I see that Matt Lewis has also blogged on my question to
McCain today. It is a question I wrote down to ask about three
months ago, and never got the chance to. When I wrote it, I
actually took time to check references; in addition, I still
believe I remember McCain using the Jim Crow analogy explicitly.
But fair is fair, and now I cannot find it in a quick Google
search, but instead find multiple references to the same video in
which McCain used what multiple observers compared to Jim Crow
imagery without McCain himself actually using the phrase. McCain is
an honorable man and he denies having used those words; unless I
discover otherwise, I must assume that I transposed those
interpretations of his words with his actual words (although the
comparison he did use was still unfair almost to the point of being
odious), and thus I apologize for the mistaken quotation.
The other quotes I used in the question were accurate (I just
re-checked them). And the question is, I still believe, valid. It
is, I believe, a key question for him to answer if he is to get
conservatives fully on board with him. I say this judging from
copious reader mail, by the way. For the record, here is the
question as written to myself for note purposes several months
back:
With all due respect, senator: One of the most
frequently aired complaints from conservatives is as much about
tone as content, namely that when you disagree with conservatives,
you seem to use the language and the anger of the left and to
question not just conservatives' positions but their motives or
integrity. Upon your considerable honor, what assurances can you
give us that you will avoid that tendency if you make it to the
Oval Office?
Examples: immigration opponents as "nativists" and like
supporters of "Jim Crow." Romney needing to "apologize to the
troops." "patriotism, not profit." "pharma as 'bad guys'."
I think it a legitimate question. Finally, also for the record, I
continue to stand by my most recent, considerably more
complimentary, column on McCain,
here.
topics:
NATO, Immigration
