DNC: John McCain is Wrong on Civil Rights

WASHINGTON, April 11 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following was released by
the Democratic National Committee:

As John McCain and his campaign prepare to launch a so-called "Compassion
Tour" aimed at reaching out to African American voters, a new report
highlights McCain's dreadful record on civil rights issues. As the Huffington
Post reports today, despite last week's apology for opposing a holiday
honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, McCain "has refused to back down on another
controversial decision he made that put him at sharp odds with the civil
rights movement." [Huffington Post, 4/11/08]

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]

Ironically, John McCain is campaigning in Texas today: forty years after
Democratic President and Texas native Lyndon Johnson signed the 1968 Civil
Rights Act.

"John McCain is mistaken if he thinks echoing George Bush's hollow promises of
'compassionate conservatism' can gloss over his dreadful record on civil
rights issues and his promise of a third Bush term," said Democratic National
Committee Communications Director Karen Finney. "When the voters get to see
the real John McCain, they'll see a candidate who is completely out of touch
with the challenges confronting working families, and whose outdated thinking
includes 25 years of voting against key civil rights issues when it mattered
most."

Paid for and authorized by the Democratic National Committee,
http://www.democrats.org.

SOURCE Democratic National Committee

Damien LaVera of the Democratic National Committee, +1-202-863-8148