Michael Scherer, writing in Salon, now quotes George Allen+óGé¼Gäós sister as saying that all those bad things she said about her brother in her book "Fifth Quarter" were made up. It may be noted that when she wrote the book she was in her upper thirties, married and with two children, not a child.
+óGé¼+ôOn Tuesday, Richard said she no longer stood by the memories she had included in her book. The New Republic, she said, had used anecdotes that were taken out of context and that may not even be accurate. "The book is a dramatization," she explained. The dentist quote, for instance, was meant to be humorous, not sadistic. "This is a 16-year-old boy," she said, describing her brother at the time. George never broke his brother's collarbone, she now says. "I have been corrected by my mom and my brother Greg." She also disavowed her account, on page 43 of the book, that her brother George held her over the railing at Niagara Falls, instilling in her a fear of heights. "I think in a childhood realm I would have thought that that happened," Richard explained. "But as an adult I can't see the logistics of that happening." "
Funny, the inside cover blurb says it's a "poignant memoir."
As to logistics. note that in the book she says her brother in high school "towered" over her 6 foot tall father; she was about eight years younger than her, as I recall.
Imagine what Oprah would do with this woman on the couch... it'd be a worse beating than she gave that fake drug addict guy.
More importantly, there's no way anyone reads about this and doesn't believe that Felix, Dick Wadhams, and the whole Swiftboat crowd would do anything from leaving a horsehead in her bed to threatening unneeded dental surgery to get her to recant.
The suspicion has always been racism, but the well-known fact has been bullying with a swagger and a smile. This only reinforces that perception.
"Is is fact or fiction, Mr. Allen?"
Are you a childhood bully grown up into a bigoted politician? Or just a bigoted politician with a penchant for bullying? Which one is it Mr. Senator...
BTW-since Allen always makes fun of Webb for being a wrtiter and an actor, where does he get off NOT blasting his AUTHOR sister and himself for being an actor in a movie? Idiot.