It is really funny to see this. How many times have conservatives tried to explain that disagreeing with a black person's politics is actually not racism? There are some liberals, however, that have extra special disdain for black (or really, any minority) conservatives. Would you agree with me that if any part of the criticism is due to a person's race, that's bigotry?
I don't think people are criticizing HIM based on his race. They're criticizing the party for the way they seem to be playing him.
Look, I don't pretend to know why the GOP is so worked up about this guy and I'm not going to commit to a guess when I just don't know. But that said, I can see why people who are less gun-shy would do so. I mean, here's what we're working with.
- Carson is very unremarkable in terms of his political stances.
- Carson is a decent orator, but not great, and there are other people who are better in the GOP.
- Carson is a doctor, but he's not the only one -- there's an entire caucus dedicated to Republican doctors.
- Carson is educated and accomplished and the GOP does have problems with being perceived as anti-intellectual, but again, he's not the only one by a mile.
So given all those facts, why is the GOP making such a big fuss about this guy?
It could just be because he's some fresh meat, which they
desperately need, given the way all the tea partiers are running their mouths right into irrelevancy. That's a workable theory.
Or... it could be because they're hoping his race will win them some minority voters. Given that they treated Herman Cain very similarly and the only thing he shares with Carson is race, this is not an unreasonable theory either.
I don't pretend to know which one it is, but those are really the only two options. It's really either desperation or a racial appeal.