Welcome to the new age of YouTube politics ...

So, the James Webb Senate campaign in Virginia sends a 20-year-old volunteer of Indian descent to follow around Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) with a video camera. Allen, annoyed with the tactic, calls the young man -- whose actual name is S.R. Sidarth -- "Macaca or whatever his name is" on camera.

Instant racial incident.

Allen goes on to say: "Lets give a welcome to Macaca, here. Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia."

In fairness to Allen, I think it's pretty clear the "welcome to America" comment isn't about Sidarth being Indian, but about Blue America versus Red America -- Hollywood vs. rural Virginia.