John Lewis gets it. John McCain doesn't.

09.06.08 - Posted by AsiansVote

John McCain recently cited legendary civil rights hero John Lewis as one of the three people with whom he would consult if he were elected President. But as The Daily Voice reports, McCain has no history of consulting Lewis in the past. Now two quotes from the past week shed more light on the differences between these two men.

John Lewis at the grand opening of the Pensacola headquarters for the Obama campaign Pensacola News Journal:

“It doesn’t matter whether we are white or black or Latino or Asian American or Native American. We are one people. We are one family,” Lewis said. “Barack Obama understands that it doesn’t matter that ... our forefathers all came to this great land in different ships. We’re all in the same boat now.”

John McCain on Face the Nation:

We’ve got to reach out; we gotta do a better job. We have to have the Hispanic as well as the African American voters. I’ve traveled all over this country. I’ve been to places where there were literally no Republican votes. I have to convince them I’ll be the president of everybody.

John Lewis understands the country's not just black, white, and Latino. John McCain refers only to Latinos and African Americans. John Lewis says "we are all one family." John McCain says "we" -- meaning white Republicans -- "have to have" non-white voters. That's language of possession, not inclusion.

Of course, it would be unfair to judge McCain based on close parsing of a single quote. So let's review McCain's long history of ignorance, denial, and flip flopping when it comes to racial issues:

• voted repeatedly against the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday from 1983 to 1994
  
• repeatedly used the term "gooks" during his 2000 presidential campaign and initially resisted apologizing for it
  
• criticized the flying of the Confederate flag, then said it was a "symbol of heritage," then said his flip flop was an "act of cowardice."
  
• has issued no censure of Georgia Republican congressman Lynn Westmoreland for calling Obama and his wife "uppity"
  
• accepted the endorsement of George "Macaca" Allen
  
• endorsed George Wallace, Jr., who spoke to a racial hate group four times, and called Trent Lott "the finest leader we've had" -- even after Lott was pilloried for wishing Strom Thurmond's segregationist presidential campaign had succeeded

John McCain doesn't get it.

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09.06.08 | 2008 Presidential Candidates , Candidates & Leaders , Issues , Race & Racism