Bloodless Coup

I despise Allen, but there's a question that the left-blogosphere isn't asking here: why the FUCK was he asked, by the MODERATOR no less, whether his grandfather or great-grandfather or whatever was Jewish? Why the FUCK is this a campaign issue?

Hey I think the question is weird too. My best guess is that it's a simple biographical/factual matter that Allen or his campaign had given conflicting responses to, and the question was aimed at clearing that up.

And it as to why ask about any identity or his identity with that - maybe there was an interest in following up with another question tied to Allen's Christianity (a personal affiliation he's more than happy to talk about), or how that affects his interest in protecting oppressed Iraqis ...

Or maybe it was just a random personal thing, a la the revelations that were made about Secretary Albright.

But regardless of why she was asking (and yeah, I was surprised by the question to), I still find his response pretty troubling.

Allen's challenger apparently has a history of pushing The Jewish Question, which is... interesting.

Dana Milbank has a follow-up on this in his Washington Sketch on washingtonpost.com. It seems that the questioner was (supposedly) simply curious about his heritage and seemed to want to pursue a sort of Today Show/US Weekly line (the personal story of ...). Allen seems to have been in a generally annoyed and jumpy (sometimes angry) mood throughout the debate (not just on that question). And ... I don't know. I still find it very odd that he'll publicly talk about his grandfather being arrested by the Nazis, but not the issue of WHY his grandfather was arrested by the Nazis. It still strikes me that he's got some not so pretty personal issues - but that will come as a surprise to no one.

I posted a comment earlier with links to reports that Allen's challenger has a history of asking/suggesting that opponents are Jewish, but your spamtrap seems to have eaten it and I don't have time to re-dig-up the links. Later, maybe.

I just haven't had time today to go through the spam trapper...

And now Allen is "embracing" his newly-discovered Jewish roots. Man, this guy just gets funnier and funnier.

Presuming by funnier and funnier you mean odder and odder ... I always wanted him to lose but now I'm REALLY hoping that. This guy is just seriously creeping me out.

Milbank offers a recap and a tiny bit of perspective today.

And no, I meant "funnier" as in funnier. You think he's getting all discombobulated now, wait until he attempts to run for president.