SUNUNU AND THE HORROR OF MISCEGENATION

You probably already know about this:

John Sununu, a top surrogate for Mitt Romney's presidential campaign, said Thursday that Colin Powell's repeat endorsement of President Barack Obama could be explained partly by the two men’s shared race.

Speaking on CNN's "Piers Morgan Tonight," Sununu ... explain[ed] that Powell's endorsement of Obama didn't rely solely on the political issues at hand.

"When you take a look at Colin Powell, you have to look at whether that's an endorsement based on issues or he's got a slightly different reason for endorsing President Obama," Sununu said, adding: "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." ...

Sununu later tried to walk this back ("I do not doubt that it was based on anything but his support of the president’s policies"), but it's something you can't credibly un-say.

BuzzFeed's McKay Coppins tweeted:

Another weird part of Sununu's quote that won't get as much play: "I applaud Colin for standing with him." Really, you do?

— McKay Coppins (@mckaycoppins) October 26, 2012

To me, there's no surprise in that. Sununu's basically saying that it's appropriate for people to stick with "their own kind." A lot of racists feel that way. To them, it's perfectly natural for a black person to stick up for a black person, and a white for a white -- it's the line-crossing that's depraved and unnatural. Life is tribal. Life should be tribal. Tribalism is the natural order of things.