Matthew Yglesias picks up on a comment from Julian Sanchez that
the putatively “real” portions of America — which, as another commenter pointed out, are less the South than the midwest — also just happen to be the whitest portions of America.
This is an excellent point–and one that seemed particularly relevant when we heard so much from the delegates to the RNC about bringing the perspective of that “real America” (aka “God’s Country“) to NYC. But my internal response to those Republican’s comments (“so what are we, chopped liver?”) leads me to add an additional perspective to Yglesias’ point.
To those who talk about the “real America,” “white America” is part of what they mean, certainly, but another big part that I notice is that they also mean “gentile America.” Not only is “real America” the whitest portion of America, but this “unreal America” that they disparage–we “New York Liberal Elite” or “Hollywood Media Liberals”–are just too, well, you know, Jewish.
Their picture of a lovely white and real patriotic America, with leafy suburbs and Christmas decorations, leaves out African Americans, and Latinos, and Asians, and any kind of immigrants (except in some very strictly defined labor situations). And even more, it leaves out the Jews.