Allen Embraces Jewish Ancestry
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James Joyner | Wednesday, September 20, 2006 |
A day after getting angry when a reporter asked about his mother’s Jewish heritage and his campaign called that a “smear,” Senator George Allen now says he “embraces and takes pride in every aspect of my diverse heritage.”
Allen’s campaign manager said the senator believed the question was hostile because it followed another one about whether Allen had learned the word “macaca” from his mother. The word, which Allen used last month to describe a Webb volunteer, is a French slur for a dark-skinned person. Allen’s mother, Henrietta “Etty” Allen, is a native of Tunisia and speaks French.
In a statement released by his campaign yesterday, Allen said he was proud to have recently discovered that his grandfather, an anti-Nazi resistance fighter in North Africa, was part of a well-known Jewish family. “I was raised as a Christian and my mother was raised as a Christian,” Allen, 54, said. “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.”
[...]
Allen campaign manager Dick Wadhams said, “Saying your mother was a racist. That was exactly the intent and the thrust of the question. Then she [Fox] went on to introduce religion. Introducing religion at all into the debate was inappropriate.”
Allen’s handling of this and the Macaca flap have been inept for someone so experienced in high office; the man has been a state governor and a United States Senator. Still, candidates get tired and say stupid things.
That Wadham has repeatedly flubbed his job of spin control, though, is inexcusable. He’s supposed to be a dispassionate manager who cooly assesses the situation and diffuses it. Instead, he repeatedly rubs salt in the wound. It’s probably too late for firing him to do any good but it couldn’t hurt.
About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife and infant daughter.
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Allen is probably making reservations for a seat at the synagogue for Yom Kippur services right now.
Wadham hasn't done a great job, but then, making a silk purse out of a sow's ear is a lot to ask.
Anderson: But you can do no harm. Yelling at the press, lying to them, and just being a jerk are guaranteed to backfire. It's just insane.
Yelling at the press, lying to them, and just being a jerk are guaranteed to backfire.
Wait, I thought that was Allen?
Wait, I thought that was Allen?
No, that was Cheney :-)
Come now, Legion--"backfire" is a particularly inappropriate context in which to mention Cheney.
I would suggest that Allen's response was indeed appropriate. I would also suggest that his response and follow-up will only be good for the campaign.
Compare that to Web and women and I think Allen will be ahead on election day.
When I read that Allen was furious over being "accused" of having Jewish ancestry, my first thought was a sardonic Not that there's anything wrong with that.
I wonder if he's realized the potential backlash here, and this accounts for his clumsy backpeddling?
In any case, I'm inclined to take Allen off my "could vote for in the primary" list.
Hah! Good one, Anderson!
It’s probably too late for firing him to do any good but it couldn’t hurt.
I think that line might be more appropriate for Cheney OTOH...
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