This Week In Race Relations

If ever there was an example of why putting the civil rights of others to the test of a vote is a bad idea, here goes.  From Public Policy Polling.  The emphasis is mine:

46% of these hardcore Republican voters believe interracial marriage should be illegal, while 40% think it should be legal.  With Barbour included, Huckabee gets more support (22%) from the former than the latter (15%), as does Palin (13-6).  The support for Bachmann (10-2), Gingrich (13-8), and Pawlenty (4-1) works the opposite way.

It's worth the time to take a read through the entire press release. Lots of interesting tidbits of information.

And then there's the open Senate seat race in Virginia, where George Allen is aiming for a comeback.

Virginia Senate candidate George Allen (R) apologized Wednesday to an African-American reporter for asking him, “What position did you play?” in an incident that evoked his infamous “macaca” gaffe.

Democrats seized on the apology. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee blasted out the story in an email with the subject line “Awkward George Allen apology — the first of many.”

The incident renewed debate over whether Allen has learned his lesson since making a costly racial remark during his failed 2006 Senate campaign.

Allen, you will remember lost his seat five years ago to now-Sen Jim Webb, after using the racial slur "macaca" to describe a volunteer in his opponent's campaign, and then claiming he did not know it was a degrading term.  This week, Craig Melvin, an African-American correspondent for the NBC affiliate in Washington, DC tweeted that George Allen asked him "what position did you play?' -- as in sports, for the 2nd time in five months.  His response was precious:

In an effort to show his comment was not intended to be malicious, Dan Allen, a senior adviser to George Allen, pointed out that a white news anchor from Richmond, Va., also tweeted that Allen has frequently asked him what position he plays in sports.

“He learned early on that engaging in sports banter is a good way to connect with people,” the adviser said of the candidate, who is the son of former Washington Redskins coach George H. Allen. “He doesn’t single out any single person.”

In reality this incident says just as much about George Allen's insensitivity to racial concerns, as it does to the type of politician he is.  The idea that reporters are people you need to "connect to" is infuriating.  They are nothing more than people who collect and disseminate information -- in this case about a Senate candidate -- through the process of asking questions.  

Enough with the good-ole-boy schtick.  How about just answering the questions, please, Mr. Allen?