A Washington Post Editorial addressing a recent gaffe by Virginia Senator George Allen, actually mis-characterizes the incident. The line "Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia" had nothing to do with anyone's race, or presumed country of origin. It followed directly on the heels of Allen lambasting opponent Webb for being off with the Hollywood elite. It was that contrast Allen was attempting to draw as you can see here.
The idea that holding up minorities to public scorn in front of an all-white crowd will elicit chortles and guffaws? (It did.) The idea that a candidate for public office can say "Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia!" to an American of Indian descent and really mean nothing offensive by it?
Obviously, Allen meant nothing offensive as regards the man's apparent Indian heritage in the sense the Post implies with his "Welcome to America" comment.
Also, if an individual takes on the task of dogging a political campaign with a video camera for the opposition, being held up to scorn doesn't sound like such a bad thing to me. Perhaps the Webb campaign is taking a page from NBC's Dateline. The show felt the need to send Muslims to NASCAR races in attempts to draw camera worthy responses from the mostly white crowd.
Tim Graham has more, focusing on Post's racial double standard for Republicans.
