McCain Sowing Seeds of Hatred

"What a man sow shall he reap --
And you know that talk is cheap..."
- Bob Marley

John McCain was right in August when he called John Lewis one of the "wisest people" he knew.

So when Representative Lewis -- a Georgia Democrat and veteran of the civil rights movement -- recently denounced the McCain/Palin campaign for its use of divisive rhetoric and said the negative tone of the Republican presidential campaign reminded him of the hateful atmosphere that segregationist Governor George Wallace fostered in Alabama in the 1960s, he was calling it like it is.

I have been writing, speaking and blogging extensively of late about the hate speech epidemic in America, which has been mostly playing out on the airwaves of shock jock talk radio. Knowing the tenor of the times, I was unsurprised when the tone of the presidential campaign veered into similar territory. The truth is that Lewis simply called it like it is when he 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.'' Rather than rejecting his remarks as ''shocking and beyond the pale,'' McCain should have listened to Lewis, who is one of three people the Arizona Senator said he would "rely heavily on" if elected president.

Lewis was also right that the fear and loathing being expressed on the campaign trail in 2008 is frighteningly similar to that of the dark days of 1968. Those of us who were around at the time remember well what happened then, shortly after the hate speaking began. As Lewis noted, ''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.... Because of this atmosphere of hate, four little girls were killed on Sunday morning when a church was bombed in Birmingham, Alabama.''

Instead of being viewed through the partisan prism of the heated presidential campaign, Lewis' statement should instead serve, as he said as "a reminder to all Americans that toxic language can lead to destructive behavior." So when McCain and Palin supporters shout ''traitor,'' ''terrorist,'' ''treason,'' ''liar'' and even ''off with his head'' at campaign stops in reference to Barack Obama - and when reporters are threatened and castigated with racist remarks - it's time for all truly patriotic Americans to stand up and speak out. Instead, McCain denounced Lewis' remarks as "shocking and beyond the pale." But it has really been his campaign -- and his running mate Sarah "Beyond the" Palin -- who have stepped over the line of acceptable political discourse by floating absurd charges such as the laughable one that Obama has been as ''palling around with terrorists.'' After all, terrorists present a mortal threat to this country -- and we all know what happens to them when they're finally caught...

So it doesn't take a genius, or a lot of imagination, to think of what could happen next. Remember the recent shooting at the Unitarian-Universalist church in Knoxville? Remember the 1968 shooting at the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis? And the subsequent one at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles? I certainly do! That's why I believe the wise man John Lewis when he points out that the McCain/Palin ticket is "playing with fire." And as the late political analyst Robert Nesta Markey once aptly remarked, "Catch a fire -- you're gonna get burned!"

So please, John McCain: You're better than that! Stop the hate speech before it's too late. If not, I fear the fire next time may consume us all for decades to come...

Follow Rory O'Connor on Twitter: www.twitter.com/rocglobal

Comments

[suzifla]

I must have missed something. Isn't it possible to be both an "Arab" and a "family man"? Does the constitution say that Moslems can't run for president? Are we all nuts?

[pons1595]

John McCain is friends with G. Gordan Liddy, a "true" domestic terrorist, so according McCainian logic; John McCain is a terrorist.

[rich misty]

Extremely dangerous to America, he will be a catastrophy.

[janeInCA]

It's all started with the word "terrorist", many thanks to gov P alin, she was succesful to use people's emotion, fear/hate/anger and blame, during the time of economic crisis.

[Fzetmptres1]

Wow, what's most frightening is how true this post is. I was 4 years old in April 1968 and still have not forgotten the burning and the looting.I never expected that my own voting aged children having this sad chapter in this country's history repeated 40 years later.

Peace NOT War

Obama/Biden 08

[hortonhearsawho]

you were 4 years old...wow, half way to becoming a terrorist then....

[mebble]

Hate speech in the 2008 election. More evidence that McCain and Palin do not possess the integrity, the courage, the moral rectitude, the emotional intelligence much less the humanity to be leading the U.S.

[MsDebate]

You took the words right out of my mouth. Those people are a disgrace to America and the office they are trying to kill to get to.

[mmcdonald]

I guess Lewis is wise as long as he supports everything McCain does and says. Nice example of how to take the advice of his expert advisors, and of how McCain would operate in the White House most likely.

[BarackMarley]

Read an analysis on why Lewis was right about McCain and George Wallace
http://newsone.blackplanet.com/elections/john-lewis-vs-john-mccain/

[SpoxLogic]

Despite the fact taht no one on the left adores GW Bush, I have yet to ehar of anyone at any Dem rally yelling "Kill him!" in reference to Bush. We aer harsh in our critism and jokes, but no one has advocated killign the man.

[tel8034]

Didn't McCain at the Saddleback venue cite John Lewis as a person he would take advice from if he became POTUS?

Now that John Lewis is "giving him advice" McCain suddenly becomes critical of him?......­......... McCAIN THIS IS THE SAME JOHN LEWIS YOU CLAIM YOU ADMIRE AND WANT ADVICE FROM.

Was McCain only "name dropping" in order to pander to AAs, when throughout this campaign he has made mention of John Lewis?

John Lewis is an EXPERT on what happens when mobs attack soley on the basis of hate and racial divides ..........­..........­...... HE WAS UPFRONT AND CENTER DURING THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT, AND THERE ARE PICTURES WHICH CLEARLY SHOW THE BEATINGS HE RECIEVED DURING THOSE TIMES.

So If John Lewis can see the signs of impending violence because of what's happening on the McCain campaign rally stumps, then McCain should listen.

After all McCain keeps telling us that he's an expert on POWs because he was one ..........­........ So why doesn't he give Lewis the same courtesy with his civil rights experiences?

[mebble]

The only reason John McCain said he admired John Lewis is because John Lewis happens to be a black man and a greatly revered one at that ... clearly this is just another instance of John McCain pandering again ... he's running against a "black" so he thinks that he can mitigate that by praising a black man. John McCain has no respect for Rep. John Lewis. If he did he'd be listening instead of reflexively firing a broadside. But McCain was never known for using his brain or thinking before shooting, was he?