Ga. congressman says McCain sowing 'seeds of hatred'
WASHINGTON - Representative John Lewis, a Georgia Democrat and veteran of the civil rights movement, says the negative tone of the Republican presidential campaign reminds him of the hateful atmosphere that segregationist Governor George Wallace fostered in Alabama in the 1960s.
Republican candidate John McCain yesterday called Lewis's remarks "shocking and beyond the pale."
The Obama campaign said the Illinois senator doesn't believe McCain or his policy criticism is at all comparable to Wallace and his segregationist policies.
In a statement issued yesterday, Lewis said McCain and running mate Sarah Palin were "sowing the seeds of hatred and division, and there is no need for this hostility in our political discourse." He noted that Wallace also ran for president.
"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," said Lewis.
Lewis's remarks follow widely reported examples of anger at McCain rallies aimed at Obama, the first black man to be a major party's nominee for president. McCain himself drew boos at a town-hall meeting Friday in Minnesota when he defended Obama after a supporter said he feared what would happen if Obama were elected president.
He also cut short a woman who said Obama was an Arab, and he called his rival "a decent, family man."
Yesterday, McCain called on Obama to repudiate Lewis's remarks. While dismissing the comparison to Wallace, Obama spokesman Bill Burton said Lewis was on target in other ways. He "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,' " Burton said.
McCain rejected any comparison to Wallace.
"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 said.
Even as he criticized McCain's economic policies, Obama acknowledged in Philadelphia yesterday that the GOP nominee has asked his supporters to temper their attacks on him.
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While organizers prepared a barbecue for Todd Palin at the Moosehead Trail Trading Post in Palmyra, Tardy said Mainers value their outdoors heritage.
"There's a lot of sportsmen and sportswomen here," said Tardy, a Republican from Newport.
While campaigning in New Hampshire yesterday, the husband of the GOP vice presidential nominee declined to comment on a legislative report in Alaska that suggested Governor Palin abused her powers.
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Democratic Governor Rod Blagojevich is considered the most vulnerable.
But based on the known facts, there's no indication there will be a so-called "October surprise" that could hurt the Democratic presidential nominee, even though Rezko says prosecutors are pressing him for dirt about Obama.
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