Pulling Allen Up By His Root-Straps

The WaPo headline seems a little misleading..... "Allen Says He Embraces Jewish Ancestry."

Making it sound like Sen. George Allen (R-VA) proudly rushed forward.... and why not.... to confirm his Jewish heritage. Actually....

A reporter covering the September 18 debate between Allen and his opponent, James Webb, inquired of Allen, "It has been reported that your grandfather Felix, whom you were given your middle name for, is Jewish. Could you please tell us whether your forebears include Jews and, if so, at which point Jewish identity might have ended?"

Allen responded angrily and said "that he was raised Christian." (WaPo)

The next day Allen released a statement denouncing the TV reporter who asked the question, and belatedly claiming to be proud to have recently discovered that his mother's father was part of a well-known Jewish family.

The recent discovery he refers to probably surfaced as a result of the Macaca flap. The Jewish periodical The Forward reported in "Alleged Slur Casts Spotlight on Senator's (Jewish?) Roots" that in all likelihood, Allen's mother Etty Allen, nee Henrietta Lumbroso, was Jewish "from the august Sephardic Jewish Lumbroso family", and that therefore by Jewish tradition of matrilineal descent, Allen himself would be considered Jewish.

So......it appears the "Macaca"cowboy boot-wearing tobacco-chewing religious-right darlin' Allen will have to burn his Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC) card.

The CCC.... one of the largest white supremacist groups, designated as a hate group by the Southern Povertyy Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League.... is descended from the segregationist White Citizens' Councils of the Jim Crow-era South.

A constant theme of the CCC since the days of the White Citizens Councils has been the danger of race mixing.... "God is the author of racism," according to a story on their Web site in 2001... "God is the One who divided mankind into different types.... Mixing the races is rebelliousness against God."

At a 1996 Conservative Political Action Conference attended by then Gov. Allen and CCC leaders, Allen suggested that the group join together for a photograph. The Nation obtained and published the resulting snapshot, which had been printed in the CCC Citizens Informer newsletter.

Here is the photo of George Felix Allen, Fred C. Jennings, Gordon Lee Baum, Tom Dover and Charlton Heston at CPAC in 1996.

"Welcome to the real world of Virginia".... and say good night, George.