The Liberal Thread #2 - No Debate Please

[Charade]

40 years ago today Dr. Martin Luther King was gunned down in Memphis by James Earl Ray. John McCain had the bad taste to speak from the same balcony this morning. It made me retch. At least it was raining and the cameras couldn't 'get' his face for all the umbrellas.

This is the guy who TWICE worked to prevent Arizona from naming a day after Dr. King. Blech.

I don't get the outrage? Why did he vote against it?

 

[punkin]

IMO,what he deserves is to be impeached, tried, convicted and imprisoned.

Do you want me to argue with you about that?

He may deserve it, but the country doesn't need an impeachment.

 

[JARNJ3]

I'm just glad I wasn't there. I'd have been stuck on the horns of that dilemma. The office deserves respect, George W. Bush does not.

Correct - and "the office" isn't throwing out the first pitch - the man is.

 

[profdsny]

Turned your back? I guess that's disrespect but without the noise though.

Maybe turned my back, and taken my pants down.
Actually, he's lucky he was in a US park where there is some civility. In some countries they would have stormed the field with tar and feathers. For starts.

 

[profdsny]

Do you want me to argue with you about that?

He may deserve it, but the country doesn't need an impeachment.

I agree. I can't wait to see him and the rest of his running dogs in court on criminal charges.

 

[LuvDuke]

I don't get the outrage? Why did he vote against it?

That you don't get it is the point.

 

[crazyforgoofy]

Maybe turned my back, and taken my pants down.
Actually, he's lucky he was in a US park where there is some civility. In some countries they would have stormed the field with tar and feathers. For starts.

Oh my! The pictures in my head right now.

 

[Mugg Mann]

Oh my! The pictures in my head right now.

If the scoreboard were to read one hit and no errors........

 

[DISUNC]

 

[Mugg Mann]

And Shemp would be..................?

 

[Soubrette]

Creepy photo...

 

[DISUNC]

And Shemp would be..................?

You mean the most forgotten Stooge????

 

[va32h]

I don't get the outrage? Why did he vote against it?

I lived in AZ during the whole MLK controversy. It was ugly.

1986 our then governor Bruce Babbit (who is a very nice guy as is his wife, Hattie) declared the holiday a state (paid) holiday by executive order. He did that because he (with good reason) didn't think our conservative state legislature would approve it.

In 1988, Ev Mecham, a local car dealership owner and the kind of guy who ran for office every year, was elected because (uh oh) the Dems had a party split and one of our candidates ran as an independent, split the votes and Mecham won - without a majority.

Well old Ev promptly rescinded the holiday, making such comments as "I guess King did a lot for the colored people but he doesn't deserve a holiday" and "You folks don't need another holiday, you need jobs." (The latter declaration made to a group of black community leaders.)

Evan Mecham had other problems though - he holds the distinction of being the first governor to face removal from office through impeachment, recall and felony indictment - all at the same time!

Well now AZ has no King holiday and our governor is a nutbar with a ethics problem - not a good image for the state.

Mecham didn't even last a year as governor, and his successor tried to get some version of the holiday back on the books. They did that by swapping King day for Columbus Day, which set of a new round of protests from Italian Americans. Enough outcry over that put the holiday on hold pending referendum. Then a second bill was passed, consolidating Lincoln and Washington's birthdays into one to make room for King day. That was also put on hold pending referendum after much public outcry.

So then we had an election with two versions of the holiday on the ballot. And again, votes were split, neither had enough votes to pass, and now AZ really looks like a state full of bigots who voted against MLK Day (although the overwhelming majority of voters did support one version or the other - wanting an MLK Day.)

The NFL took away the Super Bowl - which Tempe was supposed to host - and a travel & tourism boycott was imposed.

Finally in 1992 then-governor Fife Symington (who has another spurious connection to McCain) introduced a single, understandable, referendum on King Day that passed, ending our long state nightmare.

McCain voted against the holiday in 1983. He was on record as opposing Babbit's declaration of the holiday in 1988 and had not changed that position as late as 2000 - even after seeing the national beating AZ received over the controversy.

I don't know why he opposed it, but I can certainly understand why, given Mecham's comments, opposing the holiday became associated with racism. It was in AZ's best interest to pass the holiday.

 

[punkin]

"I guess King did a lot for the colored people but he doesn't deserve a holiday" and "You folks don't need another holiday, you need jobs." (The latter declaration made to a group of black community leaders.)

 

[chris1gill]

I lived in AZ during the whole MLK controversy. It was ugly.

1986 our then governor Bruce Babbit (who is a very nice guy as is his wife, Hattie) declared the holiday a state (paid) holiday by executive order. He did that because he (with good reason) didn't think our conservative state legislature would approve it.

In 1988, Ev Mecham, a local car dealership owner and the kind of guy who ran for office every year, was elected because (uh oh) the Dems had a party split and one of our candidates ran as an independent, split the votes and Mecham won - without a majority.

Well old Ev promptly rescinded the holiday, making such comments as "I guess King did a lot for the colored people but he doesn't deserve a holiday" and "You folks don't need another holiday, you need jobs." (The latter declaration made to a group of black community leaders.)

Evan Mecham had other problems though - he holds the distinction of being the first governor to face removal from office through impeachment, recall and felony indictment - all at the same time!

Well now AZ has no King holiday and our governor is a nutbar with a ethics problem - not a good image for the state.

Mecham didn't even last a year as governor, and his successor tried to get some version of the holiday back on the books. They did that by swapping King day for Columbus Day, which set of a new round of protests from Italian Americans. Enough outcry over that put the holiday on hold pending referendum. Then a second bill was passed, consolidating Lincoln and Washington's birthdays into one to make room for King day. That was also put on hold pending referendum after much public outcry.

So then we had an election with two versions of the holiday on the ballot. And again, votes were split, neither had enough votes to pass, and now AZ really looks like a state full of bigots who voted against MLK Day (although the overwhelming majority of voters did support one version or the other - wanting an MLK Day.)

The NFL took away the Super Bowl - which Tempe was supposed to host - and a travel & tourism boycott was imposed.

Finally in 1992 then-governor Fife Symington (who has another spurious connection to McCain) introduced a single, understandable, referendum on King Day that passed, ending our long state nightmare.

McCain voted against the holiday in 1983. He was on record as opposing Babbit's declaration of the holiday in 1988 and had not changed that position as late as 2000 - even after seeing the national beating AZ received over the controversy.

I don't know why he opposed it, but I can certainly understand why, given Mecham's comments, opposing the holiday became associated with racism. It was in AZ's best interest to pass the holiday.

This post is deserving of it's own thread, but what I will say, is that it is clear that John McCain is not deserving of any vote from any segment of the population that he has so clearly demeaned, as recently as 2000. He has apologized only because he is running for President, and I don't believe a word of it...

His actions of so many years speak volumes.

 

[eclectics]

This post is deserving of it's own thread, but what I will say, is that it is clear that John McCain is not deserving of any vote from any segment of the population that he has so clearly demeaned, as recently as 2000. He has apologized only because he is running for President, and I don't believe a word of it...
His actions of so many years speak volumes.

And he had the nerve to do it from the very balcony.

 

[Honu]

And he had the nerve to do it from the very balcony.

Pretty sad that he is oblivious to how inappropriate that was.

 

[crazyforgoofy]

And he had the nerve to do it from the very balcony.

With a black man holding his umbrella. Talk about an interesting visual.

 

[LuvDuke]

You mean the most forgotten Stooge????

Presumably, Fred has been returned to the taxidermy shop.

 

[eclectics]

Pretty sad that he is oblivious to how inappropriate that was.

That cluelessness is going to bite him in the butt come November, because you know he's just going to keep on doing it. His handlers are just as clueless.