Four days after Dr. King's death, on April 8, 1968, I introduced a bill that would allow this nation to celebrate the life and work of its greatest civil rights leader with a federal holiday. Though it would take 15 years, from 1968 until 1983, the King Holiday Bill was eventually signed into law through the efforts of friends on the ground and friends in the Congress. Unfortunately, John McCain was not one of those friends.
On August 2, 1983, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the King Holiday Bill by a veto-proof vote of 338 to 90. While Dick Cheney and Newt Gingrich voted for the bill, those in opposition included then-Representative John McCain. McCain likes to attribute his vote against the King Holiday to his being "brand-new in the Congress," but he certainly wasn't brand new to this matter of a holiday when he supported the Arizona governor's decision to repeal the state King holiday in 1987.
[I addressed this issue on MSNBC today outside the Lorraine Hotel. Crooks and Liars has that clip here.]
As we observe the 40th anniversary of Dr. King's assassination, I ask that we examine the principles and values on which Dr. King based his work, and apply them to our work today. It is 40 years later, and this country finds itself again poisoned by war, a war that is jeopardizing the civil rights and civil liberties of all Americans - and again, Senator McCain is complicit. From the Iraq War and a failing economy, to inadequate healthcare and unsatisfactory schools, it is up to us to finish Dr. King's work. So I ask Senator McCain that as he apologizes for his vote 25 years ago, that he may recommit himself to advancing Dr. King's legacy.