How’s that reaching out working, John?

The other day, characteristically John McCain pleaded with supporters to not be afraid of Barack Obama (video at LGF) . Attendees booed him.  Bloggers booed. So how did that bit of reaching across the aisle work for McCain ? Well the WSJ’s Washington Wire reports that it got him called a reincarnation of Democrat segregationist governor and presidential candidate George Wallace by John Lewis;

Rep. John Lewis, an icon of the Civil Rights Movement, compared Republican presidential nominee John McCain to former Alabama Gov. George Wallace, a legendary segregationist. Lewis (D, Ga.) said that McCain and his running mate, Sarah Palin, are “sowing the seeds of hatred and division.”

[…]

“What I am seeing reminds me too much of another destructive period in American history. Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are sowing the seeds of hatred and division, and there is no need for this hostility in our political discourse,” he wrote.

He went on to compare the Republican candidates to Wallace, who ran unsuccessfully 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. Because of this atmosphere of hate, four little girls were killed on Sunday morning when a church was bombed in Birmingham, Alabama,” Lewis wrote. “As public figures with the power to influence and persuade, Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are playing with fire, and if they are not careful, that fire will consume us all.”

So John McCain responds with more feel-good, happy talk;

“Congressman John Lewis’ comments represent a character attack against Governor Sarah Palin and me that is shocking and beyond the pale,” he said in a written statement. “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.”

The Obama campaign responds as one might expect them to respond;

“Senator Obama does not believe that John McCain or his policy criticism is in any way comparable to George Wallace or his segregationist policies,” Burton said. “But John Lewis was right to condemn some of the hateful rhetoric that John McCain himself personally rebuked just last night.”

I guess that the democrats don’t see that they’re ones fueling the “hateful rhetoric”, calling us racists,  describing us as hicks and gun-clinging whackos. I hope they trot out some more race pimps like Lewis – it’ll only galvanize the folks that make this country work against Obama in these finals weeks.

Michelle Malkin says; Look who’s gripped by insane rage.

Category: Barack Obama/Joe Biden, Economy, John McCain/Sarah Palin, Politics