turn the tables on the hypocrite questioner and show he's unflappable and more enlightened than she is.
But Allen can't/won't do that kind of thing. No, he won't be the next president. He loses his temper and he's a bull in a china shop.
Nope.
"My guess is that since Northern VA has a very high Muslim population,"
I don't think the Moos have been using the Republican Party in NOVA as their trojan horse in recent years. They were before 9/11, but that's over now.
place mark
Brilliant response. You should be a speechwriter.
It's not a relevant debate question. He was being baited by a biased MSM reported, and he fell for it.
George Allen will be the next President of the United States.
You got that right!
I think the "aspersion" was the inference that he would hide his Jewish ancestry. (Like Kerry did when he claimed to be Irish for years.)
My first reaction to reading that reply was that as an Allen supporter you are treating opponents the way the Clinton machine does, attacking and name-calling.
But on closer examination, I concluded that since you're actively pimping for Allen, it should be obvious that, like all pimps, you know your whores.
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