THis morning we learned that his mother told him she was jewish last month, but begged him to keep it a secret.
Seems she lied about being jewish first so she could marry her husband, and then to protect the children from what her father went through (incarceration by the nazis).
Then she just was ashamed she was keeping a secret, but the "right time" never came to reveal it.
Now she's 83, reporters are prying into the story and finding things out, Allen still thought it was all a lie because his mother said it wasn't true.
She finally told him a few weeks ago, and begged him not to tell the rest of his family. She thought that they would all hate her for lying to them all these years.
THAT is why he was so upset, and answered the question the way he did -- he was trying to protect his mother's secret.
It failed, her secret is out, but on the other hand we now know that Allen was NOT ashamed of being jewish, we know why he just learned of it a month ago, and we know why he was so upset at the reporter.
Oh, His mother also cleared up the false charge that she taught Allen the "m-word". She said she had never heard it, and when it came up she looked it up in "her dictionary", and couldn't find it.
She couldn't come out and defend him, apparently, because she was afraid people would then ask her about her jewish background.
It turns out Allen could have saved his political bacon last month, by simply coming out with this story. It would have put m-gate to bed, changed the story to his jewish heritage and his grandfather's suffering, and proven he wasn't lying about it.
But he kept his mother's secret instead of going for political gain.
That is the story that will come out.
BTW, the Webb people have moved off this story like a hot rock, and now they are all upset that Dick Wadhams suggested their campaign has "anti-semitic overtones", to which they replied "hey, we are all jews over here".
You are the only one saying anything about a "yes or no" question. In Post 183, right above your Post 184, I quoted the exact wording of the question you quoted and even refered to Post 161 by CharlesWayneCT that explained the exchange in greater detail.
You seem to think that the reporter was simnply asking if his family was of Jewish heritage... that is clearly not what happened.
As more information comes out (See Post 185 to you by CharlesWayneCT) that the reporter was trying to find out if Allen was deliberately hiding his Jewish heritage. She suspected that Allen might be ashamed a having a Jewish grandfather and wanted to try to get Allen to deny his own Jewish grandfather.
Such a denial would embarrass Allen with Jewish voters and Allen fell for the trick hook, line and sinker.
When Allen threw in the admonition to refrain from "making aspersions", ( in 21st Century America, being called Jewish is NOT considered an "aspersion" ) and then went on to talk about how he ate pork chops, he gutted and scaled himself and threw himself on the political frying pan.
The wording of this question was straight out of the Nuremburg Laws. "...whether your forebears include Jews and, if so, at which point Jewish identity might have ended?" I'm sorry but if somebody were to asked me that i would be more than a little "taken aback."
The trouble is that Allen over-reacted to the question as if it did matter if he had a Jewish grandfather.
A Jewish grandfather?!? Don't you throw that aspersion at me!! Look!! I eat pork chops!
Which brings up your next comment......
It's telling that you side with the reporter who is attempting to "sniff out a Jew."
"Sniff out a Jew"?
I have no idea what enviornment you grew up in but, where I grew up, if somebody wanted to know if you were Jewish, it most likely meant that they wanted to know if your mother had a good recipe for Matzah Ball Soup or Blintzes or if your grandmother lived in the same condo at North Miami Beach as their grandmother.
This is the first time I have ever come across the phrase "Sniff out a Jew".
If this is just an innocent question why should Allen HAVE TO PROVE WHETHER OR NOT HIS FAMILY IS NO LONGER JEWISH???
Who, except Allen himself with his "aspersion" comment and his pork chop comments, implied that Allen had to prove whether or not his family is now Jewish?
With further information, it turns out that it was not an innocent question at all. The reporter wanted to give Allen the opportunity to deny his own Jewish grandfather in public..............and Allen did so.
The implication that Jewish heritage is undesirable is disgusting
Exactly.
Which is why Allen seriously damaged himself.
Allen denied his own Jewish grandfather, he labelled the question of whether he had a Jewish grandfather as "an aspersion" and then went on to brag about eating pork chops to leave no doubt that a Jewish heritage had absolutely nothing to do with him.
When given the opportunity to acknowledge his own Jewish grandfather in public, Allen, like Saint Peter, replied in effect, "Woman, I don't know him."