© 2008 Capitol News Company, LLC
Posted on 10/11/2008 4:38:41 PM PDT by neverdem
Civil rights icon John Lewis compared Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) to George Wallace in a posting to Politico's forum "The Arena," accusing McCain of fostering “an atmosphere of hate” and “hostility” like the one that led to white supremacists’ 1963 bombing of a church in Birmingham, Ala.
Lewis, a Democratic congressman from Georgia who has endorsed Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), pointed in his posting to “the negative tone of the McCain-Palin campaign,” and said the senator and his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, “are sowing the seeds of hatred and division.”
McCain, in a book he wrote with aide Mark Salter called “Why Courage Matters: The Way to a Braver Life,” had lauded the leadership of Lewis in the nonviolent civil rights movement.
McCain called the accusation “shocking and beyond the pale” and called on Obama to “repudiate it."
Brad Woodhouse of the Democratic National Committee said on Fox News: "I don't think Sen. Obama would agree with that. ... I don’t think we would agree with those comments."
Lewis didn't accuse McCain of imitating Wallace, but suggested there were similarities. His sharp words may be dismissed as those of a partisan Democrat in a campaign season. But the former head of SNCC and hero of Selma is somebody who McCain has lavished praise upon over the years, including in his book on courage and bravery and by repeatedly invoking Lewis's name in public appearances.
Appearing with Obama at a forum at Rick Warren's Saddleback Church in August, McCain included Lewis as one of "three wise men" he would consult as president. "He can teach us all a lot about the meaning of courage and commitment to causes greater than our self-interest," McCain said of Lewis.
Now, Lewis is castigating McCain in the harshest of terms. "George Wallace never threw a bomb," Lewis noted. "He never fired a gun, but he created the climate and the conditions that encouraged vicious attacks against innocent Americans who were simply trying to exercise their constitutional rights. Because of this atmosphere of hate, four little girls were killed on Sunday morning when a church was bombed in Birmingham, Alabama."
McCain quickly fired back hard, calling the comments “a character attack against Gov. Sarah Palin and me that is shocking and beyond the pale.”
“The notion that legitimate criticism of Sen. Obama's record and positions could be compared to Gov. George Wallace, his segregationist policies and the violence he provoked is unacceptable and has no place in this campaign,” McCain said in the statement. “I am saddened that John Lewis, a man I've always admired, would make such a brazen and baseless attack on my character and the character of the thousands of hardworking Americans who come to our events to cheer for the kind of reform that will put America on the right track.
McCain also put the onus on Obama to distance himself from the remarks: "I call on Sen. Obama to immediately and personally repudiate these outrageous and divisive comments that are so clearly designed to shut down debate 24 days before the election. Our country must return to the important debate about the path forward for America.”
Obama's campaign distanced themselves from Lewis's Wallace language but took a shot at Palin for some of her tough charges of late.
“Senator Obama does not believe that John McCain or his policy criticism is in any way comparable to George Wallace or his segregationist policies," said Obama spokesman Bill Burton. "But John Lewis was right to condemn some of the hateful rhetoric that John McCain himself personally rebuked just last night, as well as the baseless and profoundly irresponsible charges from his own running mate that the Democratic nominee for President of the United States ‘pals around with terrorists.’
"As Barack Obama has said himself, the last thing we need from either party is the kind of angry, divisive rhetoric that tears us apart at a time of crisis when we desperately need to come together. That is the kind of campaign Senator Obama will continue to run in the weeks ahead,”
The full Lewis posting, sent to Politico's Fred Barbash, referee of "The Arena," with the heading “Rep. John Lewis On Hostility of McCain-Palin Campaign": “As one who was a victim of violence and hate during the height of the Civil Rights Movement, I am deeply disturbed by the negative tone of the McCain-Palin campaign. What I am seeing reminds me too much of another destructive period in American history. Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are sowing the seeds of hatred and division, and there is no need for this hostility in our political discourse.
“During another period, in the not too distant past, there was a governor of the state of Alabama named George Wallace who also became a presidential candidate. George Wallace never threw a bomb. He never fired a gun, but he created the climate and the conditions that encouraged vicious attacks against innocent Americans who were simply trying to exercise their constitutional rights. Because of this atmosphere of hate, four little girls were killed on Sunday morning when a church was bombed in Birmingham, Alabama.
"As public figures with the power to influence and persuade, Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are playing with fire, and if they are not careful, that fire will consume us all. They are playing a very dangerous game that disregards the value of the political process and cheapens our entire democracy. We can do better. The American people deserve better.”
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© 2008 Capitol News Company, LLC |
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...and Jeremiah Wright doesn’t?.....William Ayers doesn’t?...Michelle Obama doesn’t?... Okay.
Isn’t this the Rat McCain said he admired? lol! No good deed goes unpunished John! You deserve it for being nice to Rats!
Hello, hello, is that you Kenneth? You on patrol of the slave ship routes looking to beat off the sharks ...
This guy is a loon, how else do you describe his membership in the party of segregation and the kKK.
I see, it's the tone Lewis objects to.
Not surprising he couldn't come up with any specifics.
Gee, John...all those folks you thought were your friends. The Democrats, the media—they don’t know you or own you. All you’ve got left are those you won’t know or own.
Father says my three-year-old self was perched on his shoulder at an MLK speech in ‘67.
All bow before me. I’m a Civil Rights Icon.
I hate to say it, neverdem, but these are John McCain’s “chickens coming home to roost.”
After all the years of being the maverick and Mr. Compromiser (Gang of 13; McCain-Feingold; etc. etc.), now he finds his esteemed colleagues across the aisle dropping him like a brick when he needs at least their understanding and acknowledgement, if not support.
This is one frustrating campaign.
I’d like to ask Senator McCain: “Why did you run? Why didn’t you sit out of the primaries and allow some other Republican aspirant who has some **nads to give this a shot and to go after either Obama or Hillary. You, Sir, obviously don’t have the fire in your belly...” Or something like that. What a disgusting campaign. This is worst than watching the stock market meltdown day after day... or the Cubs play in the post season... Disgusting.
Civil rights icon my rear. Dr. King he is not. Bet your bottom dollar that the MSM would never refer to Clarence Thomas as a civil rights icon. Or anyone who fights for civil rights issues that still matter (in the sense that de jure racism was settled more than forty years ago), like gun rights or property rights.
Courtesy of Jonah Goldberg
“George Wallace never threw a bomb,”
Ayers, on the other hand...
John Lewis marched at Selma during the voting rights march there, and was beaten there along with the other marchers. He was a key member of SNCC, the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, during the civil rights movement. He has been considered an icon because of that.
Ayers on the other hand, did set off bombs. Good point.
“Civil rights icon says McCain stirs hate “
Icon, my ass! Lewis is a race-baiting piece of pond scum who has lived on hating whitey and isn’t worthy of breathing good men’s air. If ever the “N” word applied, he is it!
showin the thug thizzle, jus’ doin his thang. Icon as in I con the voters. FH
It would appear the entire Democrat Party has subscribed to “Rules for Radicals”, by Saul Alinsky.
John, the next time you “reach across the aisle” you won’t only get burned, you’ll get broiled!
Some people never learn.
Lewis isn’t saying a thing that 99% of the black Democratic voters in the Country don’t already believe.
Uh John..wasn’t George Wallace a ....um...a...democRAT?
Why, yes, I believe George Wallace was a democRAT..
John, have you no sense of irony? God knows, John, you have no sense of shame.
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