File that one under “sentences you never expect to hear from a US Senator/pre-candidate for the Presidency”.
Source: (WaPo, Allen’s Mother Revealed Jewish Heritage to Him Last Month)
Henrietta “Etty” Allen said Wednesday that she concealed her upbringing as a Jew in North Africa from her children, including Sen. George Allen (R-Va.), until a conversation across the dining room table in late August.She said Allen asked her directly about his Jewish heritage when he was in Los Angeles for a fundraiser. “We sat across the table and he said, ‘Mom, there’s a rumor that Pop-pop and Mom-mom were Jewish and so were you,’ ” she recalled, a day after Allen issued a statement acknowledging and embracing his Jewish roots as he campaigns for a second term in the U.S. Senate.
This thing is bizarre. On one level, I am not sure why it matters, at least on the substance of the issue (i.e., whether or not Mom-mom, Pop-pop and Mom were Jewish or not). On another, it seems to me that it can’t help a US Senator in the midst of a tough re-election campaign to be seen as not knowing basic information about himself and his family. At a minimum it does suggest that Allen’s mother was ashamed of her Jewish heritage. While that’s not the Senator’s fault, it still taints him to some degree in terms of public relations.
Further, the whole thing comes across as incompetent.
As James Joyner notes:
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.
Indeed. Of course, if one says enough stupid things, one will be perceived of as stupid, and therefore have a hard time getting elected to a new office (and perhaps trouble getting re-elected to the old one). Further, all this stuff feeds in a growing narrative concerning Allen that call into question his authenticity (a point I argued here about the “Macaca” flap). Add to that growing evidence of incompetence, and I begin to wonder if Allen has a prayer of winning the GOP nomination in 2024.
In regards to the flap the other day about the Jewish question emerging at a debate (details and video here), James also said:
As a secularist, perhaps I’m just naive here. I honestly don’t see what the fuss is all about. The question strikes me as mildly weird (Allah’s title nails it: “Reporter asks Allen: So, are you a Jew or what?”) but hardly offensive.
The thing is, I don’t think that this is specifically a religious question (i.e., do you go Temple and follow Jewish teachings), but rather one of identity politics and the subtle (or perhaps not so subtle suggestion) that Allen’s mother is a self-loathing anti-Semite. And if that is true (so the logic would go), then what did she teach young George?
This plays into another growing narrative about Allen, and that is he is a racist (the whole Confederate battle flag bit along with the Macaca bit). Further, the Mother and her French North-African background plays into the Macaca bit because of the fact that it is a French slur. Allen, however, claims (as recently as on MTP on Sunday) that he just “made it up” on the spot. That seems like an unlikely story. As such, his stories concerning (again) his mother and racial/ethnic issues creates a sense of skepticism about what he is saying.
Allen is building a situation in which he is either a dissembler or an incompetent. As such, he is seeming pretty toasty to me for 2024 (even if he wins in November).
September 21st, 2024 at 10:42 am
“I am not sure why it matters, at least on the substance of the issue”
Normally it wouldn’t, but for three interrelated issues:
1. Allen has worn his Christianity on his sleeve throughout his political career.
2. He panders to evangelican Christians, who themsleves often fall into the “Christian in private v. Judeo-Christian in public” trap.
3. He has often publicly noted his grandfather’s internment in a Nazi concentration (i.e., for votes), but always refused to disclose precisely why the man was interned.
September 21st, 2024 at 10:45 am
I was unaware of #3–and that will be significant, as it plays into the disingenuousness that I have commented upon.
September 21st, 2024 at 10:53 am
Also, if you remember in the debate from a couple of days ago Allen said: “My mother’s French-Italian with a little Spanish blood in her. And I was raised as she was, as far as I know, raised as a Christian.”
This was an obvious lie since, if you believe the narrative he’s spinning today in the Post article, he was told in August about his mother’s Jewish upbringing.
September 21st, 2024 at 12:41 pm
Is the toast crispy yet? I love my burnt toast. (Just ask my family.)
September 21st, 2024 at 1:20 pm
This was an obvious lie since, if you believe the narrative he’s spinning today in the Post article, he was told in August about his mother’s Jewish upbringing.
Of course, if you also believe the narrative that his mother is telling, she swore him to secrecy about it, not to tell even his brother, sister, or wife. If true, certainly that’s a tough position to be in, regardless of one’s opinion on whether his mother should want to hide her heritage.
September 21st, 2024 at 1:21 pm
He has often publicly noted his grandfather’s internment in a Nazi concentration (i.e., for votes), but always refused to disclose precisely why the man was interned.
Well, if you believe the Post article, he didn’t know exactly why or was led to believe that it was for being part of the Free French… in fact, he’s answered before that he didn’t know exactly why.
September 21st, 2024 at 1:55 pm
If true, certainly that’s a tough position to be in, regardless of one’s opinion on whether his mother should want to hide her heritage.
If his reaction to being “in a tough position” is to lie during a debate then it clearly shows he has neither the intelligence nor the honesty to be a US Senator.
September 21st, 2024 at 3:32 pm
This just in: Pat Buchanan and George Allen are racists…
Schocking. Schocking, I say!
(Thanks to PoliBlog for the juxtaposition of quotations from Buchanan’s version of Mein Kampf, as well as the original, and other relevant information, including an interesting WaPo link on Allen.)
……
September 21st, 2024 at 9:16 pm
“Of course, if you also believe the narrative that his mother is telling, she swore him to secrecy about it, not to tell even his brother, sister, or wife. If true, certainly that’s a tough position to be in, regardless of one’s opinion on whether his mother should want to hide her heritage.”
Sounds like a reason to evade the question, but not to give an answer with such specificity that you know to be untrue. At least not for someone running for office. Considering he had as options “it’s non of your business!” and the tried-and-true “how dare you bring up my family?!”, it was not a move consistent with campaign competence (dare I say general competence?).
When people are sworn to secrecy they may need to be vague and misleading. But do they need to spin another story entirely?
September 22nd, 2024 at 7:04 am
Ratoe,
When did intelligence and honesty ever count in the America of George W Bush? The guys a shoo-in.
September 22nd, 2024 at 11:40 pm
There is a religious point to consider. I am told that offspring of a Jewish womb are, at birth, Jewish. The converse is not true. If your father is Jewish, but your mother is not, you must do something affirmatively to be seen as Jewish. The point is that, unknown to Allen until recently, he is a Jew.
And, agreeing with some others, he is in need of a clue. He is as flat-footed a campaigner as I’ve seen recently.
September 23rd, 2024 at 12:59 pm
I wouldn’t be too concerned about his percieved stupidity. In the country that elected George W. Bush President twice (setting aside the continued questions about the legitimacy of both elections), his perceived lack of intellect arguably makes him the front-runner, at least for the Republican Party nomination.