As readers of the Rebellion know, we avoid commenting upon electoral mud-slinging and the politics of personal destruction in favor of focusing on the issues. The particular issue that I want to address arises from the much-blogged flap over Sen. George Allen’s ethnic heritage. But I don’t give a hoot whether or not Allen’s grandfather was Jewish, and I’m not interested in dissecting the Senator’s reaction to what he perceived to be a hostile question from television reporter Peggy Fox. I am interested in an insinuation made by Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank:
Fox’s question, while a matter of some intrigue, seemed out of place in the debate, which focused on more urgent matters such as Iraq. But Allen turned on the questioner with ferocity. He may have been irked that the question was a follow-up to one noting that “macaca” was a racial slur that his mother may have learned in Tunisia. He may have been concerned that Jewish roots wouldn’t play well in parts of Virginia. (My italics.)
Now, that’s an interesting statement. What “parts of Virginia” could Milbank be talking about? Could he be referring to Allen’s culturally conservative, red-state constituency of blue-collar bubbas? Is he insinuating here that anti-semitism is a feature of the Virginia cultural landscape? Is not the undertext of that statement that “parts of Virginia” are prejudiced against Jews? Milbanks, it seems to me, may be engaging in some stereotyping of his own.
I wonder if Mr. Milbank would like to clarify his remarks.