John Lewis Supported Hillary Clinton

Some of us were fascinated by the wildly inappropriate statement made by Congressman John Lewis regarding John McCain's campaign.

But there is one piece of history that many of us forget.  During the primary season, the venerable Mr. Lewis initially supported Hillary Clinton-- not Barack Obama. 

It is entertaining to see him now whip himself up into a frenzy in defense of the Democratic nominee on the basis of race, and display his awe-inspiring theatrical skills-- especially after he had supported Mrs. Clinton.

Comments

[Fred Gregory]

Here is the text of a Lewis ad used in a local Atlanta election in 2006. He hasn't changed.

"This is Congressman John Lewis."
"And I'm Mayor Shirley Franklin"

"And I'm Andy Young"

(John Lewis) "On November 7th we face the most dangerous situation we ever have. If you think fighting off dogs and water hoses in the sixties was bad, imagine if we sit idly by and let the right-wing Republicans take control of the Fulton County Commission."

(Shirley Franklin) "The efforts of Martin and Coretta King, Hosea Williams, Maynard Jackson and many others will be lost. That's why we must stand up and we must turn out the vote for the Democrats on Election Day."

(Andy Young) "And especially for John Eaves for Fulton County Commission Chairman. Unless you want them to turn back the clock on equal rights and human rights and economic opportunity for all of us, vote for John Eaves as Fulton County Chairman"

(Lewis) "Your very life may depend on it."

(John Eaves) "This message paid for by the committee to elect John Eaves."

[Joe Guarino]

Demagoguery, Fred.

[Everest]

Joe - Charles Krauthammer made an interesting observation yesterday. McCain runs a "Celebrity" ad with Paris Hilton, a white woman, and is derided for playing the race card. He has Franklin Raines, the former CEO of Fannie (who gave back $40MM+ to the Feds for fraud under his watch) and an African American, and is accused of playing the race card. He has Bill Ayers, a white male, in an ad and is accused of playing the race card. Can Obama not be criticized AT ALL??? The fact is that he's consistently played the race card the entire campaign, and continues to use this against Republicans, with MSM faithfully towing the line, with little if any evidence of it's accuracy....that doesn't exactly "transcend race and the politics of personal destruction" now does it? What John Lewis said was dispicable (and that's in a long line of his disgraceful rhetoric) - and recall how McCain held him out as one of his heroes in the Saddleback Church discussion. At some point, McCain will understand that for liberals, it is ideology first, friendship and country a very distant 2nd and 3rd...I hope he hasn't understood that too late.

[Joe Guarino]

Everest, McCain sought to take the high road for a long period of time. Unfortunately, in politics, it is difficult to do this successfully when your opponents have reduced the contest to the equivalent of a street brawl.