Often-times, when Democrats run a candidate for office who is not a White male, Republicans unleash with a familiar refrain. “He’s an affirmative action candidate”, to Barack Obama. “She only got there because of her husband”, to Hillary Clinton. And when these candidates do well, it’s not evidence of any merit on their part, or that voters critically evaluated them and decided they were best for the job. It’s because of “identity politics”: Blacks mindlessly voting for Blacks, women mindlessly voting for women.
I always kind of assumed that this was an argument made in bad faith. But the selection of Gov. Sarah Palin to be McCain’s VP candidate made me realize that conservatives really do seem to believe it…..