Dem congressman John Lewis accuses McCain of "stoking the fires of hate," compares McCain to segregationist George Wallace

John McCain has lavished praise on Democrat John Lewis over the years. Most recently at the Saddleback Forum McCain named Lewis as a great American whose advice McCain would value as president. Today, John Lewis returned the favor by accusing John McCain of stoking the fires of hate, even comparing McCain to segregationist George Wallace.

Civil rights icon and Georgia congressman John Lewis is accusing John McCain and Sarah Palin of stoking hate, likening the atmosphere at Republican campaign events to those featuring George Wallace, the segregationist former governor of Alabama and presidential candidate. McCain's campaign has responded with a statement in the candidate's name, urging Barack Obama to repudiate Lewis's comments.

"What I am seeing reminds me too much of another destructive period in American history," Lewis said in a statement issued today for Politico's Arena forum. "Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are sowing the seeds of hatred and division, and there is no need for this hostility in our political discourse."

Lewis didn't accuse McCain of imitating Wallace, but suggested there were similarities.

"George Wallace never threw a bomb," Lewis noted. "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. Because of this atmosphere of hate, four little girls were killed on Sunday morning when a church was bombed in Birmingham, Alabama."

You think The One will condemn this sickening attack by Lewis? Hat tip: Gateway Pundit
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