Debates always have the potential to make news. No matter how prepared a candidate might be, there’s always the chance for an unscripted moment to produce a surprise. Yesterday’s event in McLean proved that point. Dana Milbank’s column, "The Senator's Gentile Rebuke," in the Washington Post documents the new oddball twist in Virginia’s senatorial race:
“At a debate in Tysons Corner yesterday between Republican Allen and Democrat Webb, WUSA-TV’s Peggy Fox asked Allen, the tobacco-chewing, cowboy-boot-wearing son of a pro football coach, if his Tunisian-born mother has Jewish blood.
“‘It has been reported,’ said Fox, that ‘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?’
“Allen recoiled as if he had been struck...”
It seems nobody ever thought much about Allen’s Tunisian-born mother’s background until the Macaca Gaffe brought it into focus. Some wondered if he learned that word from her, since it is apparently used in that part of the world as a racist putdown, etc. Now who knows where this is going?
No doubt, much will be made of Allen’s angry reaction in the next few days.
Since 1985, in various formats, SLANT -- an independent voice based in Richmond's Fan District -- has offered its readers original commentary on politics and popular culture, including cartoons and selected sundries. Warning: Sometimes that means satirical content. All rights are reserved.
3 comments:
I was at the debate. Allen was justified at getting angry, many of us were either angry or disappointed in Fox's questioning.
When Fox asked Webb a question with the "horny" statement, many of us also hissed. One may argue why we did not boo like the previous question. Simple answer, many of us were just shocked that Fox would continue to ask these outlandish questions. We were all just shaking our heads. She was terrible and no one wanted to speak with her after the debate.
If Webb got angry with Fox, I would have been thrilled. It is hard enough to try and get good people to run for office, so Fox's questioning makes it all the more difficult. Plotkin and Shapiro were simply outstanding, btw.
What many commentators have missed is that Allen has opened the door to another, much more damaging line of questioning. Allen is trying to make an issue of Webb's past treatment of women in the military and even his current treatment.
Is this really a door Allen wants to open? The issue of who is more of a gentleman towards women? Because to me, this makes Allen's history of spousal abuse and wife beating fair game. It's an open secret he beat his first wife on a regular basis, sending her to the emergency room and battered women's shelter in Charlottesville on more than one occasion. Don't believe me? Go to Charlottesville and ask around.
George Allen should be asked to unseal his divorce records. He made this an issue: he attacked Jim Webb for not being a gentleman. The time has come for George Allen to face the consequences of his own actions.
ghost,
That sort of inflammatory charge is something that ought to be made by someone willing to post their name over it. If you want to post here again stand behind your words by saying who you are.
Or, maybe you should get your own blog.
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