[Robert A Cook PE]

My opinion?

the (liberal) news reporter had been told that if Allen was "exposed" as having Jewish ancestry, then (1) his CHRISTIAN supporters would reject him (since "everybody" knows white religious "Christians" are hate-filled extremists!) and that the (democrat) supporters of his opponent (Muslims and blacks) would more greatly oppose him.

[reg45]

Funny! Having Jewish ancestors didn't hurt Barry Goldwater among conservative voters.

[Coldwater Creek]

Now! if Allen's mother had been Arab/Muslim, I would have to give him a second thought!

[Gone GF]

"the (liberal) news reporter had been told that if Allen was "exposed" as having Jewish ancestry, then (1) his CHRISTIAN supporters would reject him "

Makes no sense at all. It's very well known that evangelical Christians are among the biggest supporters of Israel. Why would anybody think that learning Allen has Jewish heritage turn them off?

[poinq]

Exactly, democrats feel that Republicans are all racists and therefore we would not vote for a man with Jewish blood.

She also worded her question to offend Jews as well. "When did the Jewish identity end". That was to offend any Jews that might vote for Allen because he was Jewish.

Clearly this women and the Post want to let us all infer that Allen is a fake Christian pretender who is shunning his Jewish past.

[GraceCoolidge]

I think you are right. You may recall that when the "macaca" story came out, there was an interview with the Webb staffer who was the subject of the comment. He made some ridiculous statement that he felt Senator Allen was trying to "incite the crowd" or something like that, by referring to his ethnicity. Someone (NRO, maybe) had a good commentary on it. All I recall is that it was a woman writer.

It seemed to be the opinion of this Webb staffer that all Senator Allen had to do was say, "Look, an immigrant! He's not white!" and the crowd would turn as one and attack. It was particularly hypocritical since in other stories, the Webb staffer made a big deal about how he had family in the area, and he stayed with someone there the previous night. His attitude seemed to be a real both sides of the fence one: I'm actually a local, so the Republicans are stupid and narrow minded-- these are my friends and neighbors, too, but they are red neck hate mongering ones.

Someone on FR had either a tagline or posted a comment that I just loved. It was to the effect that everything liberals "know" about conservatives, they learned from watching Archie Bunker.