I thought this was about Woody Allen getting mad when he was asked if he was Jewish.

Perhaps Kinky Friedman can reach out to George Allen. Sounds like George is in need of an honesty Jewish cowboy intervention.

The "aspersion" may not be that Allen has Jewish heritage, but that Allen's family may have deliberately run away from that heritage, an act of cowardice.

I wasn't in the audience myself, but I think it is arrogant to attribute the audience's boos to the accusation of Jewness and not the impropriety and irrelevance of the question at a debate.

Yes, I do believe there is an identity gap within Senator Allen much the same as there is within President Bush. But as rational people, we know better than to reach conclusions first and find evidence to support them when it is convenient.

> faith, family, freedom and football

Speaking of family, has any reporter asked him about his first wife?

The one he d-i-v-o-r-c-e-d.

>but I think it is arrogant to attribute the audience's boos to the accusation of Jewness and not the impropriety and irrelevance of the question at a debate.

Honey, when you built your reputation as a bigot with good ol' boy pretentions and a love of a racist heritage, doesn't one's actual background, when pandering to the lowest bottomfeeders in your state become absolutely relevant?

And what, btw is JEWNESS?

Jewness (noun) - the state or condition of being Semitic.

(I'm allowed to make stuff up to suit my arguments, too.)

I'm sorry-- I thought it was cute. Was it rude? If so, I'm sorry.

Allen once again has proven to be what most of these Pols are: Hyper-sensitive bullies who have to pander to their base without care of who or why. Allen knows why he's doing this. He is hustling votes from a scared and unintelligent population that occupies half of what we are now calling America. How did it get to this point? Has no-one been educated in these States?

As reported in the Washington Post this morning:

Allen volunteered that his grandfather "was incarcerated by the Nazis in World War II."

The reporter then followed up and questioned Allen's past denial that his mother is Jewish.

"I'm glad you all have that reaction," Allen said to the audience as people jeered the questioner. Allen lectured Fox about the importance of "freedom of religion and not making aspersions about people because of their religious beliefs."

It's pretty clear to me that Allen is saying that simply saying he might be Jewish is to make aspersions. Sounds like another macaca moment to me.

"I wasn't in the audience myself, but I think it is arrogant to attribute the audience's boos to the accusation of Jewness and not the impropriety and irrelevance of the question at a debate."

Why would the question elicit boos and hisses? What is improper and irrelevant when George Allen himself invited the question by brining up his granfather's experience in Nazi Germany? Boos and hisses usually indicate extreme displeasure. Why would asking George Allen about his Jewish heritage inspire such outrage...unless those people booing and hissing regarded the question as an insult.

An aquaintence of mine has asked me several times if I am Jewish (I'm not sure why). I'm not, but I've never been insulted or taken aback by the question.

And what exactly is "the accusation of Jewness"? "Accusation? Your own words speak volumes.

Allen can't have it both ways, although that is what the Republicans have been getting away with for years now. They campaign on their religious beliefs. The man should have said his ancestors were incarcerated by the Romans. More acceptable to his constituency.

Now the Saloniks can whine about 'Jewish racists.' Well it is a day with a vowell in it........

The good senator is a hypocrite,a racist,a rebel, an ignoramus,and a lousy liar. A true neocon republican politian who is scared to loose his cushy job as a jewnessy follower of all the other Bushites.

Nazi's did incarcerate people other than Jews in the concentration camps: Gypsies, homosexuals, a few Catholics, people who just wouldn't get with the program (or the pogram for that matter). Maybe he's secretly ashamed of his Gypsy heritage or the fact that his grandfather was a socialist. We shouldn't jump to conclusions. Allen's bigotry may take any one of a variety of forms.

Well as someone who is Jewish, I would be mighty uncomfortable if the people around me starting booing when a question came up about someone's Jewish ancestors, unless it was clear that the person doing the questiong was an anti-Semite trying to spread hatred. My gut reaction in this situation is that the people booing were upset at the idea that the Senator might carry "Jewish Blood" and Allen's comment that he viewed the question to be fighting words makes it pretty clear that it was the Jewish part that everyone found insulting. So much for the Evengelical view that Jew's are "the apple of God's eye". I understand why Allen when ballistic. He was afraid. I don't think I'd be volunteering my ancestory in a room full of the kind of people who would go to see him either.

Just as Allen didn't mean that "macaca," I don't think Allen meant that "aspersion." I think he meant "don't throw your holy water on me."

Of course that raises other questions.

but his mother was Jewish...

which means, according the Israeli Law of Return, little Georgie could sign up for Israeli citizenship...because the Jewish religion passes through the mother's side.

In otherwords, Allen was born Jewish.

And why would he be ashamed of that?

Allen parades his grandfather's "incarceration" by the Nazis to gain sympathy and make himself out to be more appealing: my family has known suffering. But it's hypocritical in the extreme for him not to say why this ancestor was imprisoned, and to get defensive about possible jJwish ancestry. I found the reporter's question completely uncontroversial because it goes to how Allen defines himself and what his roots are. If The Forward is correct, he pretty clearly is of Jewish descent, and by Jewish law is Jewish whether he likes it or not (and whether other Jews like it or not).

Asking when this part of his heritage was dumped for Christian fundamentalism is completely legitimate.

BTW, here is the article in The Forward:

http://www.forward.com/articles/alleged-slur-casts-%20spotlight-on-senator%E2%80%99s-jewis/