Earlier today we posted the video of McCain aide Daniel Zubairi talking down a fanatic anti-Islam supporter at a McCain rally last week. Zubairi himself is Muslim, and many touted his actions as a remarkable act of courage and support within the party that the media has portrayed as increasingly hostile and racist.

So why did the McCain campaign pull Zubairi from a scheduled appearance with Rick Sanchez on CNN?

How weird is this story? It's like maybe John McCain is really running a racially balanced campaign, surrounded by aides and pundits of different ethnicity and viewpoints, but he doesn't want Americans to find out? Sure, okay.

Because maybe then those unenlightened dolts that make up the crux of McCain's fear-based base will start thinking, "Hmm…McCain's palling around with that guy, and he looks like a terrorist!" And obviously John McCain can't risk alienating his racist, backwater "pro-America" fan base or else he might actually have to start campaigning and standing for something besides "the only choice other than 'the other.'"

Blegh, politics.

Update: Rick Sanchez may have been the reason the interview got pulled:

CNN anchor Rick Sanchez got in some hot water last week after a segment on his midday show looked into the Alaskan Independence Party. The segment discussed Todd Palin's seven-year membership in the group. It turns out not only was the McCain campaign peeved, but sources tell us Sanchez and his EP got a talking-to from the bosses, too.