Today's Washington Post explodes the myth that Senator George Allen hid his Jewish heritage from voters out of shame or fear of the reaction from Virginia voters. After a whispering campaign by Allen's political opponents regarding the religion of his grandfather Felix Lumbroso, whom the Nazis jailed in Tunis during the African campaign, Allen finally confronted his mother last month about the rumors, when she confirmed that she had been raised as a Jew in North Africa. Michael Shear went to the source, interviewing Etty Allen herself:

Henrietta "Etty" Allen said Wednesday that she concealed her upbringing as a Jew in North Africa from her children, including Sen. George Allen (R-Va.), until a conversation across the dining room table in late August.

She said Allen asked her directly about his Jewish heritage when he was in Los Angeles for a fundraiser. "We sat across the table and he said, 'Mom, there's a rumor that Pop-pop and Mom-mom were Jewish and so were you,' " she recalled, a day after Allen issued a statement acknowledging and embracing his Jewish roots as he campaigns for a second term in the U.S. Senate.

At the table in Palos Verdes, Calif., Allen's mother, who is 83, said she told her son the truth: That she had been raised as a Jew in Tunisia before moving to the United States. She said that she and the senator's father, famed former Redskins coach George Allen, had wanted to protect their children from living with the fear that she had experienced during World War II. Her father, Felix Lumbroso, was imprisoned by the Nazis during the German occupation of Tunis.

"What they put my father through. I always was fearful," Etty Allen said in a telephone interview. "I didn't want my children to have to go through that fear all the time. When I told Georgie, I said, 'Now you don't love me anymore.' He said, 'Mom, I respect you more than ever.' "

Not only did Etty Allen keep it a secret from the entire family, excepting only her husband (legendary football coach George Allen), she begged her son to keep the secret even after she told him. Etty told Shear that she insisted that Allen not tell his brothers and sisters, not even his wife, about her heritage. She told Shear that the hysterics surrounding her heritage in the last few days justifies her decision to keep her heritage a private affair.

It's difficult to disagree with Etty. One would presume that since she's not running for office, her philosophies and religion have nothing to do with the upcoming election for Virginia's Senate seat. In fact, most of us would say that Allen's religion would have nothing to do with his election, either. However, a growing collection of prurient busybodies forced Etty to go public as if she were some kind of criminal, against her will and embarrassing her children who had to find this out in the press and through gossip.

Some could blame Etty for keeping it secret from her family for so long. My grandfather was Jewish and it was no problem at all for my mother's family, and I've always treasured that part of my heritage -- but then again, I wasn't a child in Tunis watching my father getting dragged off by Nazis for his faith. Nor did I live in a post-war America that often marginalized Jews and kept them from social acceptance, apparently still an impulse in some political circles.

Regardless, Etty made the decision to keep that history between her and her husband, and since it really was nobody else's business outside of the family, that's where that information should have remained. Only the most bigoted of people could have imagined that her Jewish heritage would have any affect on national policy decisions confronting the next three sessions of Congress. All the ex post facto rationalizations in the world cannot justify the ridiculous inquisition that Allen has experienced over the last week about not his faith, but that of his mother. It should shame everyone associated with this attack on Allen's family, which has no precedent in the last thirty years in which I've followed politics.

It won't, of course. I'm sure that the comments thread to this post will fill with more rationalizations questiuoning Allen's honesty and forthrightness, but none of them will answer the question of what Etty Allen's faith history has to do with the policy decisions of the next three Congresses.

UPDATE: Jon Henke, Allen's New Media coordinator, notes some of the anti-Semitic slurs thrown at Allen recently.

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