Facing a storm of criticism, even from the newspaper that endorsed him for Governor, Virginia Republican Bob McDonnell told the Washington Post today that the reason why he didn’t mention slavery in his proclamation of “Confederate History Month” was because he doesn’t consider it a significant aspect of the Civil War.

Wow.

McDonnell said he did not include a reference to slavery because “there were any number of aspects to that conflict between the states. Obviously, it involved slavery. It involved other issues. But I focused on the ones I thought were most significant for Virginia.”

McDonnell also said the reason for his declaration was to “promote tourism.”

McDonnell said Tuesday that the move was designed to promote tourism in the state, which next year will mark the 150th anniversary of the start of the war.

Apparently he’s not too interested in promoting tourism by African Americans.