Powell - Sununu - Wilkerson and all about race.

A few days ago, retired general Colin Powell (a Republican) said that he was endorsing Barack Obama, and laid out a line of reasoning for his decision.  That was followed by (current co-chair to Mitt Romney's campaign) John Sununu insinuating that Powell's choice was based on the color of his skin and that of the President's:

"Well, I think when you have somebody of your own race that you're proud of being President of the United States, I applaud Colin for standing with him." - CNN

Of course, Sununu just pointed out to us that he is himself, racist.  If you read that carefully, he argued that Sununu himself is proud to vote for a person of his own color, and specifically because of that person's skin color.

Fascinating stuff, that John Sununu never actually tries to hold back his contempt for people of other color, but instead ends up trying to temper his comments after the fact.  A few months ago, he said:

"I wish this president would learn how to be an American." - The Atlantic

Today, former chief of staff to Powell, Lawrence Wilkerson, (also Republican) came out and blasted John Sununu and the Republican Party:

"Let me just be candid: My party is full of racists. 

The real reason a considerable portion of my party wants President Obama out of the White House has nothing to do with the content of his character, nothing to do with his competence as commander-in-chief and president, and everything to do with the color of his skin." - NYDN

 I wouldn't say it's full of racists, but on average, there are quite a few of them who'd absolutely never vote for someone who wasn't a white male, though these days they might consider voting for a white woman.  Mind you, Republicans hate the Lilly Ledbetter Act, and Mitt Romney did everything he could to avoid talking about it in the debates, so there are still a lot of obstacles for the GOP to overcome, before they vote to have a woman represent them as their top presidential candidate.

And no one is going to ever mistake the GOP convention crowd from the Democratic convention crowd -- it's just far too disparate and obvious.  You'd have to be blind and deaf not to notice the difference in make up of the two parties.

The beauty of Barack Obama's candidacy four years ago, is that it forced many Democrats to rethink about their own feelings on race, and the importance of skin color as it related to how you voted.  Republicans have never had to contemplate these issues, as it relates to the White House.

With Mitt Romney, at least Jews and Christians have had to come to terms with Mormonism, although let's face it, the issues of proxy baptisms and the validity of Mormon baptisms (as it relates to other Christians) hasn't gone away; those issues are still on the table, even if covered over with a white tablecloth for the 2012 elections.