A Different Take on the Gonzales Nomination from Hispanic Pundit

I hope that what Hispanic Pundit has posited, namely that perhaps this shows that support for minorities is trumped by core values, is correct. I, however, have my doubts. Read the first paragraph of Hispanic Pundit's post ("both of these people were confirmed with by far the most ‘nay’ votes against their respective position in United States history"). Was this because Senate Democrats were so staunchly opposed to the Bush Administration policies represented by these two individuals? The level of vitriol and opposition to these two nominees was several levels above normal for nominees to these positions (with the possible exception of John Ashcroft, who was opposed mainly because of his opposition to a black judicial nominee).

If Senate Democrats are opposed to the Bush Administrations policies as a whole, or specifically those related to war and peace, you have to wonder why every Bush nominee does not also merit the same level of opposition (see for example, Michael Chartoff, the nominee for Homeland Security). I sense there is a difference. Minorities are supposed to not only be Democrats, but also grateful and beholden to the Democrats. If a minority nominee breaks from that mold, then Democrats tend to oppose them more vehemently than white nominees with the same position because they have in essence "turned their backs" on the Democrats (remember that Democrats tend to view minority conservatives as misguided Democrats).

Rather than proving that core values are what matter for Democrats, the Gonzales and Rice cases seem to prove that Democrats still view minorities first through the prism of race and ethnicity and if the values expressed by such persons is not within orthodoxy, then all bets are off. For evidence of this, recall the mostly silent Democrat (including black Democrat) reaction to the many racist cartoons and comments by liberal whites regarding Rice and consider how that might have differed if the person being attacked was not a Republican.

UPDATE: Welcome Hispanic Pundit readers. Please see similar arguments made by Hispanic Pundit here, here, here and here.