While the MSM/ GOP are on the subject of race, let's talk about McCain's abysmal civil rights record

[ProSense]

Sam Stein

McCain Won't Apologize For Vote Against Civil Rights Act

April 11, 2008 09:14 AM

This past week, Sen. John McCain repented for his decision in 1983 to oppose a federal holiday honoring Martin Luther King.

Speaking on the anniversary of King's death, and from the site of his assassination, the Arizona Republican declared that he was "wrong and eventually realized that, in time to give full support for a state holiday in Arizona... We can all be a little late sometimes in doing the right thing, and Dr. King understood this about his fellow Americans."

But while McCain is seeking amends for his King Day vote, he has refused to back down on another controversial decision he made that put him at sharp odds with the civil rights movement.

In 1990, McCain was one of the deciding votes in helping then-President George H.W. Bush sustain a veto against the relatively benign Civil Rights Act of 1990.

In doing so, the senator found himself at odds with majorities in both chambers of Congress, most senior African Americans within the Bush administration, and the Republican-led U.S. Civil Rights Commission. He also helped Bush became the first president ever to successfully veto a civil rights measure -- Andrew Johnson in 1866 and Ronald Reagan in 1988 both had vetoes overridden.

<...>

Ultimately, the vote fell one short: 66 to 34. Prominent Republican Senators like John H Chaffe, John Danforth, Pete Domenici, and Arlen Specter, all chose to override the veto. McCain - who had earlier voted for a watered down version of the bill, one that didn't reverse the court's decision - backed the president.

Nearly two decades later, and on the verge of the 40th anniversary of President Lyndon Johnson's landmark 1968 Civil Rights Act, McCain stood by his vote. Asked about the decision this past Sunday, he again repeated that the law amounted to a quota system that he historically has opposed.

more

(emphasis added)

When it comes to civil rights, McCain has some explaining to do

In an effort to show that, if elected, he would be president of "all the people," John McCain has visited the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., the scene of one of the bloodiest civil rights marches in history. He's also traveled though Alabama's impoverished Black Belt region, and showed up for services commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination in Memphis.

Those gestures, designed to soften McCain's public image, cannot hide his awful record on civil rights.

In 11 grading periods since he began serving in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1983 and the Senate in 1987, McCain has earned an F for every period, according to an annual report by the NAACP.

Of the 11 grading periods, McCain's highest score was 50 percent (1985-86), meaning he supported positions on legislation favored by the NAACP half of the time. His second-highest score was 40 percent (1997-1998). In the nine other grading periods, he supported the NAACP 30 percent of the time or less.

Instead of getting better on civil rights in recent years, McCain has grown worse. Since his unsuccessful 2000 bid for president, McCain voted with the NAACP just 27 percent of the time during the 107th Congress, 15 percent in the 108th Congress and an all-time low of 7 percent during the first session of the 109th Congress, which ended in 2006.

more

Double talk: In Selma, McCain praises civil rights marchers

Note:

John McCain Refuses to Fire South Carolina Spokesman Who Founded A Confederate Heritage Magazine And Wrote Against MLK Holiday. Quinn was the editor in chief of The Southern Partisan magazine, which was described by Vanity Fair as "rabidly devoted to the South's Confederate heritage." In a 1983 column arguing against the recognition of Martin Luther King Day, Quinn wrote, "King Day should have been rejected because its purpose is vitriolic and profane." As recently as December 23, 2005, Richard Quinn was identified as "McCain's South Carolina spokesman." A 2004 Vanity Fair piece on McCain's fall in the 2000 campaign identified Quinn as "the McCain (2000) campaign's South Carolina strategist." (The State, 2/9/01, Partisan View, Southern Partisan, Fall, 1983, Spartanburg Herald-Journal, 12/23/05; Vanity Fair, 11/04)

Moreover, McCain has:

• Voted against a bill declaring the third Monday in January a federal holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

• Voted to cut off federal assistance to public schools that prohibit prayer in school.

• Voted to strike provisions of the Racial Justice Act that would prohibit the death sentence in state and federal cases if a defendant could prove with statistical or other evidence that the race of the victim played a role in sentencing.

• Voted against a 1996 bill to prohibit job discrimination based on sexual orientation.

• Voted against measures to increase the minimum wage, against a woman's right to choose, and with Bush 91 percent of the time last year.

[ProSense]

1. McCain Camp: We Won't Talk About Race Again

McCain Camp: We Won't Talk About Race Again


No, let's!

[ProSense]

2. McCain gave at speech to the Urban League

McCain's Urban League Speech

Excerpt:

You'll hear from my opponent, Senator Obama, tomorrow, and if there's one thing he always delivers it's a great speech. But I hope you'll listen carefully, because his ideas are not always as impressive as his rhetoric. And this is especially true in the case of the Urban League's agenda of opportunity. Your Opportunity Compact speaks of the urgent need to reform our public schools, create jobs, and help small businesses grow. You understand that persistent problems of failing schools and economic stagnation cannot be solved with the same tired ideas and pandering to special interests that have failed us time and again. And you know how much the challenges have changed for those who champion the cause of equal opportunity in America.

OMG!

[ProSense]

3. Nutcase alert

GOP Strategist Accuses Obama Of Trying To Start "Race War"