From the Unreal Part of Virginia...

as opposed to the Pro-American parts of the country.

Many Americans have been rather surprised at some of the things that have been said by prominent Republicans lately. First it was Sarah Palin saying that she liked talking in the pro-America parts of the country -- compared to what parts, exactly?

Then Nancy Pfotenhauer, an aide to John McCain, said that Northern Virginia wasn't part of the "real Virginia" which is "southern in nature." She claimed that, "the Democrats have just come in from the District of Columbia and moved into northern Virginia," which is just nonsense. Most of the Democrats who live in D.C. (who are mostly black, in case you didn't get the coded message) can't afford to move here. People have come here from all over the country, though, and from outside the country, too, which has given us some great ethnic grocery stores. I digress.

Joe McCain, the candidate's brother, said at a rally that Arlington and Alexandria were "Communist."

Finally Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) started ranting about all the fellow congresspeople who were "anti-american," Barack Obama in particular. I think she's angling to chair a committee. Maybe call it, oh, I dunno, the "House Committee on Un-American Activities."

This is where I'm supposed to tell you how surprised and shocked I am, but I'm afraid I'm not. When Sarah Palin was asked what newspaper she read to get her news about the world, she couldn't come up with one. We're used to hearing Republicans castigate the mainstream media, but ultimately, we know they read the New York Times and Washington Post and all the rest, because there is information there. But if you've really bought into their line, why would you read a newspaper?

There's a place in America where they've been talking like this for a while. It's called talk radio. Michael Savage uses the word anti-american to describe people who disagree with him all the time. It's casual, no big deal. So does Mark Levin. Rush Limbaugh passes for middle of the road on conservative talk radio these days, and he calls bi-partisanship "cowardly." You'll hear the word "disgusting" a lot -- not to talk about things people say, or policies, but about people. And of course every Democrat is a "socialist."

These folks, Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann and the rest, are just talking like they do on Talk Radio. Most of the time, most Americans don't listen to that crap, so we're surprised when we hear it from politicians. Don't be. There'll be a lot more of them that have grown up listening to Rush and Savage and Levin.

The good news is, even us "unreal" Virginians get to vote here. But by the way, Sarah -- this is a very pro-american part of the country. It's you, actually, that most of us don't like too much.