Exactly the same example hopped immediately into my mind.

[Update a couple minutes later]

“They all look alike to them“:

I’ve suggested in the past that Obama is Pumpsie Green and but was sold to us as Jackie Robinson, but on reflection I think it goes deeper than that.

I think the press had Pumpsie Green in front of them but saw Jackie Robinson. They deceived themselves and moreover wanted to be deceived. As far was the press was concerned their desire for the political equivalent of Jackie Robinson blinded them to the point where any semi-qualified black candidate became Jackie

So naturally when some of us on the right objected to a person who was totally unqualified for office the press went wild, because it directly challenged their illusion and cried racism when it was just the opposite.

We on the right saw not a black man, but an unqualified inexperienced Chicago pol who just happened to be black. The press meanwhile saw not an individual but a symbol, it didn’t actually matter who he was, it mattered that he was. Or to put it bluntly, they couldn’t tell Jackie Robinson from Pumpsie Green because “they all looked alike to them.”

If Branch Rickey had done this in 47 the majors might still not be integrated.

As I’ve often noted, the true racists are on the left, almost inherently.

[Update a few minutes later]

I agree with Instapundit on this, too: “Half a century ago, insecure white bigots needed to put down black people so they’d have someone to feel superior to. Now they use Mississippi.”