During last week'S RNC, the cameras managed to find one lone Hispanic with a sign "Hispanics for McCain," even though it's a demographic that's been continually out of reach for septuagenarian Senator.
Other surrogates have been making the rounds since Obama accepted the Dem nod to haughtily insist that not only are they not racists or sexists, but are victims of notions that are liberal-generated myths, seized upon and promoted by the Liberal Elite MSM.
In a way, they have a point. Those poor besieged Republicans are just woefully misunderstood.
Republicans aren't specifically and deliberately racist or hateful, though it sure looks that way. That's a by-product of the real, larger truth about Republicans in general and neocons in particular. Their collective distaste and suspicion of others actually derives from the larger meme that for Republicans, the measure of success is that you can prove that you're better than somebody else.
The easiest and most common is to be richer than someone else because it's the simplest to quantify, and is the most easily understood by even the semi-literate masses. You either have lots of money or you don't. If you do, it doesn't matter how you got it - just that you have it. If you don't, then you must have failed Life somehow, or your parents did, or your grandparents did, but either way, it's somebody's fault in the family tree that you're not rich. (And if you had it and don't have it anymore, that still makes you a better human being than someone who never did.)
Being white is superior to being one of those black, yellow or brown people. After all, they're called "minorities," aren't they? (Republicans are in for quite the culture shock in 2040, when Hispanic becomes the dominant race in America. They'd better start hoarding their power, influence, and treasure now.)
Actors are superior to ordinary people: that's why Republicans keep trying to elect them into office, even as they sneer at Hollywood: Ronald Reagan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Clint Eastwood, Sonny Bono, Jesse Ventura, Fred Thompson, Ben Jones - the list goes back years.
It's not enough to simply be superior, however.
They also rank superiority within groups. White men are better than white women, who are better than minority men, who are better than gays who are just slightly better than foreigners. (After all, unless you're flaming, they can willfully ignore that you're gay, but that foreign accent? That foreign look? No way.) Veterans are better than Peace Corps volunteers, who are better than those awful community organizers. A hockey mom is better than a Little League mom, apparently, who is WAY better than a ballet mom or a swim mom. Those ballet moms - ugh - probably Democrats. After all, nobody fights in ballet. And if your kid can at least beat up another kid, that's another measure of your individual superiority and thus a measure of your personal success. You spawned 'em so why not take the credit?
This same character flaw is evident in their Big Government/culture war dichotomy. You may be wondering why they hate governments programs like Social Security, but love gay marriage amendments. After all, isn't an anti-gay marriage amendment an example of Big Government?
It's because they hate Big Government if it has to do with money, but love Big Government when it comes to meddling in your personal life. For Republicans who aren't rich, they have to measure their superiority over others in other equally-artificial ways, and passing judgment on and trying to control other people's lives is part of that. They went to church more times, for example, than that family down the block. Or they love the "right" sort of people than that same-sex couple. It's not about hating gays - if you're equal to them, then they've failed to be superior to you. This is why minorities, the sick, the elderly, and the poor matter to Republicans. Not because these are groups that are more challenged in society, but because their status quo must be maintained so it can be used as a yardstick of personal achievement.
It's why Republicans hate an fear all the Democratic ideals that create a level playing field. If everyone has the same opportunities to achieve the same goals and dreams, how can they know they're a success in life? If they have no one they can point to that they're better than in some tenuous or nebulous way, then clearly they must have failed. Republicans are hard-wired this way. They don't understand that if they even have to ask the question, they've already failed.