Yes that George Wallace, the segregationist former governor of Alabama. "What I am seeing reminds me of too much of another destructive period in American history," Lewis said in a statement released to FOX News.
"Senator McCain and Governor Palin are sowing the seeds of hatred and division, and there is no need for this hostility in our political discourse."
"George Wallace never threw a bomb.(That's more than can be said for some of Obama's friends.) 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," Lewis added. "Because of this atmosphere of hate, four little girls were killed on Sunday morning when a church was bombed in Birmingham, Alabama."
He then accused McCain and Palin of "playing with fire" in a way that "disregards the value of the political process and cheapens our entire democracy."
Here is McCain's Response: "Congressman John Lewis' comments represent a character attack against Governor Sarah Palin and me that is shocking and beyond the pale," McCain said in a written statement. "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."
http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/10/11/civil-rights-icon-compares-mccain-segregationist/
Are you kidding me? McCain named John Lewis as a person he would seek for advice at the Saddleback forum and this is how he responds. McCain of course showed class in his response to Congressman Lewis. I'm not sure if I could've done the same if the guy just called me a racist, and compared me to a segregationist.
Well I'm sure Obama doesn't want this kind of rhetoic to be assoiciated with his campaign so I'm sure he'll denouce the comment, right? Wrong.
“Senator Obama does not believe that John McCain or his policy criticism is in any way comparable to George Wallace or his segregationist policies. 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,’” said Obama spokesman Bill Burton. “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.”
http://embeds.blogs.foxnews.com/2008/10/11/obama-camp-condems-wallace-reference-but-says-lewis-right-on-mcpalin-rhetoric/
Basically Obama's camp said he's not George Wallace, but the rest of the statement is fine with us. After this his spokesman has the nerve to say "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." I hate to be repetive but, are you kidding me? John Lewis compares McCain to George Wallace, accuses him of creating a climate that encourages vicious attacks against innocent Americans, and then brings up one of the most famous racist killings of all time, the last two which Obama seems to be fine with, and your telling me your not trying to be divisive.
Sorry Obama, I don't live in the same fantasy land that you obvisously do. When someone says McCain is racist, or that he's making racist comments, or playing on race, or whatever the Hell John Lewis was saying. I'd find that to be divisive. Then he accuses McCain of "Creating a climate that encourages vicious attacks against innocent Americans," also divisive.
Lewis also said that McCain was playing with fire. What fire is he playing with exactly? Is Lewis saying that if Obama loses we will have riots in the streets, and that they will be McCain's fault for "creating the climate and the conditions that encouraged vicious attacks against innocent Americans?" For the record I don't think that is true, but is there any other way to read that comment?
McCain has been unbelievably above reproach on this issue. He has gone out of his way to be respectful to Obama. Even taking the mircophone from an old lady at a town hall who said she'd done some research and Obama is an Arab. He then told the crowd that Obama was a decent person that he had disagreements with and that they shouldn't be afraid of him. He's asked crowds at his events to show respect for Obama. Many Republicans believe he has been too respectful and that's why he's behind. Senator McCain I'm glad that you have found it necessary to show respect for Barrack Obama, but judging from this latest revelation he sure isn't showing any for you. GO GET EM!
If you like this story Digg it. http://digg.com/politics/John_Lewis_D_GA_calls_McCain_a_segregationist
The Times They are A-Changing…
5 hours ago
so yet again obama's minions play the race card by claiming that mccain is playing the race card.
ReplyDeleteremarkable how predictably shallow the intellect on these guys run. nothing stands up to scrutiny. they are purely there for the initial press coverage.
I have two issues with this post. First, John Lewis is NOT an Obama surrogate. He doesn't speak for the campaign, and he has not been asked by the campaign to represent them on the campaign trail.
ReplyDeleteTwo, as your own post clearly states, Obama does say that Lewis' comparison of McCain to Wallace is unfair. It seems to me that what you're asking is that Obama turn a blind eye to the increasingly dangerous rhetoric coming from McCain supporters. Heck, he even goes so far in his statement as to credit McCain for rebuking those statements:
"But John Lewis was right to condemn some of the hateful rhetoric that John McCain himself personally rebuked just last night..."
I think that's generous of Obama given some of the things Sarah Palin has said about him in the last week:
"Barack Obama doesn't see America as you or I do."
"Obama feels America is so imperfect that he pals around with domestic terrorists."
The McCain campaign can't effectively accuse Obama of hating his country, and imply that he's actively working to sabotage it, and that he's trying to steal the election, and then turn around and act shocked when someone rightly notes that that's dangerous rhetoric. I mean people are calling Obama a "terrorist" and screaming out "kill him" at McCain rallies.
It's not that I think McCain supports those ideas, but I do think his rhetoric is stoking a very real anger among his supporters that could well place the Senator in jeopardy. At this point, McCain's campaign is about one notch below accusing Obama of treason. It's that last point that I think Lewis was trying to touch on. Not that McCain is a racist or a segregationist, but that his campaign is now largely based on stoking anger against his opponent, which is similar to the type of campaign Wallace ran.
I appreciate McCain's recent correction of some of the more ludicrous statements of his supporters in recent days, but he's got to display that same honor in his ads and through his surrogates.
One final point: when Lewis said McCain was playing with fire, he was referring to McCain's supporters, not Obama's. His point was that McCain's recent rhetoric seems to be bringing out the latent anger among some of his supporters, and that if he pushes to far, he's going to inadvertently convince someone that it's necessary to take radical action against that terrorist loving, anti-American, vote stealer. He wasn't suggesting black voters were going to rise up and start rioting if Obama loses. In fact, winning and losing doesn't even enter in to Lewis' statement.
That guy is the biggest idiot alive, who takes him seriously? I swear these supposedly serious congress people are acting like moveon.org supporters. Desperate.
ReplyDeleteThe problem folks is that there are people who keep electing John Lewis. To me, our message of Constituional Conservatism is very clear. Apparently we're not getting it across too well to the "other side". Of course its kind of hard to carry on an intellectual debate with those folks when they don't want to engage in civil discourse but would rather just call names.
ReplyDelete