Sen. John McCain said he would court the black vote and campaign in places Republicans often shun. On Friday, he spoke in Memphis to mark the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
The video shows McCain apologizing for opposing a holiday for King with boos and interruptions from the audience. It doesn’t help that he has a black man holding an umbrella for him.
“I was wrong and eventually realized that, in time to give full support for a state holiday in Arizona,” he said. “We can all be a little late sometimes in doing the right thing, and Dr. King understood this about his fellow Americans.”
According to a press release from the DNC, in 1983, McCain voted against passing a bill to designate the third Monday of every January as a federal holiday in honor of King. In 1987, Arizona Gov. Even Mecham rescinded “what he termed an illegal executive order by his predecessor, Democrat Bruce Babbitt, to establish a state holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.” When asked about Mecham’s decision to rescind the holiday, “McCain said that he felt Mecham was correct in rescinding the holiday.” In 1994, McCain voted to prohibit federal funds for the Martin Luther King Jr. Federal Holiday Commission, which was established in 1984 “to encourage the observance of King’s birthday.”
McCain said he reversed his decision around 1990 after he learned more about King’s achievements. His home state of Arizona was the second to the last state to recognize the holiday. Shout out to CL Readers Kimberly and Diabolical for the info.
how sad
Wow…… deep.
Obama 08
LOL @ the fact that he has a black man holding his umbrella. Go away McCain.
Yea…BOOOOOOOOOO!
lol @ J.Dakar pointing that out lol
Yes Mr. McCain we can all be “a little late sometimes to make the right desions” but, given that you chose an election time to “own” up to your short comings…leaves me unmoved AND unimpressed. That speech seemed so forced and contrived it was kinda sad. Honestly what’s new with American politics.
OBAMA ’08!!!!!!!!!
He is such a liar!! He just wants the black vote AND he doesn’t want to look like a racist bigot! If he thought it was wrong in the first place not to vote for Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday as a holiday…he would never have done it in the first place. Disgusting!! I pray that he doesn’t get elected!
John McCain is full of shit.
i live in the state of Arizona [ just moved not to long ago.]
and i relalized that this state is full of mormon racist ignorant people.
did you know that the Mormon religion thought that black people
were the devils worshipers?
i know he isnt Mormon but i just thought i would add that in.
ARIZONA WAS THE LAST STATE TO ACCEPT MLK DAY.
and it took him until 1990 to realize that?!?!
he only did that because he knows that people were going to be on his
case for being racist. cause thats when people started to realize that
racism is wrong.
his ass is a racist,ignorant motherfucker. [excuse my language but he is.]
if he wins this next election, i dont know what the fuck i’d do.
Somebody should have busted him upside the head with an egg! BOOO!
Wow, i hope the population really gets wind of all the eff ups these presidential candidates are doing *cough* Hillary *Cough cough* McCain *cough*.
Obama for President
The though that he was against the holiday all the way up to th 90s is shocking. Yikes. Way to appeal to the black vote… by reminding them on the very day that you at one point against it’s existence.
Smart.
McCain is full of sh*t….. I don’t know why his old ass is running for President anyway……
Obama 08 Baby!!!!!
————-left side cut off.
Damn……
SIT down!! And I’m giving a side eye to all the fools voting for him….white or black!
This adds insult to injury… does he think Black voters are so gullible that they don’t see how self serving this attempt is?
And another thing…. Nothing changed about Dr. King’s achievements from the point that the King Holiday was introduced to the point that you finally decided to approve. If it took you over 10 years to figure THAT out, being the President of the United States might be a little too much for you.
Yes…you can be too late for some things.
Now he is reminding me of Hillary..they have the same mo say and whatever is necessary to get the black vote…..please. SIT DOWN old man!!!! thank you.
You should have just done an interview like Barack and not even shown your phony a– up in Memphis boooo is absolutely right, and the fool holding the umbrella should have left his cancerous a– on the platform without when he said that ish.
It’s funny how they gave so much hell about the funding for Dr. Martin Luther King’s holiday who made not just Black History but American History, who stood for something that spoke on peace, unity, and justice for all. McCain is full of shit, how the hell you don’t know this man’s place on earth and what he stood for. These Republicans just don’t understand anything, why you think they have no ties with black people unless they want something from us. They don’t care about black people. And we’ve seen plenty of proof of their racism
If McCain wins the presidency…America would be the dumbest nation of voters ever. To vote for the same type of fool THREE times in a row, Lord Help us
I’ve seen this video several times, and in my opinion, he did NOT get booed.
I heard more people saying “We forgive you” and “We all make mistakes”. There was just a lot of chatter, but no one actually booed him. Why the media, and I guess now blogs, keep writing the headline that he got booed is beyond me.
Even if he did get booed, it would not reflect poorly on John McCain but on Black people. Unlike Bush, this man gave a public speech in front of a Black crowd saying he made a mistake and begged for forgiveness.
Do you think that MLK would have booed or rejected this man? So why would it be wise for Black people to boo or reject a man who was sincerely holding out a olive branch to Black people in honor of MLK?
Like I said, I don’t believe he got booed from the clips I heard. But if he did, it reflects poorly on the crowd which would reflect poorly on Black people since the world all groups us together.
I just went back and read through some of the other posts and I don’t get those of you who are trying to make him out to be a racist and saying that he’s full of sh*t.
I’m a Obama supporter, but I think it’s just as wrong to make McCain out to be a racist because of one stupid vote and position he had 20 years ago, as it is to paint Obama out to be a racist or unpatriotic because of his association with Reverend Wright.
All throughout the 90s, McCain consistently said that was the dumbest vote of his political career. Does pandering to racists for their vote and apologizing later make you a racist? Not in my opinion.
Everyone hates Bush because he refused to meet with the NAACP or any other Black group until like his 6th year in office. Now this guy actually tries to make amends during the primary, and you bash him for it? If Republicans have proved anything, they have proved that they can get elected WITHOUT 90% of Black money, votes and support. He didn’t have to go to Memphis and speak in front of that crowd. If you haven’t noticed, but he’s tied nationally in the polls with Obama and Clinton even though Obama would get over 90% of the Black vote. He showed a lot of guts for doing something he didn’t have to do and 98% of his party would not done.
Is he going to win the Black vote? Of course not, especially if the nominee is Obama. But I think the man deserves a little bit of respect for making the effort. I’ll be the first to admit that white people are a little slow to recognize Black equality. But I’ll also be the first to admit that we do just as little to help ourselves.
of course he’s just campaigning. He could care less about MLK jr. or blacks for that reason. The only thing McCain cares about is staying in Iraq for 100 years. I swear he’s even dumber than Bush.
# 6. said
Yes Mr. McCain we can all be “a little late sometimes to make the right desions” but, given that you chose an election time to “own” up to your short comings…leaves me unmoved AND unimpressed. That speech seemed so forced and contrived it was kinda sad. Honestly what’s new with American politics.
_______________________________________________________________________
you make a good point. Though i understand we all can be late sometimes according to Old man McCain, I find it repulsive he choices now to do so. Not 8 years ago or something that but when his a*s knows he needs the black vote. Sorry I wasn’t moved. I want to know why the heck he opposed MLK day to begin with? Some one on here said they didn’t really hear boos, and I didn’t either.
I wonder why all these politicians are courting for black votes now. I thought the black race (or our numbers) were dwindling down. I don’t believe the crappy ass census. Our numbers must be huge for them to even court us or maybe it’s the fact that more African Americans are registering to vote.
Mister Anderson- Well said!
Mr. Anderson, either you are #1 a republican, #2 support McCain, #3 are white OR #4 are a dumbass!
IDK why mf’s keep on pardoning these blatantly racist people!! Anyone who says that we “should protect our country against ‘terrorists’” and support the US military in killing innocent civilians just bc they look like they can be a terrorist is a damn racist! McCain isn’t nowhere near sympathetic of Black people, let alone MLK, Jr. Day.
Even though there were people saying “we all make mistakes”, there were IN FACT people booing. You must be legally deaf to NOT hear “booooo!”
Bottom line McCain SUCKS and Obama is going to win. His ol’ dusty, 97-year-old ass needs to FALL BACK!
Obama 08′. Peace.
Mr.Anderson…
as a politician they are going to do anyting to get ahead.
i see this as getting ahead.
i dont see him as realizing that his decision was wrong,
i see this as trying to kiss ass.
he doesnt seem sincere at all about.
i believe that he is racist because at that time change [the 90s]
people were FINALLY REALIZING THAT RACISM IS WRONG.
and if he as a politician is a racist its not a good look for him.
he had to”realize what his decision was, was wrong” because
he’d get called out.
what this man practicially lived in the time period when
MLK was around, and he STILL didnt understand what was going on???
this man was alive when people were protesting.
me i wasnt but i learned this from a book and knew it was wrong.
come ON.
the man is ignorant.
Obama 08!!!
and we know that #20-21 is a McCain supporter.
I refuse to believe that some people would actually fall for this f*ckery. The man is apologizing during ELECTION TIME people. Think a little. That’s one of the fakest speech I’ve ever heard. This post sums up perfectly what I think :
__________________________________________
26.
HELLRANDOM00
Saturday, April 5, 2008 /
Mr. Anderson, either you are #1 a republican, #2 support McCain, #3 are white OR #4 are a dumbass!
IDK why mf’s keep on pardoning these blatantly racist people!! Anyone who says that we “should protect our country against ‘terrorists’” and support the US military in killing innocent civilians just bc they look like they can be a terrorist is a damn racist! McCain isn’t nowhere near sympathetic of Black people, let alone MLK, Jr. Day.
Even though there were people saying “we all make mistakes”, there were IN FACT people booing. You must be legally deaf to NOT hear “booooo!”
Bottom line McCain SUCKS and Obama is going to win. His ol’ dusty, 97-year-old ass needs to FALL BACK!
Obama 08′. Peace.
Everyone who is eligible please register to vote and then go out and do so. PLEASE. I don’t want him as my president so I’m going to make sure I do something. PLEASE register and vote.
FUCK THIS WHITE PECKER WOOD MUTHA FUCKA. HE KNOW HE DON’T LIKE NIGGAS.
Why are they all suddenly courting for black votes? Their statistics say that the black population is dwindling. I guess they made that sh!t us as well. This was the most contrived, forced speech ever. Vote for OBAMA.
#21 – Mr. Anderson you said that “All throughout the 90s, McCain consistently said that was the dumbest vote of his political career”
But in 1994, McCain voted to prohibit federal funds for the Martin Luther King Jr. Federal Holiday Commission, which was established in 1984 “to encourage the observance of King’s birthday.
Baby please understand, yes people make mistakes, yes people should be forgiven, but only when they are geniunely sorry for their transgressions and only when the apology is geniune. He has been campaigning and has had a million opportunities to acknowledge his mistake –
what he wasn’t sorry last year? Last month?
This is exactly why, everyone needs to band together to get OBAMA in office… do we want 8 years of a RACIST President, who didn’t even know or realize the achievements of DOCTOR Martin Luther King Jr., DOCTOR, anyway, this racist will not win the White House, and I really feel this is a spiritual election and God is telling me to vote for Obama, and this is another sign that we Americans need to vote for him.
WOW…THANKS FOR THIS POST. I DID NOT KNOW THAT MCCAIN OPPOSED MLK HOLIDAY FOR HIS STATE. I AGREE WITH THE #34 POST, THIS IS EXACTLY WHY WE NEED OBAMA IN OFFICE NOW. BEING FROM ALABAMA, I PERSONALLY KNOW RACISM IS STILL ALIVE. WITH THAT SAID, I AM NOT REFERRING TO MCCAIN AS A RACIST, HOWEVER, I WOULDN’T PUT IT PASS HIM EITHER PRIMARILY BECAUSE OF THE GENERATION HE GREW UP IN. I STRONGLY FEEL THAT THE YOUNGER GENERATION ARE NO LONGER HARBORING THOSE TYPES OF SENTIMENTS.
ON ANOTHER NOTE, I THINK IT IS VERY “COMICAL” THAT A BLACK MAN IS HOLDING HIS UMBRELLA, WHILE GIVING A SPEECH ON THIS TOPIC.
VOTING FOR HIM WOULD JUST BE LIKE VOTING FOR BUSH AGAIN.
MR ANDERSON WHAT EVA!
He has a black man holding that umbrella. McCain, that’s not a good look. SMH
at least he came out and told this story and apologized for it before someone else did….I forgive him and I think by coming out and admitting such an awful thing on his own, without pressure says aloot about this man
Obama 08′
Concreteloop….you NEED to do a poll asking if you are a hillary or obama supporter, if they click obama, then another question should come up and ask you if obama does not win will you either A) vote Hillary B) vote McCain C) not vote at all because your person is not on the presidental ballot and vice versa for hillary supporters
I don’t understand why people can’t be forgiven in America….Why is it so hard to forgive people when they admit to their mistakes? It makes no sense at all! Americans can be the most unforgiving, cold, shallow people sometimes….What if God didn’t forgive us for our sins? If Mccain say’s he made a mistake…Who the hell are we not to forgive? Let’s Get Real…..
By the way, this site is so bias…I don’t see anything posted about Hillary Clinton releasing her tax returns. I can gaurantee if something faulty and negative was found in her returns….It would be all over this site! I’m so glad she released those returns….now the Clinton’s have 30 years of tax returns released to the the public! Let’s see what Barack Obama has to say now! He can’t continue badgering her on releasing these taxes, when she has 30 years of clean tax information released!
Why is McCain apologizing now?
I’m not falling for his half a** apology!
Obama 08
Uhm, yeah..America is pretty much a retard country. You should all just move! Experiment gone WRONG.
ummmmm, FUCK YOU McCain!
Big up to the BIG M TOWN!!!!!!!!
I don’t get invovled in politics cause I truely believe mankind is not the solution to our true problems. But I have to speak on this issue. Mr McCain can say what he wants to now. I live in Arizona, Phoenix. Every year this city have a celebration on MLK-Day. He has NEVER appear once, especially since they FINALLY passed this day. So for him to all of a sudden say he was wrong for opposing it, why didn’t he answer why did he opposed it? The true true reason why this state passed MLK-day was due to the mass money it was LOSING. All the major sporting events was never going to come her unless they did.(SUPERBOWL, ALL-STAR AND MAJOR CONCERTS) Only then did they really realize how important is was for this state to observe and approve of this holiday. He knows this. Now he’s singing a different tune when he is realizing what he’s up against. In all honestly you can expect anything else.
I feel like McCain is only apologizing for personal gain, not because he really means it!
He was trying to milk the death of Dr. MLK Jr. to gain Black supporters! WHATEVER!!!!!!
If you ask me I think he is trying to win Black support through pity!!!!!
bullshit, how does it take 30 years to realize what MLK did…BULLSHIT!
@ # 39 JAYLA06
This is a AFRICAN AMERICAN BLOG! lol you say that all the time but this is not affiliated with any news organizations.
Whatever at John McCain is timing is suspect to me.
Bitch please! You weren’t late on voting for Dr. King, you didn’t want that to happen period! He’s old as hell, how could he not know about Dr. King’s accomplishments? He’s full of s-h-i-t….He knew damn well what he was doing each time he voted against King having a day of recognition…..the irony you might ask?
Well the irony is, the holiday got approved anyway because others fought for it ruthlessly and endlessly, and finally prevailed. And now he must accept it, him, and other white americans who would have slept just fine had Dr. King never accomplished anything, or had a day to reflect on his accomplishments. He’s trying to bullshit people and the crowd into thinking he didn’t know about Dr. King’s work, or the extent of his work, and that had he known, he would have voted for a celebration of his date of birth….he p;robably never thought this day would come that he’d be begging black folks for their votes either…he never felt he would have to answer for his decision to not vote for Dr. King, and now the opportunity has presented itself. Yes, he told on himself, cause he knew Obama or someone would have brought this out anyway. You know, the addage of tell on yourself before others have the opportunity to tell on you…..This man is full of shit people….
If you guys believe this, you’ll believe anything…..
@39
This post is not about forgivness, this post is plain and simply about the bloggers on here who can see past BULLSHIT, and clearly you are not one of those people. McCain is not asking for forgiveness here, he’s running game and seeing if black people are dumb enough to swallow it. What he’s asking us to believe is absolutely mind boggling….who on the face of this earth born and living in america don’t know about Dr. King? There’s even a whole month dedicated to his, and other pioneering black americans who had a hand in affording black people the life we live today…..and unless John McCain dies every january, and wakes back March 1st, skipping february, then what idiot, besides you, can swallow his story?
You seem lost, wake up…..
#38 [SHELL]
of course he’s going to apologize before anyone figures out.
IT WOULD BE HELLUVA LOT WORSE.
why cant people believe that he’s covering his ass.
this man will do anything to get further in the race.
as an African American, i honestly believe hes not gonna do SHIT
for us.
U CAN HEAR SOMEBODY IN THE BACKGROUND SAYING WE ALL MAKE MISTAKES SHM……
Arizona is one of most racists state out there. In the workplace, in the streets and in the court system. If you’re black/brown, AZ ain’t down. But if you’re brown with a fake tan, they love you. It’s crazy. They hate black and brown colored people but love to tan to look like us. Yeah, one of us is crazy and it ain’t me. I effen hate politicians because they are liars. McCain is one of them. The only reason he’s addressing not voting for Martin Luther King as holiday is because he’s running for President. Ask yourself this, why did he apologize years before if it bother him so bad? They all are effen crooks and liars. And McCain, your arms are too short (literally) to box with Karma….
47.
JSCENE
Saturday, April 5, 2008 /
he p;robably never thought this day would come that he’d be begging black folks for their votes either…he never felt he would have to answer for his decision to not vote for Dr. King,
__________________________
Exactly…. Say It again, some folk don’t get it.
@48
regardless, it speaks more of his character (and to admit it in front of blacks…..thats just asking for issues….I WOULD NOT have had the balls to admit what I did at all, defiently not in front if blacks and on the day that MLK was killed I would have laid low and not did any speakings because if he did that I doubt that it would have came out)
#48 and 52 – It wasn’t a secret that he opposed the MLKing Holiday – everyone knew that Arizona was one of the absolute last states to vote yes, and as someone mentioned, they, like many other states only did it when they realized that they were losing money — it was not about principle – it was about money.
Like I said, Dr.Kings accomplishments were the same when he opposed the holiday for all of those years up until he finally decided to vote. Nothing changed, accept his state’s bottom line.
It was no secret that he opposed it, and that even more reason why his appearance and request for forgiveness is so disingenuous.
Check out what John Conyers has to say about McCain not apologizing until now….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQ786FkKvYQ
#38: Concrete Loop doesn’t NEED that information because Concrete Loop honestly doesn’t care who you support in the upcoming election. Concrete Loop only cares that you exercise your right to vote.
The political polls we’ve presented have been based on the issues, because that, and how closely each candidate aligns with your individual thoughts and ideas on those issues, are what’s most important.
#39: We were planning to post information regarding Sen. Clinton’s tax return release on Monday morning during a peak viewing time as to not let the story move to the second page before many have even had a chance to read it.
Rest assured if anything negative had been discovered in her returns, that news would have waited until first thing Monday morning, as well.
Peace and blessings,
J. Dakar
>>>>>>>>> I can only laugh at #38 & #39. Pure Ignorance. How in the hell can >>>>>>>>> you apologize and/or run for the President of the United States when >>>>>>>>> you don’t even know the History of the country. At least not the Black >>>>>>>>> History anyway. And then admit in the same sentence that you didn’t
>>>>>>>>> know until 1990 !!! I know his ass gotta be about 90 years old so not
>>>>>>>>> only was he aware, he lived it and probably participated.
>>>> well I did all that spacing for nothing
>>>>> was trying to keep my sentence
>>>>> from being cut off
>>>> hopefull my point was well taken
Once he learned more about King achievements??? McCain was born in the 1930′s and he didn’t know about King’s achievements!! You can go up to a 10 year old white kid today and he could tell you about King’s achievements. Let’s pray this man can never call the White House his home!
The only reason he showed up in the M, is to try to get the Black vote. That will never happen.
Go Tigers!!!!!
Okay, did he really expect for the citizens of MEMPHIS,TN or African-Ameircans period to be interested in a word he has to say? I hope not because if so he is more out of touch then I expected! Oh yeah, the black man with the umbrella is not a good look McCain!!!