Posted on 09/22/2006 5:55:02 AM PDT by SJackson
WASHINGTON - A pair of Jewish Republicans, Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman and Virginia Rep. Eric Cantor, have come to the defense of Sen. George Allen, a Virginia Republican who confirmed this week that he has Jewish ancestry.
Coleman and Cantor accused the campaign of Allen's Democratic challenger, Jim Webb, of pushing the story of Allen's Jewish roots - a charge the Webb campaign says is false.
The two Jewish lawmakers issued statements through Allen's campaign Wednesday night, and Coleman expounded upon them Thursday.
"I was offended that the religion card was being played here," Coleman said in a conference call with reporters Thursday.
Asked what evidence he had that Webb was behind it, Coleman said that Web bloggers who are "shills" for the Webb campaign have been pushing the issue.
In his statement, Cantor said that "Jim Webb's campaign operatives, on his behalf, have been pushing a story that George Allen has Jewish relatives. In some perverse way Jim Webb believes that this will cost Sen. Allen votes. Jim Webb is dead wrong."
Cantor was not available for an interview Thursday, his office said.
On Tuesday, a day after angrily responding to a question about his Jewish heritage, Allen confirmed that he had Jewish ancestors.
The Washington Post reported Thursday that Allen's mother, Henriette "Etty" Allen, hid her Jewish upbringing from her children until late last month. She told the newspaper she had done so to spare them the fear suffered by her father, who had been imprisoned by the Nazis in German-occupied Tunis during World War II.
Webb campaign spokeswoman Kristian Denny Todd said the campaign had nothing to do with questions about Allen's heritage.
"We happen to think that there's nothing wrong with his heritage," she said.
"The Allen campaign has chosen to engage in a slash-and-burn political campaign," Denny Todd added. "We find it troubling that other lawmakers, who have absolutely no reason to weigh in on this race, choose to participate in this kind of campaign style."
Allen's campaign manager, Dick Wadhams, said the campaign asked Cantor and Coleman to weigh in on the issue after they volunteered to help out.
Wadhams claimed that the Webb campaign has an "anti-Semitic overtone to it." He cited a Web blog by Webb campaign blogger Lowell Feld, raisingkaine.com, that has addressed Allen's Jewish heritage. Wadhams also referred to a Webb flier during the Democratic primary that depicted his Jewish opponent, Harris Miller, with a large nose and cash spilling from his pockets.
"There is a common thread between what he did against Harris Miller, and what they were doing with the blogs," Wadhams said.
Responded Denny Todd: "Their charges that we're trying to run an anti-Semitic campaign are completely false."
Feld could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday night, but on a post on his blog Thursday, he dismissed the "nonsense and nastiness" coming from the Allen campaign on the issue. He also said he was one of eight Jewish staffers for the Webb campaign.
Coleman, meanwhile, said he called Allen to say, "Welcome to the tribe."
"There are only two Republican Jewish senators, so if he's a half-Jew, or even a quarter, it's a significant increase in our presence in the Senate," Coleman joked. The other Jewish Republican senator is Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania.
Coleman said he could identify with the fear that Allen's mother had, noting that his own family name was originally Goldman.
"And part of the change, going back generations, was the fear of anti-Semitism and the impact it would have on employment," he said. "So you have a lot of Jews who have kind of Americanized their names. So whatever choice his mom made, I'm not going to second-guess that."
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I'm glad to see someone calling Webb and his supporters on this.
Allen: Webb camp anti-Semitic
BY JEFF E. SCHAPIRO
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD%2FMGArticle%2FRTD_BasicArticle&%09s=1045855935264&c=MGArticle&cid=1149190734976&path=!news!politics
U.S. Sen. George Allen, R-Va., is accusing challenger Jim Webb of anti-Semitism for spotlighting Allen's newly acknowledged Jewish ancestry on Democratic blogs.
"There is a common thread that is running through the Webb campaign," Allen campaign manager Dick Wadhams said yesterday. "It has a clear anti-Semitic overtone to it."
Webb's press secretary, Kristian Denny Todd, dismissed the claim as "slash-and-burn campaign tactics" and a bid to "make George Allen a sympathetic figure by rallying his base against the big, bad media."
The Allen broadside followed the latest complication for his re-election effort: confirming he is part Jewish after angrily ducking a question on his heritage during a debate Monday with Webb.
Allen said his maternal grandfather, an Ital- ian businessman jailed in Tunisia by the Nazis, was Jewish. Allen said he learned of his grandfather's religion, in part, after recent discussions with his mother.
Allen's mother, Henrietta, "Etty" Allen, told The Washington Post yesterday that she concealed her upbringing as a Jew in North Africa from her children until late August when Allen asked her directly about his Jewish heritage. She said that she and the senator's father, former Redskins coach George Allen, had wanted to protect their children from living with the fear that she had experienced during World War II.
Allen's mother, who is 83, said she asked her son not to tell his siblings and his wife. "The fact this is such an issue justifies my actions, and my behavior," she told the Post.
In addition to posts on Democratic blogs focusing on Allen's lineage, Wadhams cited Webb's use of a controversial handbill during the primary campaign as evidence of anti-Semitism.
"Anti-Semitic themes run through the Webb campaign," Wadhams said. "I distinctly make that assertion and that charge."
During the Democratic primary, Webb was criticized for a flier featuring a cartoon likeness of his Jewish opponent, Harris Miller, with a large nose and cash spilling from his pockets.
Last night, the Allen campaign issued a statement in which two Jewish Republicans U.S. Rep. Eric I. Cantor of Virginia and U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman of Minnesota -- attacked Webb.
"Appeals to bigotry fail in Virginia, because Virginians look to a person's integrity and character," said Cantor. "Jim Webb is failing this test for integrity."
Coleman said, "Former Naval Secretary Webb's campaign is sailing in dirty and dangerous waters when it plays the religious card. The voters of Virginia should sink this vessel and wash away any effort to question Senator Allen's faith or heritage."
Wadhams referred to posts on Democratic blog sites that address Allen's Jewish ancestry, Among the sites mentioned by Wadhams: raisingkaine.com, operated by Webb campaign blogger Lowell Feld. Feld is Jewish.
"To call me in any way, shape or form anti-Semitic is just a little ridiculous," said Feld, who put up a post after the Fairfax County debate that included video of Allen's testy response. "Wadhams is just trying to turn George Allen into some sort of victim."
On several blogs, some friendly to Webb, posts chided Allen for his fierce reply to the question by a Washington television station. Others poked fun at the senator or raised questions about his forthrightness. Some Republican blogs carried posts defending Allen and critical of those who questioned his lineage.
Feld said by attacking Democratic blogs, the Allen campaign is "trying to change the subject. . . . They're shooting the messenger."
Of course if the roles were reversed the DBM would be all over this story.
Webb's a turncoat and a scumbag. Nothing's beneath him.
Sadly enough most Jews in this country will still continue to vote (D) when they go into the booth. If Israel goes down the tubes as a result they are likely to have only themselves to blame. GWB is a friend of Israel.
Amen and right on!
His wife Susan is one of the nicest and sharpest people you will ever meet.
Blitz 'em George.
If you can't play the RACE CARD p;ay the RELIGIOUS CARD. What a bunch of A#$%oles.
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