"I was in prison when they announced over the loudspeaker in my cell," McCain told reporters in Jacksonville, Fla. "I was living by myself, that Dr. Martin Luther King had been assassinated. They always told us the very bad news, but somehow avoided telling us minor events such as landing a man on the moon. I didn't find that out until a couple years after the event itself. I didn't know Dr. King. I was a member of the military. Obviously I admire him as all Americans do. But I did have the great honor of getting to know Congressman John Lewis. In fact, I've taken my children to meet him, because I think John Lewis epitomizes the struggle that continues to this day to achieve full equality in America. Congressman John Lewis is a role model to me in many respects."
The 1987 USA Today interview draws attention to an aspect of McCain's political history that Democrats will indubitably attempt to use against him this November: his views on race in the 1980s do not stand up to the sunlight of America a quarter-century later.
Most glaringly, McCain as a young congressman in 1983 voted against a federal holiday for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
In December 1999 McCain told NBC's Tim Russert, "on the Martin Luther King issue, we all learn, OK? We all learn. I will admit to learning, and I hope that the people that I represent appreciate that, too. I voted in 1983 against the recognition of Martin Luther King….I regret that vote."
The holiday went into effect in 1986. Only 27 states and D.C. honored the holiday that first year. Activists in state after state tried to prevent it from being recognized.
In Arizona, a bill to recognize a holiday honoring MLK failed in the legislature.
n 1990, Arizonans were given an opportunity to vote to observe an MLK holiday. McCain successfully appealed to former President Ronald Reagan to support the holiday. In a letter to voters, Reagan wrote that he hoped Arizonans would "join me in supporting a holiday to commemorate these ideals to which Dr. King dedicated his life."
The 1990 referendum failed.
And as a direct result, the National Football League rescinded its original decision to have Super Bowl XXVII played in Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona.
In November 1992, Arizonans voted to re-elect McCain over a challenge from Mecham. They also voted in favor of an MLK holiday.
But it wasn't until 2000 that all 50 states honored the MLK Holiday passed 17 years before.
I thought he would be president.
And I agree. BC to GWB? WTF? The dumbing down of America 
