Tomorrow Belongs to Them?

Did you ever imagine that a question like this would be asked by a mainstream reporter in 21st Century America?

Following the “macaca” episode, the Jewish press published stories that appeared on the Internet that explored your possible Jewish ancestry on your mother’s side. You’ve been quoted as saying that your mother is not Jewish, but it has been reported that her father, your grandfather, Felix whom you were given your middle name for, was Jewish. Could you please tell us whether your forebears include Jews and if so at which point Jewish identity might have ended?

To its credit, the audience booed this intrusion of the Nuremberg Principle into an American political campaign. The questionee, Senator George Allen (R–Va.), reacted angrily, as well he might.

It soon emerged that this attention to the religion of Senator Allen’s forebears has been vigorously promoted on left-wing Web sites by his opponent’s staff. Those same sites, and his opponent’s press releases, routinely refer to him as “George Felix Allen”. Stressing the Jewish-sounding elements in a target’s name is an old-time antisemitic ploy. It was, for instance, a common practice of the vile and now happily departed “Liberty Lobby”.

Since berating people for having “Jewish blood” isn’t regarded by most Americans as, er, kosher, there is a cover story. Supposedly, Senator Allen’s failure to make a big deal about his ethnic heritage shows that he is an antisemite. That “explanation” doesn’t pass the giggle test. Nobody outside the Allen family has any reason to care about the Allen family tree, and the Senator would look quite silly if he were to start proclaiming that Virginians should elect him to the Senate in homage to his grandfather Felix.

No, I think that, when a candidate’s operatives go to a pit of anti-Jewish venom like Daily Kos and shout “Jew! Jew! Jew!”, they probably know exactly what they are doing. It is taken for granted among the nutroots that the War on Terror is waged by Jewish neocons in the interests of Israel. What better way to “energize” that element of the Democratic Party’s base than to insinuate that Senator Allen is secretly one of the Tribe?

The Republican Party ostracized David Duke. What are the chances that the Democrats will so much as frown at James Webb?

Comments

[jrittenh]

(1) Last time I looked, Webb is hardly a racist. His wife is Vietnamese.

(2) "It is taken for granted among the nutroots that the War on Terror is waged by Jewish neocons in the interests of Israel. What better way to “energize” that element of the Democratic Party’s base than to insinuate that Senator Allen is secretly one of the Tribe?"

If you're referring to the Left, I'd say that the most common thing I've ever heard on this subject as to 'sinister motive' is where the neocons are pushing the war to either grab Iraq's oil, or, far more commonly, to push around tinpot dictators. There's a *very* few serious nutcases out there who do the Jewish World Conspiracy crap, but that's a very very small group.

IMHO, there's more 'git them Jewboy' sorts on the right. Same ones in the KKKish outfits that George Allen has been snugglebunnies with.

(3) The whole 'where did Goerge Allen come from' thing came up over the 'macaca' thing. Some smart people traced it back to 'kaffir/n-word/macacque/fuzzy-wuzzy' slang stuff that the colonials in Africa came up with to name 'the locals'. In this case, Allen's mom, who is a 'pied-noir' from Tunisia. I'm sure mom used that one more than once about those d'd schwarzers and so on. He didn't pick it up from nowhere.

And considering how close he's been with white racists, the question is - how do you deal with people who specifically are aware of their heritage, their ethnic roots, and not only reject it, but associate and promote the hatred of the ethnic roots that they come from?

If you buy that he had no idea until the other day that he was part Jewish, his mom not only suppressed her own background for over fifty years, but didn't stand up for it (at the very least) to her son. If he knew (which I'd bet) all along, then that indicates a level of self-loathing that I'd rather not think about.