Felix Blames Lies on Mère

George Allen continues to be his own worst enemy. You’ve probably heard by now that, at a debate on Monday, ol’ Felix lost it when a reporter asked if his mom was Jewish. If you’ve seen the clip (view it here), you know that the lady asked the question in about as ugly a way as possible, but that doesn’t fully explain Allen’s freak-out. After sputtering around about Thomas Jefferson and heritage he said that, as far as he knew, his mom was raised a Christian.

Then, a day after the debate (and after the damage he had done to his campaign was becoming apparent), Allen issued a flip-flop: he celebrated the Jewish ancestry on his mother’s side. To clear up the contradictions, the Washington Post interviewed his mom, and here’s what they found:

She said Allen asked her directly about his Jewish heritage when he was in Los Angeles for a fundraiser [in late August]. "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.

. . . Allen declined to comment, but his mother said she had sworn him to secrecy.

Two things. First, Felix was fundraising in Los Angeles? Mr. Virginia Values? They guy who constantly accuses his opponent of having Hollywood values? I was surprised by this, so I looked it up. Turns out Felix bends over for Hollywood money more than any other republican; way more -- and, surprise surprise, way more than Jim Webb does.

Second, even if we accept that Allen only recently learned about his mom’s religious heritage, somebody with the last name “Allen” is doing some serious lying. Let’s review: Hollywood Felix asks his mom about the Jewish thing in August after a romp for money with his Hollywood buddies, and then three weeks later in a debate, he states that as far as he knew, his mom was raised a Christian. This is a big fat lie. Not only did he know, he found out 3 weeks prior. His mom claims that she swore him to secrecy and told him not to tell his siblings. In other words, she told him to lie about it, and he agreed. Can ya feel the integrity?

The Jewish part of this story doesn’t matter to me. Maybe he’s ashamed of it, maybe he’s not. It’s a touchy and complex subject, and I guess I’m lucky not to have to deal with family religious mysteries myself (although I do wonder why my brother’s name is Schlomo). What matters is the lying; dude pinched out a big fat lie in a debate, a stupid lie that was bound to get found out. His excuse? His mommy told him to do it.

Maybe lying is a family value in the exclusive LA suburb in which Felix was raised, but it isn’t a Virginia family value. Neither is letting mom take the fall for our own mistakes. Go back to Hollywood, Felix.