The New Subtlety?

"You cannot be blatantly racist anymore."

--Andra Gillespie, Emory University political scientist, talking about candidates' needing to play on people's fears and biases while being more "subtle"

Gillespie said politicians now use tactics described by Princeton University political scientist Tali Mendelberg as "implicit priming."

"You're basically winking as you say 'antibusing' or 'law and order' -- or 'welfare queens' as Ronald Reagan did in the 1980s," Gillespie said. "If you can sort of tap into those internal prejudices ... you can have the same effect as if you straight up use the N-word."

Yeah, "Obama's a homosexual anti-Christ Muslim who's gonna sell your granny into white slavery" is the quintessence of subtle.