On the October 5 edition of CNN's The Situation Room, host Wolf Blitzer repeatedly pressed Virginia Democratic Senate candidate James Webb about a 1979 article, in which he wrote that a Naval Academy* residence hall is a “horny woman's dream.” Blitzer's October 5 interview stands in stark contrast with his interview with Webb's opponent, incumbent Sen. George Allen (R), on the September 21 edition of The Situation Room. During that interview, Blitzer asked Allen about the revelation that his mother had Jewish roots but did not ask Allen about his response to a question from a reporter about his mother's heritage; in his reply, Allen stated that people should “not mak[e] aspersions about people because of their religious beliefs.” Blitzer also failed to press Allen on his evolving explanations for addressing a Webb campaign volunteer as “Macaca.”

Blitzer interviews Allen

Blitzer began his interview with Allen by showing Allen's exchange with WUSA 9 reporter Peggy Fox at a September 18 debate, during which Fox asked Allen, “Could you please tell us whether your forebearers include Jews, and if so, at which point Jewish identity might have ended?” The clip shown on The Situation Room ended with Allen saying “Oh, that's all? That's just all?” However, at the debate, Allen continued:

ALLEN: We need -- we need to get this country together. And I respect your right to ask questions. But let's ask questions about issues that really matter to people here, in Virginia, such as how we're going to bring this country together, make us more secure, a land of opportunity. And I'll tell you one other thing, preserve our foundational values, and one of those values is freedom of religion and not making aspersions about people because of their religious beliefs.

Prior to the Blitzer interview, other media figures had taken note of Allen's phrase “making aspersions.” When an editing decision similar to CNN's was made on the September 20 edition of MSNBC's Tucker, The New Republic White House correspondent Ryan Lizza stated: “The part we did not play in that clip there, [host] Tucker [Carlson], is where he accuses the reporter of casting aspersions on his mother. And, to a lot of people, the suggestion was, well, there is something -- it -- Allen interpreted the question as -- as something wrong with being Jewish.” A September 20 Washington Post article quoted J. J. Goldberg, editor in chief of the Jewish weekly newspaper The Forward, as saying of Allen's comment: “He was visibly uncomfortable and called it an 'aspersion' ... What is it that makes him so uncomfortable with it? It raises more questions about who the guy is.” A September 21 editorial in the Daily Press of Newport, Virginia, asked: " 'Aspersions'? There's something wrong with possibly having a Jewish grandfather?"

Moreover, Allen's comment differs from the explanation he gave during his interview on The Situation Room of what upset him about the question. Allen told Blitzer: “I was thinking as a son, and I wanted to protect my mother and her wishes and the promise I made to her” not to talk about her heritage. Later, when talking about what he called Allen's “irritation,” Blitzer referred to the promise, saying “we didn't know what was going on at the time” but never questioned him about why he had called the question an “aspersion[].”

During the interview, Blitzer spent nearly a full minute discussing Allen's mother's family, the Lumbrosos, as a “very distinguished ancestry.” Blitzer said they were “the leadership” of “a very, very impressive Jewish community” in Tunisia and added that “if you speak with Jews from Tunisia and they hear the name Lumbroso, that's sort of like speaking to Jews from France and they hear the name Rothschild. I mean, it's a prominent Jewish name.” Blitzer also referred to Allen's father, football coach George Allen Sr., as “the former great football coach,” adding: “All of us loved him, especially those of us who were Redskins fans.”

Blitzer asked Allen about the campaign stop in which Allen was caught on video addressing Webb campaign volunteer S.R. Sidarth as “Macaca” and telling him, “Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia.” Macaca is a genus of monkey and is also reportedly used as a slur in Europe and North Africa against people of African descent; Sidarth is of Indian descent, but he was reportedly born and raised in Virginia. Blitzer asked: "[W]here did you find that word?" Allen replied, “I made it up.” Blitzer then noted that “in French, especially in Northern Africa, it's a derogatory term for dark-skinned people.” But Blitzer did not note that Allen has used many different explanations for his use of the word “macaca,” as Media Matters for America has documented.

Additionally, during this segment of the interview, onscreen text read: “Allen Apologized for Calling Indian-American Man Macaca.” Though Allen has indeed repeatedly apologized, his campaign manager, Dick Wadhams, wrote an August 19 memo in which he accused “the Webb campaign and the news media” of "[l]iterally putting words into Senator Allen's mouth that he did not say (by speculating, defining and attributing meanings and motives that simply are not true)."

Blitzer teased the Allen interview as “a very personal struggle.” At the end of the interview, Blitzer stated, “I know this has been painful ... for you -- difficult for you.”

Blitzer interviews Webb

Blitzer began his interview with Webb by addressing some of the same topics he failed to adequately examine in his interview with Allen, stating: “Now, everybody knows about George Allen's missteps: the 'macaca' comment, the reaction when a reporter asked him whether he had Jewish roots, allegations that he used to use racial slurs.” Blitzer then said: “But there have been accusations about you as well, including an article you wrote in the Washingtonian ... suggesting the only women who might want to join the U.S. Navy would be 'horny women.' ” After Webb disagreed with Blitzer's characterization of the 1979 article, Blitzer again asked: “So, you regret the use of words that you wrote, that one of the halls [at] the Naval Academy is a 'horny woman's dream?' ” After Webb responded that “I've expressed my apology for language that I used back then,” but also noted that “I opened up ... more operational billets to women than any secretary of Navy in history,” Blitzer followed up by asking: “Your current position on women serving in combat units is what? Because it's still a little murky as far as what I understand.”

However, while reporting on an Allen campaign advertisement highlighting Webb's article “against women serving in combat” on the September 28 edition of The Situation Room, Blitzer himself had noted that “Webb says he no longer holds that view about women in the military.” Moreover, Blitzer did not report Allen's stated position on women serving in combat nor did he ask Allen about the issue during his September 21 interview. As Media Matters documented, Allen's stated opposition to women serving in combat was documented in 2000.

During Blitzer's interview with Webb, onscreen text read: “Campaign Mistakes.” While Allen made his “macaca” and “aspersions” comments during the current campaign, Webb's article was written in 1979.

The Webb interview lasted 7 minutes and 50 seconds, including the lead-in. The Allen interview lasted nearly twice as long -- 15 minutes, 31 seconds -- including lead-ins.

From the September 21 edition of CNN's The Situation Room:

BLITZER: And Senator George Allen, opening up for the very first time about the heritage his family kept secret for decades. Why did he wait to tell all until now? The Virginia Republican gets emotional about his Jewish roots and a very personal struggle. He's here in The Situation Room.

[...]

BLITZER: All right, Senator.

At that point, Monday, you knew by then your mother was, in fact, Jewish.

ALLEN: I knew that my mother's parents were Jewish. She was born into a Jewish family.

When she was a kid, she had converted and was confirmed in the Anglican Church. What bothered me at that time was that -- the way the question was answered, is that somebody's rights might be enhanced, nor diminished on account of religious beliefs. And I have always felt very strongly about freedom of religion. And I do feel it's the first pillar of a free and just society.

And I knew what she was getting at, also. And my mother -- I asked my mother about this late -- late in August. There was some article in -- I believe it was called the Forward.

BLITZER: A Jewish publication in New York, the Forward --

ALLEN: Right.

BLITZER: -- published a short article --

ALLEN: Right.

BLITZER: -- saying that you had Jewish ancestry.

ALLEN: Right. And it talked about how somebody -- that they were in Portugal and then went to “Livornia,” or someplace like that.

And I always knew my mother was Italian and French and a little Spanish. And so, I was with my mother across the table. And I asked her. I said, “You know, there's these rumors flying around here that you're Jewish or, you know, Jewish bloodlines and so forth.” And I asked her, “Is this -- is there anything to this?”

And I saw the -- her reaction. And she said, “Yes, there are.”

And I said, “Well, why didn't you ever tell?”

“I didn't want to tell you. Do you love me? You won't love me as much.”

And I said, “Oh, Ma, why would that make -- I love you even more. I respect you even more.”

When I heard of why she had hid this, for fear of retribution, of stigma, and how that would harm not just her, but my father and her children -- she was protecting her children.

And I said, “Well, Ma, this just doesn't matter. You know, the Nazis are gone. And it just doesn't matter.”

And she says -- especially when she said, “Does this make you love me any less?”

And I just -- no, I loved her more.

And I said, “Well, this -- let's just stop. You know, this -- there's no reason to carry on with this.”

She -- so, she said, “Please, please, you cannot tell anyone. Tell no one. No one. ”

BLITZER: Why was she -- why was she still so --

ALLEN: And I said, “Well, I got to tell -- does Bruce know this? Does -- do my other brothers and sisters?”

No. And she said, “Don't tell.”

“I promise.”

“You promise? You can't tell anybody?”

And I said, “Ma, it doesn't matter.”

And, so, when you get to this, it's a question, you know, what's more important, a question -- a political question from a reporter, or your mother? And my answer was defending my mother, and, as a son, protecting your mother, and knowing how much this still meant to her. And --

BLITZER: Did your father know, George Allen, the former great football coach? All of us loved him, especially those of us who were Redskins fans. Did he know the background of your mother and her family?

[...]

BLITZER: The ancestry is a very distinguished ancestry, the Lumbroso name. I don't know if you know this, but we did some research.

ALLEN: No. I'm learning a lot.

BLITZER: We did some research in the Jewish Encyclopedia. Your mother was from Tunisia, originally.

ALLEN: Correct.

BLITZER: Northern Africa, a lot of Italian immigrants, French immigrants, they settled there. And Tunisia, at one point, had a very, very impressive Jewish community, and the leadership of the Jewish community was the Lumbroso family.

In fact, the prominent Tunisian Sephardic -- it was a prominent Tunisian Sephardic Jewish name. Isaac Lumbroso was the chief rabbi of Tunis in the 18th century. Baron Abram Lumbroso was the 19th century physician and scientist. And Baron Giacomo Lumbroso was the 19th and 20th century professor of history.

And if you speak with Jews from Tunisia and they hear the name Lumbroso, that's sort of like speaking to Jews from France and they hear the name Rothschild. I mean, it's a prominent Jewish name.

ALLEN: Can I have this?

BLITZER: Of course.

[...]

BLITZER: Some people, when they saw the clip from the debate on Monday, they saw your reaction, irritation, and we didn't know what was going on at the time -- came away and said, “Why is he so sensitive about maybe having some Jewish heritage? Is he embarrassed about that? Is he afraid that anti-Semites in Virginia might not vote for him if they think there's some Jewish -- some Jewish history there?” You understand why it caused that kind of reaction.

ALLEN: I don't know what all the reaction is for, whether political or other -- otherwise.

I know that the audience also thought it was inappropriate. But I'll tell you what I was thinking. I was thinking of my mother. I was thinking as a son, and I wanted to protect my mother and her wishes and the promise I made to her.

[...]

BLITZER: One final question, Senator, because I know you got to go. The word “macaca,” a lot of people -- I never heard of that word before. A lot of people are wondering, where did you find that word?

ALLEN: I made it up.

BLITZER: Because, in French, especially in Northern Africa, it's a derogatory term for dark-skinned people.

ALLEN: The word in French -- and my mother is, as you saw in The Washington Post article, looked it up, and there is no such word in the dictionary. It's “macaque.”

[...]

BLITZER: Senator, thanks very much. I know this has been painful you -- for you, difficult for you -- but --

ALLEN: Liberating in some respects, as well.

From the October 5 edition of CNN's The Situation Room:

BLITZER: And it's one of the closest and most contentious Senate showdowns in the nation. Will Republican incumbent George Allen's mistakes bring him down? I'll ask his Democratic challenger Jim Webb about Allen's stumbles and his own.

[...]

BLITZER: Now, everybody knows about George Allen's missteps: the “macaca” comment, the reaction when a reporter asked him whether he had Jewish roots, allegations that he used to use racial slurs. But there have been accusations about you as well, including an article you wrote in the Washingtonian magazine many years ago that was very negative as far as women in combat are concerned, suggesting the only women who might want to join the U.S. Navy would be “horny women.” Since then, you've backed away from that.

But explain to our viewers what your thinking was then and what your thinking is now about women in the U.S. military.

WEBB: Well, that's a total -- that's a total mischaracterization of the article. The article was about whether women should go into specific combat billets and who should decide. It was an article that was written 27 years ago, and there were some rhetorical excesses in the article. We were all sort of throwing bombs at each other back then. I have apologized for some of the rhetorical excess, but I think that the debate was an important debate and needed to happen.

And at the same time, when I was secretary of the Navy, I opened up more billets to women, operational billets, than any secretary in history. And we've had a very strong level of support from women calling into our campaign after they saw some of the negative stuff that was coming out of the Allen campaign.

BLITZER: So, you regret the use of words that you wrote, that one of the halls that the Naval Academy is a “horny woman's dream?”

WEBB: Yeah. I mean, OK, you've said that twice, and, you know, and I've expressed my apology for language that I used back then and, at the same time, I'm going to say it again. I opened up more combat -- or more operational billets to women than any secretary of Navy in history.

And if you look at my staff -- there's a term in the law that says, res ipsa loquitur -- “the thing speaks for itself.” My campaign manager is a woman. My deputy campaign manager is an African-American woman. Our director of media is a woman. Our deputy director is a woman. My finance director is a woman. And I think that as, again, I will say the thing speaks for itself.

BLITZER: Let me just make sure that I understand. Your current position on women serving in combat units is what? Because it's still a little murky as far as what I understand.

WEBB: What I have said is that I am totally comfortable with where the military is today. This was never an issue about whether women should serve in combat. It was whether they should serve in specific billets, such as the infantry and the artillery, and also who should decide. And the military has been deciding that.

[...]

BLITZER: James Webb is in a very, very tight race with George Allen. We'll be watching that in these final five weeks.

Thanks very much, Mr. Secretary, for coming in.

WEBB: OK. Thank you. Good to be with you.