[color="Red"]Kike Lowell Feld (far left) on Clark and Allen:

http://sixers.nationalreview.com/post/?q=OTdiMjFmMGMyM2M1NWNlMjUwMmEwOTMyNjZhMjBlN2Y=

Like George Allen at yesterday's debate, Wesley Kanne Clark, who I strongly supported for President in 2003 and early 2004, has also been aksed about his Jewish heritage. Did Clark react furiously, as George Allen did yesterday, to simply being asked if he had Jewish ancestry? To use the language George Allen's Tunisian grandparents spoke, "au contraire!" In fact, Clark expressed tremendous pride in his Jewish past. From the Baltimore Jewish Times (9/18/03), here's a bit of background:

lowkell's diary :: ::
Raised a Southern Baptist who later converted to Roman Catholicism, Gen. Wesley Clark knew just what to say when he strode into a Brooklyn yeshiva in 1999, ostensibly to discuss his leadership of NATO's victory in Yugoslavia.
[color="red"]"I feel a tremendous amount in common with you," the uniformed four-star general told the stunned roomful of students. [color="Red"]"I am the oldest son, of the oldest son, of the oldest son — at least five generations, and they were all rabbis."

The incident could be a signal of how Clark, who became the 10th contender in the Democratic run for the presidency on Wednesday, relates to the Jews and the issues dear to them.

[color="red"]Apparently Clark, 58, revels in his Jewish roots.[/B]

Clark later elaborated on this subject, telling the Jewish Week in New York that his [color="red"]"ancestors were not just Jews, but members of the priestly caste of Kohens."
That's right, Clark "revels in his Jewish roots." And why wouldn't he? This is a proud culture and a proud heritage. As my own Jewish grandmother might say, "so, what's not to like?"

Which raises the question, why is George Felix Allen so ANGRY about this subject (and so many other subjects)? Because that's the real issue here; not the reporter's question, which was at worst a bit out of place, but George Allen's angry, almost violent reaction TO the question.

And, while we're on the subject, why would George Allen, as Dana Milbank writes in today's Washington Post, "[recoil] as if he had been struck" by a simple question about "whether your forebears include Jews?" Why would he say that the reporter's question was "making aspersions about people because of their religious beliefs?" What in the reporter's question did that? I'm Jewish myself, and very sensitive to anti-Semitism, and I heard NOTHING anti-Semitic in there.

Also, getting back to Allen's almost violent reaction to the question, why would George Allen "furiously" attack the female reporter, in front of hundreds of his supporters no less (encouraging them to jeer and boo her), for simply asking him about his heritage?(His jew DNA maybe?) What in that question would prompt George Allen to react in such a way as to leave the female reporter "frightened" and "shocked" that Allen would "get so angry at the suggestion there might be something in [his] background that's Jewish?"

In other words, as much as Allen supporters try to make this all about the oh-so-mean woman reporter and her horrible, crazy question, this isn't about her at all. Peggy Fox isn't running for U.S. Senate. George Allen is. So, whether you liked that question or not (personally, I didn't see it anything to get angry about; it's like asking Jim Webb about his Scots-Irish ancestry or any of us about our ancestors), this is all about George Allen - why he gets so angry so often, why he is so prone to attacking those he sees as weak and/or threatening, etc.

As another famous Jew, Sigmund Freud, might have said in this situation, George Allen appears to have some deep-seated "issues" regarding his Jewish heritage - and regarding many other things as well. In general, Allen has a well-documented nasty/violent streak, as exemplified in the past by his abusive behavior towards his sister (see her book, Fifth Quarter, for how George dragged her upstairs by the hair and held her, terrified, over Niagara Falls).

Aside from Allen's abusive treatment of his sister (as reported by her in her book), there are numerous additional, documented examples of Allen's nasty, snarling side. For instance, there's Allen's infamous "enjoy knocking their soft teeth down their whining throats" line about "liberals." There's even an incident in which Allen taunted a man - a Republican, no less - for being a "sissy" because he was wearing a bicycle helmet! Finally, in the most infamous incident of all, Allen just a few weeks ago attacked a young, South Asian American man from Fairfax, Virginia - S.R. Sidarth - in front of an all-white, all-Republican crowd. Like the female reporter at yesterday's debate, Sidarth reported being "shocked" at Allen's behavior, and at being called "macaca," a common racial slur in the French Tunisia of Allen's mother.

So here's the takeaway message out of all this: George Allen has a nasty, sadistic, vicious, violent streak that flares up all-too-frequently. Over and over again, George Allen has shown himself to be a bully towards women, towards minorities, towards men who wear bicycle helmets, and now towards a female reporter who dares ask him about HIS OWN HERITAGE!

Perhaps George Allen could take a lesson from Wesley Clark, a man who is PROUD of his Jewish heritage and not afraid - or ashamed - to talk about it? Or perhaps George Allen should, after he is defeated on November 7, start the long process of self discovery and personal reflection originally invented by Sigmund Freud?

Lowell Feld is Netroots Coordinator for the Jim Webb for US Senate Campaign. The ideas expressed here belong to Lowell Feld alone, and do not necessarily represent those of Jim Webb, his advisors, staff, or supporters.