Lewis Likens McCain To George Wallace
From the John Lewis For Congress website:
Rep. John Lewis Responds to Increasing Hostility of McCain-Palin Campaign
10/11/2008
“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 today 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 only desired to exercise their constitutional rights. Because of this atmosphere of hate, four little girls were killed one Sunday morning when a church was bombed in Birmingham, Alabama.
“As public figures with the power to influence and persuade, Sen. McCain and Governor 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.”
Here is more on this from the Politico:
Civil rights icon says McCain stirs hate
By MIKE ALLEN & JONATHAN MARTIN | 10/11/08
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 Obama, 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 called the accusation “shocking and beyond the pale” and called on Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) to repudiate it.” …
Lewis didn’t accuse McCain of imitating Wallace, but suggested there were similarities…
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…
McCain quickly fired back hard, calling the comments “a character attack against Governor Sarah Palin and me that is shocking and beyond the pale.”
“The notion that legitimate criticism of Senator Obama’s record and positions could be compared to Governor 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 Senator 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.” …
One wonders if Mr. Lewis even remembers that Mr. Wallace was a Democrat?
And is it just us, or does it seem a bit much that Mr. Lewis is still living off the glory of having “marched with” Martin Luther King forty five years ago?
Shouldn’t he have done something since? That is, something else besides calling anyone he disagrees with a racist.
But such is the career of a professional race-baiter.
And, lest we forget, it is the “black community” that is voting for Mr. Obama due to the color of his skin rather the content of his character.
It is the “black community” that is threatening to riot if Mr. Obama does not win.
One of these days, both conservatives and liberals are going to tire of the race business. One of these days, the public is going to tire of it, and to slap the racist label on someone will have lost all its power. Its already happening, just ask Geraldine Ferraro, or as noted politcal scientist and historian Rhandi Rhodes called her, David Duke in drag. Even the most die-hard liberal academic had to see the absurdity in that. There will come a point where no one will care anymore, and people (hopefully) will realize, its not the conservatives that see people as black, white, gay, straight, etc. And I might add, I have yet to hear a poll about the hispanic vote. I guess Katie and Barbara are too busy decimating Sarah Palin to care.
@mdwjr:
I think the post-racial moment will be upon us soon, and it will be by grace of the Republicans in 2012, when Jindal runs for national office and the whole country will have to smart from the shock that a GOP party would run a woman and a South Asian American, without making a big deal about identity politics. We are the party of Lincoln; we just have to get back to those roots.
There have been polls of the Hispanic vote. They vary, and of course Cubans are more Republican than Mexican Americans, etc. But the most reliable one seems to be Zogby, who found Obama leading McCain among Latinos 57%-32%. My bet is that on election day, among Hispanics who show up, it will be roughly 60% Obama, 35% McCain, with 5% fluttering around somewhere else. Hispanics are not as easily swept into the Democratic dust bin as blacks are, but I must admit, we are prone to Democratic branding too often.
By the way, the comparison to George Wallace is ironically very similar to the tactics used by Wallace — make a gut connection, no matter how absurd, and play on people’s racial paranoia. How sad.
I went to a Palin rally in California and the crowd was largely Hispanic, with groups of African Americans who seem to be ignored by all these pollsters claiming that 96% of the black vote is going to Obama.
mdwjr, that’s funny about that drunk Randi. Old Gerri is voting for the Messiah anyway, don’t know why the drunk made such a stupid statement.
As for this garbage, I received another email from my crazy cousin Pat saying that “Catie, you will have blood on your hands if you don’t vote for Barack. You are a racist anyway, I know you only like “Uncle Tom” Republicans but that’s what happens when you hang around “retards” like your daughter, people like you shouldn’t be allowed to vote!”. I then sent back a reply asking why it’s not racist if 90% of blacks say they’re voting for Obama because he’s black.
BTW, I wouldn’t be surprised if these people are Obama plants. Who yells “off with his head” anymore? Oh, that’s right those anti-war pukes do. Point made.
Sorry John, the idea of having Barack Obama as president does scare me because I am not a socialist nor am I a marxist.
And Rev. Wrong is a saint? We are the KKK of America? Not God Bless America but goddamn America? OK…and the race baiter award goes to………