Kaine jabs at McDonnell over 'Confederate History Month'

Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Tim Kaine blasted his GOP successor as governor of Virginia for declaring April "Confederate History Month" in the state.

Kaine, who served as governor of Virginia from 2006 to 2010, criticized Gov. Bob McDonnell's (R) decision to revive the Confederate History Month observance after Kaine and his immediate Democratic predecessor, now-Sen. Mark Warner, had not declared the observance.

McDonnell declared the month without noting the role of slavery in the Confederacy, of which Richmond, Va. was the capital.

“Governor McDonnell’s decision to designate April as Confederate History Month without condemning, or even acknowledging, the pernicious stain of slavery or its role in the war disregards history, is insensitive to the extraordinary efforts of Americans to eliminate slavery and bind the nation’s wounds, and offends millions of Americans of all races and in all parts of our nation," Kaine said late Wednesday afternoon in a statement.

“A failure to acknowledge the central role of slavery in the Confederacy and deeming insignificant the reprehensible transgression of moral standards of liberty and equality that slavery represented is simply not acceptable in the America of the 21st century," the DNC chairman added, noting Virginia's work to elect black officials in former Gov. Douglas Wilder (D) and casting its electoral votes for President Barack Obama.