In the rain, McCain talks about MLK
Posted: Friday, April 04, 2008 2:44 PM by Mark Murray
From NBC/NJ's Adam Aigner-Treworgy
MEMPHIS, TN -- The newest addition to the McCain campaign had his public unveiling today, but only a select few actually got to enjoy it.
While in town to participate in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference's commemoration of Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination 40 years ago, McCain read the works of his newest speechwriter: Matthew Scully. A former employee of the Bush administration, Scully is perhaps most famous for writing this essay in the Atlantic Monthly in 2007 about his former colleague, Michael Gerson.
McCain delivered his first speech by Scully today in the pouring rain outside of the hotel where King was shot, but the senator's soft-spoken delivery mixed with weather conditions and a poor PA system meant that only a select few could hear what the senator was saying. The front row's reaction was audible in the back of the crowd, but if it weren't for a loud introduction and a wave from the hotel balcony on his way to the stage, most of the audience wouldn't have even known that McCain was there.
VIDEO: Speaking in Memphis to honor Martin Luther King, Jr., John McCain says that he "was wrong" for voting against a federal holiday for the civil rights leader.
According to prepared remarks provided to the media this morning, McCain's speech was a moving survey of King's lasting effects on society, and a candid account of the senator's own failures to move fast enough in recognizing the civil rights leader's true significance.
"Even in this most idealistic of nations, we do not always take kindly to being reminded of what more we can do... We can be slow as well to give greatness its due, a mistake I made myself long ago when I voted against a federal holiday in memory of Dr. King," McCain said of a vote during his first year in the House of Representatives. "I was wrong and eventually realized that, in time to give full support for a state holiday in Arizona. We can all be a little late sometimes in doing the right thing, and Dr. King understood this about his fellow Americans."
McCain's effective silence caused some in the crowd to remark on the strange symbolism of the situation -- all three presidential candidates were invited to today's event, but only Clinton and McCain agreed to come. Hillary's speech was delivered indoors, where the candidate was dry and well heard.
On the other hand, McCain's speech was outside in the rain, where only a select few could either see or hear him -- a physical reality that may reflect the reaction he will get from much of the audience at the polls in November. But you have to give the guy credit for showing up.
