First of all, saying that fighting anti-Mormon bigotry now isn’t as important as fighting anti-black bigotry in 1960 is a backhanded way of saying that it’s not important now and shouldn’t be a priority.

Second, and worse, is Ponnuru’s total abandonment of conservative principle. He correctly implies that nominating a black candidate in 1960 would have been affirmative action – the Democrats making a statement that they are not bigoted by nominating someone who wasn’t actually the most qualified candidate. His argument, then, is that Republicans should not try to make a statement by nominating a Mormon in 2008. This is also correct, but it misses the point entirely.

The point is that conservatives shouldn’t play identity politics – that’s liberal territory. For them, one of the advantages of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama is that they come from minority backgrounds. Conservatives claim to ignore the identity and look only at the qualifications. They don’t believe in “fairness” – they believe that people should be rewarded based on their ability, not based on their humanity.

Republicans shouldn’t nominate Mitt Romney because they want to act affirmatively towards a member of a minority, they should nominate him because he’s the best qualified. Since there’s little to no chance of an affirmative action Republican nominee, Ponnuru should stick to reality and realize that any acquiescence to bigotry merely legitimizes it.