Okay, I heard his whatever-he-is Rick Davis on the Today Show claim that McCain has ALWAYS fought for the equal rights of everyone. Later that day, in a press avail, McCain repeated that lie. He claims that he has always fought for the equal rights of others, and EVEN claimed that he fought for the recognition of Dr. King's holiday in AZ. He claims he's fought for equal opportunity for education, that's a lie. He claims he's PROUD of his rather dismal record on civil rights . . . well that's probably true. I'm sick of him getting away with his lies, so in this diary, I try to refute some of them (there are so many I may have missed one or two) using his actual (rather dismal) record.
First, let's address Dr. King's holiday, this is not the worst of what he has/hasn't done, but it's one that is easily recognizable. He voted against Dr. King's holiday in 1983. Even DICK CHENEY voted for it at that point, but McSame was against it. McCain now claims that he "fought hard" to get Dr. King's holiday recognized in Arizona. Well, there is no proof of this. Indeed, the Color of Change website has McCain's pitiful record on Dr. King's Holiday:
McCain Voted Against Creating Martin Luther King Holiday. In 1983, McCain voted against a motion to suspend the rules and pass a bill to designate the third Monday of every January as a federal holiday in honor of the late civil rights leader, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The motion passed 89-77. [ HR 3706, Vote 289, 8/2/83; CQ 1983 ]
McCain Said His Position Has ‘Evolved.’ During a 2000 interview, McCain compared his evolution on this issue to former Arizona Sen. Barry Goldwater. "I believe that Barry Goldwater, to start with, regretted his vote on the 1964 Civil Rights Act," McCain said. "I think that Barry grew, like all of us grow and evolve. In 1983, when I was brand-new in the Congress, I voted against the recognition of Dr. Martin Luther King. That was a mistake, OK? And later I had the chance to ... help fight for ... the recognition of Dr. Martin Luther King as a holiday in my state." [ www.salon.com 4/18/00; Accessed 4/2/08 ]
Arizona Governor Rescinded Martin Luther King Jr. Day. In 1987, One of newly elected Governor Evan Mecham’s first acts in office was to rescind Arizona’s recognition of the Martin Luther King Holiday. "Mecham strikes many voters as a simpleminded ideologue who is giving a bad name to the nation's second-fastest-growing state. After rescinding the Jan. 19 holiday honoring Martin Luther King Jr., Mecham defended the use of the term "pickaninnies" for blacks." [ Time 11/9/87 ]
McCain Said He Thought Governor Was Correct in His Decision According to the Huffington Post, "In 1983, McCain voted against passing a bill to designate the third Monday of every January as a federal holiday in honor of King. Four years later, then-Arizona Governor Evan Mecham rescinded Martin Luther King Day as a state holiday, saying it had been established through an illegal executive order by his Democratic predecessor. McCain said he thought Mecham was correct in his decision." [ Sam Stein, Huffington Post, 4/1/08 ]
So as late as 1987, McCain OPPOSED Dr. King's holiday. AZ didn't begin to recognize the holiday until 1993. There is nothing that suggests McCain did anything even remotely resembling a "fight" or "working hard" to get the holiday recognized in the state.
It's a bit much for him to suggest that he has ALWAYS supported equal rights issues:
In 1990, McCain was the deciding vote upholding the first President Bush's veto of the 1990 Civil Rights Act. It was the first time a major civil rights bill was defeated in a quarter of a century, and the first time an American president had ever had a civil rights veto upheld. In voting with President Bush, McCain "found himself at odds with majorities in both chambers of Congress, most senior African Americans within the Bush administration, and the Republican-led U.S. Civil Rights Commission." Instead of apologizing for the vote, McCain defended himself last weekend on Fox News Sunday by claiming he voted against the bill because he opposed "quotas." But, as the Huffington Post noted, and opponents of quotas argued at the time, the bill had nothing to do with quotas. Instead, the bill aimed to reverse years of right wing court rulings that had limited the ability of minorities and women to file employment discrimination suits. [ Huffington Post, 4/11/08 ]
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This ability to file employment discrimination suits is something that Obama addressed yesterday in his Q&A at the Urban League Conference. It's pretty sad that someone can be discriminated against for their race or gender or maybe even sexuality, and not know about it, and then when they DO find out about it, they can't sue because the statute of limitations has run out. McCain doesn't seem to think that's at all unconscionable.
And on his so called long standing support of legislation for equal rights?
John McCain has had one of the most consistent records in Congress and the U.S. Senator of opposing job discrimination bills and other civil rights legislation. He even opposed establishing any holiday to honor Dr. Martin Luther King. Then McCain made an appeal to the African American community earlier this year offering an apology for voting against the Dr. King holiday legislation in Selma, Alabama on Dr. King's birthday, but offered no apology for a lifetime of opposition to civil rights legislation, or any new commitment to now support civil rights legislation as president.
McCain would be far more likely to veto civil rights legislation as president than any president in modern American history. Periodically some civil rights legislation needs to be renewed by congress, and McCain has had one of the worst records of support for any civil rights legislation of any type of anyone in either the Congress or the U.S. Senate.
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Yet he claims he's SPONSORED hundreds of civil rights bills that would make people's lives better.
And let's not forget his new claim that he's supported "increases in educational benefits." (which I personally found to be the most offensive) Educational benefits for whom? Certainly not anyone who isn't already privileged:
McCain Has Repeatedly Voted Against Fully Funding No Child Left Behind...
2006: McCain Voted Against A Bipartisan Measure Restoring Bush's Cuts To Education. McCain voted against a bipartisan provision sponsored by Sens. Specter and Harkin that would advance $7 billion from FY2008 funding for health, education and labor appropriations into FY2007 in order to restore many of Bush's budget cuts to health care, education and job training programs. [ 2006 Senate Vote #58, 3/16/2006 ]
2006: McCain Voted Against Funding For Provision In No Child Left Behind Aimed At Increasing Achievement Among Disadvantages Students In Favor Of A Tax Break. McCain voted against an amendment to increase funding for No Child Left Behind by providing an additional $1 billion in Title I funding. The provision would have been fully offset by eliminating certain corporate tax breaks. [ 2006 Senate Vote #64, 3/16/2006 ]
McCain Has Opposed More Funding For Teacher Training Programs...
2001: McCain Voted Against Funding For 100,000 New Teachers. McCain voted against an amendment authorizing $2.4 billion for FY 2002 for a Federal program to assist States and local educational agencies to recruit, hire, and train 100,000 new teachers in order to reduce class sizes in the early grades to a national average of 18 students per classroom; and authorizes such sums as necessary for each of FYs 2003-2008 for the program. [ 2001 Senate Vote #103, 5/15/2001 ]
2000: McCain Voted Against $2.2 Billion For Recruitment And Mentoring For Teachers. McCain voted against an amendment that would replace the language of the bill with the text of the Democratic substitute amendment, which would increase the general estate tax exemption for a couple to $4 million, as well as the family-owned business exemption to $8 million per couple by 2010 and uses projected savings to fund various education programs, including $1.3 billion in grants and loans for repairs for schools in high-needs areas, and $2.2 billion for the recruitment, mentoring and professional development of qualified teachers. (CQ) [ 2000 Senate Vote #184, 7/13/2000 ]
2000: McCain Voted Against Increasing Funding To Enable Colleges To Train More New Teachers By Over $200 Million. McCain voted against an amendment to increase funding for Teacher Quality Enhancement Grants from $98 million to $300 million in order to enable colleges to train more new teachers. [ 2000 Senate Vote #153, 6/28/2000 ]
2000: McCain Voted Against $2 Billion To Recruit And Train Teachers. McCain voted against an amendment that would provide $2 billion to help schools recruit and train teachers. It would provide $1.75 billion to fund President Clinton's proposal to hire 100,000 new teachers to reduce class size and authorize $1.3 billion in grants and loans for emergency school repairs and renovations. (CQ) The underlying bill used block grants. [ 2000 Senate Vote #90, 5/3/2000 ]
So while he's running around to African American organizations and talking about how important it is to have new teachers, he's done a lot to prevent colleges from training new teachers. While he mocks the need to learn HOW to teach in favor of just letting anyone who's "smart" or an "expert" teach, he is doing no favors.It takes far more than intelligence to be an effective teacher. In fact, looking at his record, he seems to have a long-standing dislike for teachers. And not everyone who is "smart" would make a good teacher. I have a friend who's a teacher, and she worked hard to get where she is, and still has problems reaching some students even WITH the additional training. Imagine if we had teachers in schools who had NO TRAINING AT ALL on the ability to teach. Would you want a doctor who was "book smart" but couldn't handle himself with patients? Would you want a lawyer who was "smart in school" but has no ethics? Then why the hell would you want to subject kids to people who are "smart" but have no idea how to deal with children/students?
McCain Also Voted Against Programs Aimed At Helping Disadvantaged Students...
McCain Repeatedly Voted Against Breakfast And Lunch Programs For Low Income Students. McCain voted against several amendments authorizing as much as $5 million for outreach efforts and start-up grants for state school breakfast and lunch programs for low-income children. [ 1997 Senate Vote #200, 7/24/1997; 1997 Senate Vote #162, 7/9/1997; 1997 Senate Vote #8, 2/11/1997; 1996 Senate Vote #213, 7/23/1996; 1995 Senate Vote #613, 12/22/1995 ]
2003: McCain Voted Against $20 Million For Dropout Prevention. McCain voted against an amendment increasing funding for various education programs by $210 million including $20 million for dropout prevention.[ 2003 Senate Vote #322, 9/3/2003 ]
2001: McCain Voted Against 1,000 Technology Centers In Disadvantaged Communities. McCain voted against an amendment to the 2001 Elementary and Secondary Education Act Reauthorization bill authorizing the Office of Education Technology to award competitive grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements in order to create 1,000 community technology centers for disadvantaged residents of distressed urban or rural communities, and authorizing $100.0 million for FY 2002 and such sums as necessary for each of following six FYs. [ 2001 Senate Vote #96, 5/9/2001 ]
1983: McCain Voted Against Funding For School Desegregation. In 1983, McCain voted against the Emergency School Aid Act, which authorized grants to local school districts to help them offset the costs of school desegregation. [ 1983 House Vote #162, 6/7/1983 ]
This record is DISMAL and NOTHING to be proud of. There is no way he can say he's ALWAYS supported legislation for equal educational opportunities, he wouldn't even support efforts to FEED students who lived in low income families. He voted AGAINST dropout prevention funds, mind you he's now running around talking to minority communities about how high our drop out rates are, and he did NOTHING to help when he was given the opportunity. As late as 2003 he was voting against drop-out prevention. Now there's a study out about how terrible drop out rates are. In fact, I wrote a diary about that in April that you can read here.
And McCain Has Repeatedly Denied Struggling Students Crucial Access To Federal College Aid...
McCain Repeatedly Voted Against Additional Funding For Pell Grants. [2005 Senate Vote #268, 10/25/2005; 2001 Senate Vote #153, 5/22/2001; 2001 Senate Vote #155, 5/22/2001]
2005: McCain Voted For The Final 2005 Budget Reconciliation With Largest Student Loan Cuts in History. Senate Republicans voted for the final version of the 2005 budget reconciliation bill, which passed 50-50 with the Vice President casting the tie-breaking vote. The package cut $12.7 million from college loans, the largest cuts to the student loan program in its history. [ 2005 Senate Vote #363, 12/21/2005; 12/21/2005; AP, 12/19/05; Washington Post, 12/19/05; Minnesota Budget Project, 1/17/06 ]
2000: McCain Voted Against A $12,000 Annual College Tuition Tax Credit. McCain voted against an amendment that would increase the general estate tax exemption for a couple to $4 million, as well as the family-owned business exemption to $8 million per couple by 2010, and provide that up to $12,000 per year for college tuition may be tax deductible for taxpayers with a top marginal rate of 28 percent. The college tuition provision would fully phase in by 2002. It also included a tax credit for teachers seeking board certification. [ 2000 Senate Vote #182, 7/13/2000 ]
During the 105th Congress, McCain opposed forgiving student loans up to $8,000 for public-school teachers who work in underserved communities for a specified period and opposed expanding after-school programs. However, he supported an amendment offered by Sen. Judd Gregg (R., N.H.) that would have provided federal funding for vouchers for students to attend private schools.
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I am ESPECIALLY pissed about this. So not only does he want to merely shuffle the students around as a means of "remedy" for the crappy education program, but he wants to ENSURE that the ones that can't get out continue to get inadequate education. By opposing funding for after-school programs, he's ensuring that a lot of those kids will have nowhere to go after school, and are more likely to end up engaged in unsavory activities.
Now that he's running for POTUS, he's going around the country talking to Blacks and Latinos about all he's going to do to improve education, and he's a part of how it got to be as bad as it is! He's going around calling education the civil rights issue of the 21st century--given his record, do you REALLY think he'd do anything to seriously improve education? NO! HELL NO!
In that video he claims that he has supported hundreds of pieces of legislation that will help Americans achieve equal opportunity, but everything I've read is showing he has a really SHITTY record on Civil Rights/Liberties. I haven't even gotten into stuff that's not really relating to race yet.
John McCain's currentACLU rating is 17% (for the 110th Congress), his rating for LIFE is 22%. Does that sound like the rating of someone who has always fought for equal rights under the law?
Barack Obama's ACLU rating is an 80% for the 110th Congress, and an 82% for life.
His record according the NAACP is even more dismal:
In 11 grading periods since he began serving in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1983 and the Senate in 1987, McCain has earned an F for every period, according to an annual report by the NAACP.
Of the 11 grading periods, McCain's highest score was 50 percent (1985-86), meaning he supported positions on legislation favored by the NAACP half of the time. His second-highest score was 40 percent (1997-1998). In the nine other grading periods, he supported the NAACP 30 percent of the time or less.
Instead of getting better on civil rights in recent years, McCain has grown worse. Since his unsuccessful 2000 bid for president, McCain voted with the NAACP just 27 percent of the time during the 107th Congress, 15 percent in the 108th Congress and an all-time low of 7 percent during the first session of the 109th Congress, which ended in 2006.
He's received an F for every period! An F! That's FAILING people! So how can he even suggest that he's always been a fighter for equal rights?
And what about wages? Well McCain voted AGAINST raising the minimum wage. Well, to be more accurate, he was AGAINST it before he was FOR it:
Voted YES on increasing minimum wage to $7.25.
Increase the federal minimum wage to:
1. $5.85 an hour, beginning on the 60th day after enactment;
2. $6.55 an hour, beginning 12 months after that 60th day; and
3. $7.25 an hour, beginning 24 months after that 60th day.
Proponents support voting YES because:
We have waited for over 10 years to have a clean vote on the minimum wage for the poorest workers in this country Low-wage workers had their wages frozen in time, from 10 years ago, but when they go to the supermarket, the food prices are higher; when they put gasoline in the car, the gasoline prices are higher; when they pay the utility bills, the utility bills are higher; when their kids get sick, the medical bills are higher. All of those things are higher. They are living in 2007, but in their wages they are living in 1997.
Opponents support voting NO because:
This bill is marked more by what is not in the bill than what is in it. Small businesses are the backbone of our economy. They create two-thirds of our Nation's new jobs, and they represent 98% of the new businesses in the US. What protection does this bill provide them? None whatsoever.
We can do better. In the interest of sending the President a final measure that provides consideration for small businesses and their workers, the very men and women who are responsible for our economy's recent growth and strength, we must do better.
Reference: Fair Minimum Wage Act; Bill H.R.2 ; vote number 2007-042 on Feb 1, 2007
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Voted NO on raising the minimum wage to $7.25 rather than $6.25.
Vote to increase the minimum wage from $5.15 per hour to $7.25 per hour, over a two-year time period, in three incremental stages. Without the amendment, the minimum wage would increase to $6.25 per hour.
Reference: Amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938; Bill S AMDT 44 to S 256 ; vote number 2005-26 on Mar 7, 2005
So when John McCain says he's PROUD of his record, that should ring some alarm bells in your head. His record is TERRIBLE. He won't do anything to advance the cause of Civil Rights. And like I said, I didn't even get into Women's rights and Gay Rights.
I'm tired of people letting this man get away with LYING on his record on civil rights.
I appreciate all tips, recs, comments, and if I missed something, let me know and I'll add it.
Also, Senator Obama spoke to the Urban League Yesterday, if you missed his remarks click here to see yesterday's diary which includes the full text of the speech and a link to a video where you can watch the speech and the Q&A session that followed.
UPDATE: Eternal Hope points out that McSame voted FOR an amendment that would have "[afforded the] States the rights and flexibility to determine minimum wage." That amendment, which still failed, would have abolished the federal minimum wage. And the vote took place in Jan. 2007, BEFORE he decided he was "for" raising the minimum wage. Yep, that's something to be proud of. And they are trying to say OBAMA holds two positions at one time. . . Maybe McCain was confused about what he was voting for the second time.
UPDATE #2: Thanks to Dirk McQuigley and eclecticbrotha for this tidbit, apparently there was a lot behind getting MLK Day recognized in AZ, and none of it has to really do with McCain. So this is just more of McCain't taking credit for something (i.e., GI Bill 2008) that he really didn't have much if anything to do with.
UPDATE #3: More on McCain and MLK, this man just lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies. . .
Even AFTER he so-called worked hard to get MLK's Birthday recognized in AZ, he voted AGAINST funding it. What a piece of work. h/t dmhlt 66