I think I disagree with the former president

It's no secret really: I love Bill Clinton.  I think he is a brilliant person who has done great things for the United States and continues to do great things for the world through his Foundation.  I think that he is an extremely gifted politician (perhaps the best of my lifetime, so far?) and I'm glad that he is widely recognized as such.

I generally agree with most things President Clinton says.  Not in a blind-follower sort of way, but I just usually agree with him on economic and social issues (perhaps because both of us are democrats - just a guess).  However, there was a recent occasion in which I took issue with a comment from the former president.  

On an appearance on ABC's "The View," President Clinton said that people have their reasons for voting for a candidate and you can't criticize them for those reasons, no matter how ridiculous you may think the reasons are.  I took this to mean that someone may vote for an individual based on that person's sex, race, hair color, religion, choice of clothing, or prediction of what Punxsutawney Phil will tell us about the length of winter.  I suppose you could call these people single-issue voters.

Obviously President Clinton wasn't suggesting that the latter items in that list are actually good reasons to vote for someone.  However, I think he he did intend to say that sex or race are perfectly justified reasons.  I understand that every voter has the right to vote for whom ever they want for whatever reason they want.  I'm just not convinced that it's responsible.

Don't we have to look at stances on issues and qualifications?  There is perhaps a fairly high chance that if you vote for someone based on their sex alone, you may be voting against your own interests.  I really don't think I would vote for someone who is gay, just because he or she is gay.  I say "I don't think" because the truth is that I suppose we really don't know until we are in that situation.  Perhaps women and African Americans could shed better light on this situation; for the first time they were faced with this very dilemma in this presidential election season.  

So, I've been trying to not question people who fit this mold - voting based on one identifying factor rather than issues - but it's extremely difficult for me.  It just seems irresponsible to put someone in office because they prefer the same brand of toilet paper as you do.  Am I oversimplifying the president's comments?  Certainly, but I do think there is something to my argument.  I guess the bottom line is that I think in an odd twist of reality - I don't agree with Bubba.

What are your thoughts on this?