Today John Lewis (D-GA), a veteran of the civil rights struggle who marched with Dr. King and was beaten bloody by police during non-violent protests in the 1960's, attacked John McCain and compared his attacks on Barack Obama to 'playing with fire' and then went on compare McCain himself to George Wallace.
As much as I respect rep. Lewis and all that he has accomplished, I have to disagree with that. As I alluded to in my last post, McCain finally stepped in himself to try and end some of the more outrageous attacks and was booed by his own crowd for doing so.
That isn't to say that there aren't some obdurate racists among John McCain's supporters. There most certainly are.
And Lewis, in saying that McCain is 'playing with fire' was right to refer to the fact that the McCain campaign in order to gin up the Republican 'base' has sometimes failed to confront some of their more extremist supporters.
However, I do not personally believe that McCain is comparable to George Wallace, who was the face and the personification of segregation during the most turbulent days of the Civil Rights movement.
Obama is significantly ahead of McCain right now, and it has nothing to do with race and everything to do with the fact that McCain has nothing to offer but the worn-out and failed policies of George W. Bush. People already know that hasn't worked, so rather than keep at it for four more years they are looking to vote for something different. It's just that simple.
I don't blame McCain for trying to win the election (after all he too is running for President.) And I know that politics can get a little rough at times. But Lewis' statement should be repudiated because it's not true. McCain is not George Wallace. McCain is just wrong, that's all. Maybe comparing him to Herbert Hoover would be more apt.
I agree with this. There's plenty for us to battle about on real issues.
ReplyDeleteIt's frustrating at times to know how much a brouhaha the right would be making of, say, Barack Obama's teenage pregnant-out-of-wedlock daughter, and yet see them now skating past the issue of their own making on the decency of liberals. It seems a fundamental injustice, a hypocrisy.
But in the same vein of keeping our integrity, it is proper that we acknowledge McCain's efforts to distance himself from the lunatic fringe of his supporters--even when he has done much to stoke their anger. But we needn't refrain from learning a lesson about what kind of person is lining up behind this old man.