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McCain campaign's tone likened to George Wallace's

COMBINED NEWS SERVICES

October 12, 2008

WASHINGTON - Rep. John Lewis, a Georgia Democrat and veteran of the civil rights movement, says the negative tone of the Republican presidential campaign reminds him of the hateful atmosphere segregationist Gov. George Wallace fostered in Alabama in the 1960s.

Republican candidate John McCain yesterday called Lewis' remarks "shocking and beyond the pale." The Obama campaign said the Illinois senator doesn't believe McCain or his policy criticism is comparable to Wallace and his segregationist policies.

In a statement yesterday, Lewis 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."

"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," said Lewis, who is black, noting Wallace also ran for president.

"Because of this atmosphere of hate, four little girls were killed on Sunday morning when a church was bombed in Birmingham, Alabama," Lewis said, referring to the Sept. 15, 1963 bombing of Birmingham's 16th Street Baptist Church, a seminal event of the civil rights movement.

In August, while appearing at a forum on faith, McCain was asked to name three "wise people" he would listen to. He cited Lewis as well as Gen. David Petraeus, head of U.S. troops in Iraq, and former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, a top adviser to his campaign.

After a week in which Republican crowds shouted "traitor," "terrorist," "treason," "liar" and even "off with his head" at Obama's mention, much note was made of John McCain's effort Friday night to calm down a crowd in Minnesota. "I respect Sen. Obama and his accomplishments," McCain told the crowd. When people booed at the mention of Obama's name, McCain, visibly angry, stopped them: "I want everyone to be respectful, and let's make sure we are."

Obama, on the stump in Philadelphia yesterday, made a slight nod to his Republican rival while asking voters to have faith in him as the next president. Criticizing McCain's economic policies, he acknowledged the GOP nominee has asked his supporters to temper their attacks on him. "I appreciated his reminder that we can disagree while still being respectful of each other," Obama told thousands of supporters at the first of four outdoor rallies in Philadelphia.

The McCain campaign has been running an ad, entitled, "Dangerous," that distorts facts and uses B-horror-movie organ music to paint Obama as a dangerous and risky choice.

Latest polls show Obama holds a lead in six of nine new state surveys, while McCain claims the advantage in Alabama, and the two are tied in Georgia and North Carolina.