We mentioned it briefly in the Morning Roundup, but considering he’s been such a controversial figure in the region’s upcoming election campaign season, George Allen’s recent about-face on whether being called Jewish is an “aspersion” or a point of pride seems worth taking a closer look at. From today’s WaPo:

But people close to Allen have been reluctant to discuss his grandfather’s religion in the past. Asked about it several weeks ago, campaign advisers either said they did not know or refused to comment. They also refused to ask Allen about it, saying at the time that it was not relevant to his job.

Yesterday, Wadhams accused Webb’s campaign and liberal bloggers of anti-Semitism for raising the issue of the senator’s religious background.

Bloggers, some of whom are on Webb’s staff, spent yesterday writing furiously about the debate question and Allen’s answer. “What does Allen have against Jews?” one headline read on a national liberal blog.

“Introducing religion at all into the debate was inappropriate. It makes no difference what anybody’s religion is,” Wadhams said.

Jason Zengerle over at The Plank quips that Allen’s quick deployment of anti-semitism charges means he’ll “now half-expect (to) be seeing Allen at Rosh Hashanah services on Saturday.” We’re not so sure about that, but we are fairly amazed that any one political campaign could produce more than one “macaca” moment. Perhaps this second kerfuffle would never have happened were it not for the first, but you’d think a seasoned politician like Allen might have tried to handle an issue like this a little more carefully after accusations of racism caused him to plunge in the polls. Could this be the final “aspersion” in his campaign’s coffin?