April 21, 2008: This morning Sen. John McCain made a speech in Selma, Alabama where he acknowledged the courage of Rep. John Lewis and other participants in the Civil Rights Movement during the conflict on the Edmund Pettus Bridge.  Rep. Lewis had no advance knowledge of the nature or intentions of Sen. McCain’s remarks.

“I am gratified that Sen. John McCain would take the opportunity to recognize what happened 43 years ago on the Edmund Pettus Bridge.  Bloody Sunday was a turning point in the struggle for voting rights and equal justice in America.  President Lyndon Johnson was right when he compared what happened in Selma on March 7, 1965, to the crossroads this country faced at Appomattox, Lexington, and Concord.  These seminal events cut to the core of American democracy.   Their significance to all Americans is much bigger, much larger, and much more profound than partisan politics."