¿Quien Es Mas Malo?

A while back we discussed the current juxtaposition in the actual operational tactics of the "mommy" and "daddy" parties. One longstanding criticism the Republicans had of the Democrats, that I actually agreed with, was the notion that the Democrats were frequently quick to play "identity politics"; that is, the overt catering (and in practice, infantilizing) minority groups by placing the minority status front-and-center, instead of just talking up the person's merits and leaving it at that.

So it was with no surprise that we find Republicans shamelessly playing the race card in confirming Alberto Gonzales as attorney general.

First was this priceless nugget:

Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., the first Cuban-American senator, praised Gonzales in a precedent-shattering speech in Spanish on the Senate floor.

In English, Martinez said: "This is a breakthrough of incredible magnitude for Hispanic Americans." Martinez said Gonzales would be "a role model for the next generation" of Latinos.

Uh-huh. I fully expect Ted Kennedy to begin his next speech in Gaelic then, or my poor wittle Irish sensitivities might go unacknowledged. And then I won't be free to be the best Heywood I can be. Acknowledge me! Recognize my rights as a sentient being! Nurture my fragile self-esteem! Strengthen my ethnic identity! Strengthen it, damn you!

Ahem. You get the picture. This is exactly the sort of meaningless feel-good bullshit the Republicans used to rightly despise. Now we see that it was just 'cause they didn't have one of their own at the time.

But Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., pointing out his own Mexican-American heritage, said it was wrong for senators "to play a race card" on behalf of Gonzales. Salazar said senators should "reject the notion that they have to vote for him because he is a Hispanic."

Salazar said that Gonzales can "help lead the way for the creation of an America that despises hate and bigotry and recognizes that every human being deserves a government that will fight for the dignity and equality of all."

While the debate over Gonzales moved largely along party lines, the nominee did pick up six Democratic votes - Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, Salazar, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Bill Nelson of Florida, Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Mark Pryor of Arkansas.

For a rookie, Salazar is learning to play the game pretty quickly. Give 'em a PC head-fake, and then vote for the guy anyway. Okay, then exactly what is it that made him so qualified, that it overrode his sheer disregard for the Geneva Conventions, not to mention his rather callous enabling of Governor "My favorite political philosopher is Jesus Christ"?

(For the record, I am actually very much in favor of capital punishment in principle, though the process is inexcusably flawed. I submit that, while I agree that religious public servants must put the will of the people before the tenets of their faith, Bush is clearly morally at odds with Jesus' teachings on the subject of mercy. Additionally, I cannot imagine what sort of good Christian publicly mocks the condemned, like it's all a big damned joke, as Bush did with Karla Faye Tucker. Repulsive.)

The next identity issue they'll tackle will be Bush's catering to the "guest worker" policy, which seems a tad strange in the era of terrorism and tightened security. They're off to a shameless start with Martinez' little sideshow.