Bob Herbert, Running While Black, The New York Times, 02 August 2008.

It's very refreshing to see a prominant columinist in a prominant newspaper calling out John McCain and the Republican Party on their use of racism. For more on how the Republican Party uses "values" and other nonsense to divert attention from the economic, foreign, and domestic policy issues that really matter in the operation of government, consider the following essays:

Ira Chernus, War Meets Values on Campaign Trail: Will the Big Winner of 2008 Once Again Be a Conservative Culture-Wars Narrative?, TomDispatch.com, 29 July 2008.

Matt Taibbi, McCain Doesn't Have a Prayer, AlterNet.org, 28 July 2008.
(This essay examines McCain's distaste for right wing evangelical Christianity. Overlook the scatalogical humour and you will find Taibbi's analysis very solid.)

Southern strategy, Wikipedia.