Jew or Not a Jew

Some of you may remember the comedy bit on Saturday Night Live where contestants were asked whether a particular celebrity was Jewish or not. It was called "Jew or Not a Jew".

During the debate Monday between Sen. George Allen and James Webb, a TV news reporter named Peggy Scott decided to play "Jew or Not a Jew" and asked this question of Sen. Allen (h/t Powerline):

It has been reported 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 got mad, and rightfully so.

Allen recoiled as if he had been struck. His supporters in the audience booed and hissed. "To be getting into what religion my mother is, I don't think is relevant," Allen said, furiously. "Why is that relevant -- my religion, Jim's religion or the religious beliefs of anyone out there?"

"Honesty, that's all," questioner Fox answered, looking a bit frightened.

"Oh, that's just all? That's just all," the senator mocked, pressing his attack. He directed Fox to "ask questions about issues that really matter to people here in Virginia" and refrain from "making aspersions."

Since when does the presence of lack of Jewish identity have anything to do with qualifications to serve in the Senate? The question was clearly intended as race-baiting in a Southern state where some might have objections to a Jewish heritage.

The wacky left's anti-Semitism was on full display during the Israeli-Hezbo war, and has been introduced in the Virginia Senate race even before this debate. Some of the lefty websites have taken to calling Sen. Allen by his full name: George Felix Allen, in an effort to "out" him as a Jew. Fox's question was clearly intended to so the same.

The reporterette, meanwhile, feigns cluelessness (h/t LGF):

“I was shocked,” she said after the event. Disclosing that her great-grandfather was a Mormon polygamist, she added: “Why would he get so angry at the suggestion there might be something in your background that’s Jewish? I don’t think that’s a bad thing at all.”

Fox said her motive was curiosity. “I thought it was important to find out is this part of his heritage, because if it is nobody knows it. Do you deny part of your heritage for political reasons?”

This whole thing was probably a big plus for Allen. Webb's own netroots coordinator has made not-too-veiled anti-Semitic remarks about Allen, so Webb can't take a pass on this and just blame it on the reporter. After a lackluster debate performance on Sunday on "Meet the Press", this incident may have turned around whatever momentum Webb got from Sunday's debate.

That momentum shift is suggested in this report from Political Wire:

Meanwhile, this latest twist in an increasingly bizarre Senate campaign spurred CQ Politics to change the rating on the race to Leans Republican from Republican Favored.