McCain's Memphis Visit Raises Past Opposition To MLK Day

This Friday, Sen. John McCain will head to Memphis, Tennessee to commemorate the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The stop, which is part of the senator's extended biography tour, is a complimentary gesture both to the African American community and to King's legacy. But is also threatens to resurrect an inconsistency McCain has had on one of the more symbolically important civil rights issues: whether or not to create a holiday commemorating Martin Luther King.

In 1983, McCain voted against passing a bill to designate the third Monday of every January as a federal holiday in honor of King. Four years later, then-Arizona Governor Evan Mecham rescinded Martin Luther King Day as a state holiday, saying it had been established through an illegal executive order by his Democratic predecessor.

McCain said he thought Mecham was correct in his decision.

Two years after that, McCain's viewpoint began to change, but only gradually. In 1989, he urged lawmakers to make Martin Luther King Jr. day a state holiday, but said he was "still opposed to another federal holiday."

"I support the (Arizona) Martin Luther King holiday," he added, "because of the enormous proportions this issue has taken on as far as the image of our state and our treatment towards not only blacks but all minorities."

By 2000, McCain had come full circle. In an interview with ABC News during the Republican primary, he said he regretted voting against the 1983 bill. "Yes," he stated, "It was a wrong vote."

Why did he make that decision, he was later asked.

"We didn't like outsiders coming in and telling us what to do, how we would conduct this effort to get the majority of Arizona to recognize Dr. Martin Luther King as a holiday," McCain told ABC. "I worked very hard to achieve that recognition of Dr. King. And I did resent it when people parachuted in from other parts of the country to try and tell us what to do."

To his credit, McCain has been repentant on his earlier MLK Day positions. In 2000, he went to the South Carolina, following his primary loss, and condemned the Confederate flag, something he declined to do during his run for office then. And, on a segment of Hardball taped in February 2000, he described what he deemed a political evolution on the issue of MLK Day.

"I believe that Barry Goldwater [McCain's political hero], to start with, regretted his vote on the 1964 Civil Rights Act," he said. "I think that Barry grew, like all of us grow and evolve. In 1983, when I was brand-new in the Congress, I voted against the recognition of Dr. Martin Luther King. That was a mistake, OK? And later I had the chance to...help fight for...the recognition of Dr. Martin Luther King as a holiday in my state."

Comments

[realpolitic]

McCain did not support the holiday to commemorate Dr. King in 1987, but did so in 1989. More of the straight talk express!

[robXdion]

He was trying to save face after the Keating Five scandal and get back into people's good graces in 1989.

[realpolitic]

Yes, he was appealing to their racial sensibilites to get back in their good graces.

[degjack]

This phony stinks up to high heaven!

How disingenuous!!

Disgusting.

[realpolitic]

Tell him!!!!

[JulieSA]

As I remember it, a lot of the general opposition at the time was just about not needing another holiday, especially since Lincoln and Washington's birthdays were being obliterated as the one generic Presidents Day. And you now, Lincoln did free the slaves, but we don't even celebrate HIS birthday anymore.

In Texas, we have long observed Juneteenth (June 19) as a state holiday, the day the slaves in Texas were emancipated. So a lot of people thought we didn't need another African-American civil rights holiday.

Most people, like McCain, have come around to accepting the MLK holiday, of course. My own South Texas city hosts the nation's largest MLK celebration, even though our black population is a tiny percentage. Our motto here is any excuse for a fiesta.

[GoreyFantod]

Lincoln did not "free the slaves." That's a simplistic myth perpetuated in the popular imagination, much like the myths that Columbus discovered America & Paul Revere rode further than from Boston to Cambridge.

The 1862 Emancipation Proclamation (actually two proclamations, not one), was a military tactic designed to undermine the Confederacy - it "freed" slaves in the Confederate states only. It was an unenforceable executive order, since the Union had no functional ability to compel the Confederacy to comply with it in the midst of the war. While it can be argued that it compelled the northern & border states to get on board with the notion of an eventual cessation, it wasn't until the Thirteenth Amendment was passed in 1865 that slaves were emancipated under the law.

Also, the notion that opposition to MLK Day was primarily about not wanting/needing another federal holiday is disingenuous, at best. The opponents were, largely, the same people who were opposing divestment in Apartheid South Africa and using Nixon's "Southern Strategy" to poison the well and get elected. Opposition to the holiday was led by none other than Jesse Helms.

[BrooklynLager]

But MLK day is for everyone!

[johnfoirdfw]

Methinks white man speak with forked tongue...

[IslandGyal]

rotflmao

[hopein]

Me knows!

[V4Vigilance]

Hey, a politician willing to admit that they made a mistake on a vote. That's refreshing.

OBAMA 08

[2008andbeyond]

If Hillary manages to destroy the party just enough to steal the nomination, McCain will have a legit shot at 30% or more the black vote in the GE. That would be enough, when combined with those that stay home out of disgust for the Dem party, to swing states like California, New Jersey and Illinois to him, plus keep Georgia and Virginia in the GOP pocket. In that case, he'll want to highlight and further show how sorry he is about that vote.

[BrooklynLager]

Good theory.

I'd say higher than 30%, because he's picking up 35% of the black vote in a hypothetical matchup against Hillary Clinton *now*. That's before everyone's presumed horror if the vote gets overturned, which I would assume would increase that number.

A little known fact is that Democrats lose the white vote by double digits every year. If you don't carry the black vote by 85%+, it puts all states in play. It's the reason Mondale was wiped out - people thought Jesse Jackson had been stiffed at the convention.

[rh654]

UNTIL the Democrats get a nominee and can take a united front to go after these issues and gaffs from McCain - McCain's issues are pretty much irrelevant. Everyone is paying attention to Clinton and Obama - and neither one of them has the ability to really go after McCain while they are still fighting it out for the nomination.

[KYJurisDoctor]

The speech against the confederate flag may assuage African American voters!

[robXdion]

Black voters aren't stupid. They see it for what it is. A politician pandering for votes during an election year. There is no way John McCain can make up for decades of Republican antagonism and dismissal of black people by saying the Confederate Flag is not very nice. Republicans should have given a race speech similar to Obama's 1st. But the only one to come close was Newt Gingrich and he still can't get his head around what made Rev. Wright so angry because he and his partys policies are partly the reason. So they blame the Wright for lashing out.

[uheardme]

I think lots of black voters have evolved. Just look at this race and certain white Dems willingness to throw blacks under the proverbial bus for (Reagan dems=working class Repubs) votes. I think what will hurt McCain is his unwillingness to show up of for the FAMU debates, not this. I think he will attract a greater percentage of the Black vote, if Hillary gets the nod.

[lysistrata]

He made the speech after he LOST the election, not before. How nice.

[jamrock47]

I am not suggesting that McCain is a racist,however it is so convenient for some white people , when confronted with their ignorant dispicable racist attitudes , to revert to the old line of that was the thinking at the time , this is so much hogwash, from as far back as slavery there were concientious white people, whom by the way were just that, (people)who spoke out and took steps to grant blacks their full dignity and respect as human beings, these people were well aware even then ,that the whole idea that one race was superior to another was ignorant dribble, many of these decent people took a principled stance at great risk to themselves, and their property, many died and others lost everything they possesed, so lets call racism what it is RACISM, so for McShame to suggest that his vote was a mistake in the 80s is disgustingly insulting, and should be seen for what it truly is.Here is something worthy of note when the Criminal Christopher Columbus came to these shore he saw black people living here in peace with the native Americans, they owned property and was making progress, this needs to be taught in schools, so that the lie that Columbus came here before the Africans can be seen by all for the lie it is.

[illinB]

please... go on.

[Middbrain]

Thats a clever disguise Rev.Wright ! Please elaborate and enlighten us.

[afgail]

African Americans here BEFORE Columbus????????? How did that happen?

[BeyondKen]

Well, they could have sailed here. The Polynesians crossed a much bigger ocean that way. There is, however, no good evidence that Africans reached the Americas before the Spanish, or the Norse.

[SoulSistah]

Don't go to Memphis Sen. McHypocrisy . . .

[elleeda]

it seems to me that john mccain feels one way, then when he is running for public office he changes his mind to conform with conservatice views, then once he has either lost or won, he goes back to his old view, or changes his mind utterly once more. i mean, come on!
mccain simply cannot win. he may think he has a free pass on all these issues, but believe me once obama is the nominee, all of this will be resurrected.

[Nommo]

He would have said the same thing if Dr. King were leading marches in that state. It never changes, no matter the justification.

[kaafir]

Democratic President John F. Kennedy voted against the 1957 Civil Rights Law, opposed the 1963 March on Washington by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and was later criticized by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for ignoring civil rights issues. President John F. Kennedy authorized the FBI (supervised by his brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy) to investigate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on suspicion of being a communist,

[chinaskee]

Yeah but he was a Democrat so he gets a pass.

[nomobull]

1957?

[iPolitics]

Flip-flop. Just like on taxes. Just like on the war. Just like on ethics and lobbyist influence.

[robXdion]

I still think AZ doesn't commemorate MLK Day. The ONLY state against it. He came to Congress in 81-82 and wanted to show his 'good ol' boy' bona-fides. He decided to run for the Senate in the mid 80s and changed his tune. He decided to run for President in 2000 and changed his tune even more. Now it comes back in the form of an opponent that embodies the essence of MLK. People need to understand King was not JUST for black people, he was for all people. That simplistic tribal way of seeing this is why the US's mature growth is so stunted in 2008. McCain at nearly 72 is the perfect embodiment of that slooooooooww progression in wisdom. Both he and the nation do what is expedient when convenient.

[JulieSA]

It's a federal holiday. Federal emloyees have to observe it.

[ljmck]

Have to? Makes you sound reluctant. Is that what you meant?