Who is George Allen? It might seem a strange question to ask. After all, he+óGé¼Gäós has been in public life for many years. Yet he seems to want to redesign his past. I will not dwell on the well known story of his unflagging, and many would say, unnatural, interest in the Confederacy. Why, though, does he persist in pretending that his upbringing was so perfectly +óGé¼+ôOzzie and Harriet+óGé¼-¥ All-American? This nagging question arose again when I read a version of Allen's "4F's" stump speech: "In our family, in a coach's family, there were four Fs, postulates of living, that mattered in the Allen household-- family, faith, freedom, and football." [Aside to Allen advisors: given the +óGé¼+ômilitary service+óGé¼-¥ deficit he must overcome in his race with Jim Webb, why are you using the phrase +óGé¼+ô4-F+óGé¼-¥? Doesn+óGé¼Gäót anyone on the Allen staff realize 4-F was the Selective Service designation for someone +óGé¼+ôfound not qualified for service in the Armed Forces . . . under the established physical, mental, or moral standards"?]
Faith and family +óGé¼GÇ£ what a curious self-description of his upbringing, given his sister Jennifer+óGé¼Gäós revelations in her autobiographical book +óGé¼+ôFifth Quarter.+óGé¼-¥ Faith? At pages 41-42 of "Fifth Quarter," Coach Allen, the father, says spontaneously: +óGé¼+ôHeck, you know what I+óGé¼Gäód like? I+óGé¼Gäód like us all to go to church someday, that+óGé¼Gäós what I+óGé¼Gäód like.+óGé¼-¥
+óGé¼+ôChurch?+óGé¼-¥ Allen+óGé¼Gäós mom said. The mother asked Jennifer, +óGé¼+ôDo you know why your father+óGé¼Gäós saying that?+óGé¼-¥ +óGé¼+ôI+óGé¼Gäóll tell you why. He+óGé¼Gäós afraid he might have been relaxing today. He+óGé¼Gäós afraid if he relaxes and doesn+óGé¼Gäót go to confession, the good Lord will not forgive him for enjoying himself for a goddamn change.+óGé¼-¥ Jennifer Allen reveals that her mother believed +óGé¼+ôgoing to church brought bad luck.+óGé¼-¥ Reportedly she relied heavily on superstitions, having +óGé¼+ômore faith in Arabic hand gestures to ward off evil than she did in the recitation of the Lord+óGé¼Gäós prayer."
Jennifer says she had only been to church only once, so when they actually did go her mother gave her +óGé¼+ôa continual play-by-play+óGé¼-¥:
The procession of the priest: "Here comes the hypocrite."
The collection plate: "Here come the vultures."
The forgiveness of sins: "Here comes the guilt."
Coach Allen enjoyed the mass and, unlike the rest of the family, took communion; he also liked listening to religious broadcasts because +óGé¼+ôit helped him with his locker-room sermons.+óGé¼-¥ But this does not sound like much of a +óGé¼+ôfaith+óGé¼-¥ family. Neither does one of George+óGé¼Gäós Jr.+óGé¼Gäós favorite pastimes, smashing neighborhood mailboxes. +óGé¼+ôGeorge would swerve his Mach II Mustang while [brother] Gregory held the baseball bat out the window to clear the mailbox off its post.+óGé¼-¥
As to +óGé¼+ôfamily,+óGé¼-¥ Jennifer paints a long, painful picture of a work-obsessed father that rarely saw his family. George Jr., our current Senator, was the main male at home, and physically fit the father role, at 17 towering over his six-foot tall father. As a replacement father, though, how George Jr. treated his +óGé¼+ôfamily+óGé¼-¥ seems out of bounds even for what I+óGé¼Gäód call typical dysfunctional families. Jennifer says that one night +óGé¼+ôGregory and Bruce tried to force me to eat by pulling a long carving knife out of the drawer and threatening to surgically insert food tubes directly into my stomach.+óGé¼-¥ She says they all obeyed George. +óGé¼+ôIf we didn+óGé¼Gäót, we knew he would kill us. Once, when Bruce refused to go to bed, George hurled him through a sliding glass door. Another time, when Gregory refused to go to bed, George tackled him and broke his collarbone. Another time, when I refused to go to bed, George dragged me up the stairs by my hair. George hoped someday to become a dentist. George said he saw dentistry as a perfect profession +óGé¼GÇ£ getting paid to make people suffer.+óGé¼-¥ The elder Allen, ex-coach of the Redskins, also was no stranger to intra-family violence, breaking his son Gregory+óGé¼Gäós nose after a depressing season-ending loss.
Jennifer wrote that +óGé¼+ô[e]ver since my brother George held me over the railing at Niagara Falls, I+óGé¼Gäóve had a fear of heights. +óGé¼+ôThe last time we all watched a game together, George beat up Bruce, Bruce beat up Gregory, and I bit my nails, and Mom screamed +óGé¼+ôStop, stop, stop!+óGé¼Gäó and held a knife above her head and threatened to kill herself if we didn+óGé¼Gäót stop fighting.+óGé¼-¥
When Jennifer brought a boyfriend home, +óGé¼+ôMy mother welcomed Flynn into our family by serving him mounds of spaghetti. My brother George welcomed him by slamming a pool cue against his head.+óGé¼-¥
Despite growing up in what was supposed to be a progressive era, in two progressive parts of the country (elite neighborhoods in suburban Los Angeles and Northern Virginia) Jennifer+óGé¼Gäós world was decidedly old century in terms of how women were treated. +óGé¼+ôMy world had clearly defined functions: girls fold jockstraps, serve dinner, clear the table.+óGé¼-¥ Her father died when George Jr. was a congressman, and she a fully grown adult, but while her brothers all spoke at their father+óGé¼Gäós funeral, she was not allowed to speak or help in the planning.
The family as a whole had an interesting set of +óGé¼+ôfamily+óGé¼-¥ behavioral values. George Jr. got into trouble for using the Redskins credit card to check out surfing reports long distance. Edward Bennett Williams, the Redskins owner, billed the Allens $14,847 for misuse of the Redskins credit card+óGé¼GÇ¥buying steaks for the family dogs, chartering a private jet to see Bruce punt, and making long-distance calls to Los Angeles.
When I decided to write this diary entry I thought of parodying Senator Allen+óGé¼Gäós 4F+óGé¼Gäós, saying that his GOP (not the GOP I used to be a member of) stands for FISCAL irresponsibility, FOREIGN POLICY disaster, FEMA-like incompetence across the board, and FEARMONGERING (flag burning, gay marriage, etc.). That+óGé¼Gäós perhaps a topic for a later date. What I think is important here is the following. Why is the Senator+óGé¼Gäós description of his family life so at odds with his sister+óGé¼Gäós? Is he stumping with a +óGé¼+ôfamily values+óGé¼-¥ portrait based on a huge lie? Is he violence prone? What is his perception of a woman+óGé¼Gäós value in this society?
Given the nature of politics, I am not sure we+óGé¼Gäóll ever know the answers to these questions. To me, George Allen seems to have a public mask that conceals something deeper.
But I'd be careful. 4-F was usually physically incapable -- you could qualify as such had you blown out your knee.
It does not carry the impact of having deliberately avoided service, unless you deliberately injured yourself.
Thank God Jim Webb did answer the call to serve. And thank Him again he's answered the call to lead now.
To quote Batman "It's not who I am, but what I do, that defines me." Jim Webb's service to our country has defined his life. George Allen's service to himself has defined his.
Let's get the word out and give the voters a clearly defined choice in November.
Secondly, George Felix uses religion too just like Bush who loves to claim to be "Born Again" because it makes it easy to wipe his slate clean for the years before he was forty--you know born again all sins forgiven, etc, etc. It's perfect for him, cause he was what his fundamentalist bretheren call a sinner between the ages of 20 and 40.
So I guess George Felix like his good friend Bush will continue to use Faith in his 4 F's speech to woo in his base.
Anyway bottom line, great stuff by PM about George Felix Allen's, ehhhh....well...we'll call them youthful mistakes, yeah that's the ticket, youthful mistakes.