John McCain and George Wallace

Rep. John Lewis caused a dust-up this weekend by comparing the rhetoric of McCain and Palin rallies to George Wallace. McCain took umbrage, sending his campaign manager to declare on Faux Noise: “The idea that you’re going to compare John McCain to the kinds of hate spread in the ’60s by somebody like George Wallace is outrageous.” McCain called on Obama to repudiate the remarks, and while the Obama campaign didn’t denounce them they agreed the comparison went too far.

Bullshit, I say. The comparison is apt; there are extraordinary parallels between McCain’s disturbing rhetorical turn and the strange career of America’s best known racist. I say this as a lifelong resident of Alabama and a student of its history, but the Drive-By Truckers have already summed it up better than I could:

Wallace started out as a lawyer and a judge with a very progressive and humanitarian track record for a man of his time, but he lost his first bid for governor in 1958 by hedging on the race issue against a man who spoke out against integration.

Wallace ran again in ’62 as a staunch segregationist and won big and for the next decade he spoke out loudly. He accused Kennedy and King of being communist and he was constantly on national news representing “the good people” of Alabama.

His track record as a judge and his late life quest for redemption make a good argument for his being, at worst, no worse than most white men of his generation, North or South. But because of his blind ambition and his hunger for votes, he turned a blind eye to the suffering of black America and he became a pawn in the fight against the Civil Rights cause.

Basically, John McCain is a decent fellow whose “blind ambition and hunger for votes” have led him to abandon respectable campaigning — and take up the coded language of racism, fear, and ‘other-ness’ instead. That is exactly how Wallace became the voice and face of southern racism. Just a few months ago, McCain admonished surrogates who used Barack Obama’s middle name. Now, the frequency of ‘Hussein’ at his rallies has gone up dramatically.

Sarah Palin is part and parcel of this late, negative turn. As Wallace called King and Kennedy ‘communist,’ Palin infers that Obama is a terrorist. Wallace claimed to represent “the good people of Alabama” and Palin says their ticket represents “good, ordinary Americans” — in contrast with, say, that exotic terrorist with the Muslim name.

McCain has sold his soul in the same way, and for the same reasons, as Wallace. And the rabid supporters who show up at campaign rallies to shout “terrorist!” and “Kill him!” are exactly the same crowd who turned out for Wallace when he ran for president.

Some of them even look old enough to remember:

And if you need a more direct linkage, take a look at who John McCain endorsed in Alabama’s 2006 race for Lieutenant Governor: George Wallace Jr., co-sponsored by the Council of Conservative Citizens. (Get it? CCC=KKK.)

The comparison is more than apt; it’s damning.