I'm going to state up front that I don't have a preference in the Jim Webb-Harris Miller primary. And I think highly of Mark Warner ('08 is a separate issue).
What I want to know is: why are Webb and Warner being soft on George Allen's confederate-sympathizing? Why is Miller the only one pointing that George Allen has race "issues?"
Here's why I ask.
The Richmond (Va) Times-Dispatch published a story today on the New Republic profile of George Allen including responses from the Miller Campaign, the Webb campaign, and former Governor Warner (oddly enough, nothing from Kaine).
Here's what Miller had to say:
Harris Miller, one of two Democrats seeking the nomination to run against Allen, said yesterday that he found Allen's explanation "pretty disingenuous" considering that while he held state office, he had "a troubling record on minority issues."
Miller cited Allen's issuance while governor of a "highly divisive" Confederate history and heritage month proclamation and his vote, while a member of the House of Delegates, against a Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
"We need leaders who will celebrate all that we have in common rather than things that divide us," Miller said.
..and Webb:
Kristian Denny Todd, press secretary for James Webb, the other Democrat seeking the Senate race nomination, said Webb thought the New Republic article "hit below the belt." She said Webb wants a "campaign about issues, not one filled with personal attacks."
...and Warner:
Former Gov. Mark R. Warner, a Democrat who like Allen is exploring a possible presidential bid, was in San Francisco yesterday. He had no comment, a Warner spokesman said.
Miller, at least, has enough of a conscience to be bothered by the revelations of Allen's past behavior. Inexplicably, Webb opts to attack TNR, and whitewash the substance of the TNR article as a "personal attack." As someone who takes civil rights issues seriously, I find that characterization of the issue a fairly offensive trivialization. Warner, obviously scared of alienating the sizable New Hampshire pro-Confederate primary vote in 2008, opted to chicken-out of the discussion.
Sigh.