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Tag(s): David Axelrod; Davis Rick; Fear; Frank Rich; Hatred; Hitler; Jon Stewart; Lewis-John; McCain-John; Obama-Barack
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October 13, 2008 at 01:44:44

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Obama Should Apologize for Congressman Lewis?

by Dean Powers Page 1 of 2 page(s)

www.opednews.com

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A curious thing happened this weekend. Congressman and civil rights activist, John Lewis, condemned Senator John McCain's campaign's wretched, disgusting and divisive campaign rhetoric.

Lewis said that the McCain campaign's rhetoric was "sowing the seeds of hatred and division." It was a generous assessment because in reality, journalists covering McCain's nasty, blood-thirsty rallies fear for their lives.

"There is," David Gergen told CNN's Cooper Anderson on 360, "a free-floating sort of whipping-around anger that could really lead to some violence. And I think we're not far from that."

Last Tuesday, at VP nominee Gov. Sarah Palin's campaign rally in Clearwater, a man "hurled a racial epithet at a television cameraman," according to the New York Times. The disgusting wretches frothing at the mouth when Palin and McCain speak have called on Palin and McCain to, "Kill [Obama]," and cut off [Obama's] head.

The sickening mobs of disgusting human beings, who would overrun our country with terror and who flock to the leadership of John McCain, make Lewis's assessment on Saturday less than curious. McCain's forceful and angry rebuke, his singling out of Lewis, on the other hand, is bewildering.

Why Lewis? Why did the McCain campaign focus on Congressman Lewis? The very day McCain campaign chairman Rick Davis called on Obama to apologize for Lewis's remarks, Frank Rich came close to comparing McCain to Hitler.

"What makes them different," Rich wrote in a Sunday column, "and what has pumped up the Weimar-like rage at McCain-Palin rallies, is the violent escalation in rhetoric, especially (though not exclusively) by Palin."

On Thursday, John Stewart made the same comparison between McCain and his followers and pre-Holocaust Germany. "Have you noticed," Stewart said at the Project ALS benefit at the Waldorf-Astoria, "how [Palin's] rallies have begun to take on the characteristics of the last days of the Weimar Republic? In Florida, she asked 'Who is Barack Obama?' Hey, lady, we just met YOU five f-ing weeks ago."

On Friday, AFL-CIO president John Sweeney said that failure to stem the tide of violent plots being hatched at McCain-Palin rallies would put McCain on par with "racists and extremists."

So why did the McCain campaign single out Congressman Lewis? What do Frank Rich, John Stewart and John Sweeney have in common that John Lewis does not have in common?

McCain campaign chairman Rick Davis told Mike Wallace on Fox News Sunday, "The idea that [Lewis is] going to compare John McCain to the kinds of hate spread in the '60s by somebody like George Wallace is outrageous."

"Barack Obama should apologize to John McCain directly for the kinds of comments made by John Lewis yesterday and that should be the end of this sordid affair."

What about "the idea" that Rich and Stewart are practically comparing McCain to Hitler? I'll throw my lot in with Rich and Stewart. I think their analogies to the Weimar Republic are spot on. The crowds following Palin and McCain are simply vile.

You spineless cowards. You just finished the most toxic week of race-baiting in political history and follow-up by slapping a civil rights leader in the face for saying less than his white peers have said over the last 72 hours.

You, Rick Davis, hoped that you could use Lewis's remarks to refocus this campaign on race, as all the pundits said it might. The conventional wisdom holds that Obama fares better with the focus on the economy rather than skin color.

You, Rick Davis, tried to exploit racial tensions and fears all week until a black man finally weighed in on your vicious, nasty and disgusting rhetoric, and then you used the race card to portray McCain as the victim of black attacks! How whimsical! May God have mercy on your soul.

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Dean Danger Powers is an international man of mystery.

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5 comments

This is my public bio.
Rue RobinsonThis is my public bio.

John Lewis is SO right.

Tragedy often starts with casual remarks someone finds amusing. Think of the taunting that has led to school shootings. McCain doesn't get it.

by Rue Robinson (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 5 comments) on Monday, October 13, 2008 at 6:03:06 PM

I'm a passionate supporter of Obama-Biden; loathe and fear McCain-Biden, even tho I'm an "older not college educated white woman" and supposed to love them... so much for demographics. I've been "single again" since 1988. I've been disabled since 2000 or I'd probably still be working.
I'm a friend of Bill's; if you know what that signifies, you should be able to guess at least one of my fav quotes.
Diane VandermastI'm a passionate supporter of Obama-Biden; loathe and fear McCain-Biden, even tho I'm an "older not college educated white woman" and supposed to love them... so much for demographics. I've been "single again" since 1988. I've been disabled since 2000 or I'd probably still be working.
I'm a friend of Bill's; if you know what that signifies, you should be able to guess at least one of my fav quotes.

The Apology Should be on the Other Foot

McCain has yet to apologize for things that he and Palin said about Obama, yet he expects Obama to apologize for something Lewis said about them. Now I guess McCain will say he can't apologize to Obama because Obama didn't apologize on behalf of Lewis. That would fit with his philosophy of running a smear campaign because Obama chose not to do town hall meetings.

by Diane Vandermast (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 17 comments) on Monday, October 13, 2008 at 7:16:14 PM

I am a proud Conservative who deals in facts not emotions.
So if you have a comment that you want me to give credence, show me where I am incorrect. Remember, I am Smarterthanu and emotions have no place in an intelligent debate.
SmarterthanuI am a proud Conservative who deals in facts not emotions.
So if you have a comment that you want me to give credence, show me where I am incorrect. Remember, I am Smarterthanu and emotions have no place in an intelligent debate.

Rep. Lewis

Don't worry about Lewis. Georgia citizens laugh at him. He's just the last vestige of Race Baiters. A few lamebrains keep him going.

He's like McKinney to people outside of Atlanta. He's tired.

by Smarterthanu (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 20 comments) on Monday, October 13, 2008 at 9:08:23 PM

Mail carrier who drives the rest of my colleagues nuts with my politics.
ScottMail carrier who drives the rest of my colleagues nuts with my politics.

Rick Davis is not using race

John Lewis is the one who used race. He is the one who should apologize.

by Scott (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 586 comments) on Monday, October 13, 2008 at 11:38:13 PM

Fifty seven years young. I've worked in healthcare for nearly forty years now, beginning as an orderly when I was seventeen or so. I've received certification as a Psychiatric Nurse specialist and have taught clinical nursing, managed units in Geriatric Psychiatry for several years, and have recently been director of an inpatient Hospice unit. I'm also a lifelong musician, mostly guitar, played professionally at several points in my life, have taught guitar/bass/banjo/mandolin for a good number...

to see more of bio, click on member name
Jim MoranFifty seven years young. I've worked in healthcare for nearly forty years now, beginning as an orderly when I was seventeen or so. I've received certification as a Psychiatric Nurse specialist and have taught clinical nursing, managed units in Geriatric Psychiatry for several years, and have recently been director of an inpatient Hospice unit. I'm also a lifelong musician, mostly guitar, played professionally at several points in my life, have taught guitar/bass/banjo/mandolin for a good number...

to see more of bio, click on member name

Congressman Lewis

To those of you trying here to diminish Rep. John Lewis' credibility or legitimacy, you've exposed yourselves as blatant partisans with more than a whiff of racism at play. Sen. McCain has staked an eternal platinum claim to being an American hero based on being shot down and held captive during the Viet Nam war. He gets due respect from all quarters for enduring his hardship, but a good number of military including some generals and veterans' organizations have pointed out that being shot down and captured doesn't intrinsically endow one with Presidential gravitas. Rep. Lewis is a true American hero who chose to put himself at great risk by pursuing Constitutional rights for fellow citizens being endlessly discriminated against based soley on race. Many Civil Rights activists were beaten, and a number of them killed, including Rev. King. Rep. Lewis has every right, both as a citizen and as an elected official, to share his observations regarding the recent inflammatory campaign rhetoric of Sarah Palin and John McCain. There are countless pundits, journalists, news persons and politicians raising the same concerns in an even more explicit way. Rep. Lewis didn't inject race as an issue; he talked about the divisiveness of the rhetoric and then made a reasonable comparison to the atmosphere of the South in the '60s when inflammatory rhetoric and subsequent violence was commonplace. For Gov. Palin to suggest that Sen. Obama is in any way sympathetic to those who would harm our country is completely off the charts, and is a purposeful baiting of their crowd's most most base instincts. To conflate Sen. Obama and his policies with bomb-throwing terrorists based on his acquaintance with someone who at the time of their meeting was a professor at the U. of Chicago, had won a Citizen Of The Year award, and served on a community board with Obama funded by one of President Reagan's most stalwart supporters to improve educational opportunities for the disadvantaged is absurd, but it clearly strikes a nerve with some dangerous segments of our society. For Palin to suggest that Obama is "palling around with terrorists" and to then completely ignore the responding shouts from the crowd of "kill him", and "off with his head", etc., is beyond belief. "Guilt by association" is an inherently weak argument, and guilt by ridiculously weak association is all the more absurd and childish. Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon is best left for the playground. There's nothing remotely comparable in terms of smearing or slandering being raised by the Obama campaign, at worst the reminder that McCain was one of the "Keating Five" which relates directly to McCain's claims of being a maverick, of not having ties to lobbying, blaming the current economic crisis on Obama and the Democratic congress, etc. Sen. Obama has nothing to apologize for about his campaign tactics, and certainly not for any comments made by Rep. Lewis. Shall we have McCain apologize for even just a few of the bizarre and hateful comments made by Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin and their ilk?

by Jim Moran (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1 comments) on Tuesday, October 14, 2008 at 1:20:15 AM

5 comments

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