Laurence Verga, one of the seven Republicans hoping to unseat U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello, D-Ivy, has clarified recent remarks that he said have been "mischaracterized as racist."
Verga, a private real estate investor from Ivy, said that Americans who voted for Barack Obama are the biggest security threat facing the nation and that Obama's election was the result of "political correctness gone awry."
Verga's comments at the Saturday debate in Lynchburg caught the attention of several national and local political blogs.
One blog, written by Charlottesville's Waldo Jaquith, said Verga's remarks indicate that he thinks Obama is president only because he is black and that the 5th District's 157,362 voters who voted for Obama are the biggest threat to national security.
On Tuesday, Verga released a statement with an unedited transcript of his remarks at the debate. The transcript, he said, shows he meant that Obama's foreign policy is "political correctness run awry" because it is too soft on terrorism.
"The biggest threat to our country right now is ourselves," Verga said. "Not the people in this room, but the people that voted the current administration in are the biggest threats. And what that is political correctness run awry. We are in a war. There is a global jihad against the United States of America. This jihad wants to take away our freedom, they don't like our freedom, they don't like our religion, they don't like anything about us. And what we need to do is stand up. Forget the political correctness and fight this war. And make sure that Americans on our soil and internationally are secure."
In Verga's statement clarifying the remarks, he said the full transcript of his comments show he meant that political correctness has damaged the nation's ability to fight "global war against jihad."
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