oh, whatever

in the course of this week's massive kabuki extravaganza over race (I'll save you some time: neither campaign has ever heard of it), Sen. McCain took some time out to hat tip Martin Luther King (what are the odds)

McCain Defended Opposition Of Federal MLK Holiday By Saying He Supported Arizona’s State Holiday. During a press availability in Panama City, Florida, John McCain said, “I have supported hundreds of pieces of legislation, which would help Americans obtain an equal opportunity in America. I am proud of that record, from fighting for the recognition of Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday in my state to sponsoring specific legislation that would prevent discrimination in any shape or form in America today.”

He also had some stuff to say about Dr. King when he spoke to the NAACP a few weeks ago

McCain spoke of the death of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., who was assassinated in 1968, while McCain was a prisoner of war in Vietnam.

"In our circumstances at the time, good news from America was hard to come by," he said. "But the bad news was a different matter, and each new report of violence, rioting and other tribulations in America was delivered to us without delay. The enemy had correctly calculated that the news of Dr. King's death would deeply wound morale, and leave us worried and afraid for our country. . . . If they had been the more reflective kind, our enemies would have understood that the cause of Dr. King was bigger than any one man, and could not be stopped by force of violence

Aw. McCain was so impressed by the cause that the VC used the assassination of Dr. King to wound his morale. That's touching.

Oddly, something Senator McCain was just that deeply affected by didn't make much of an impression on him once he came home

McCain voted against the creation of a holiday honoring King in 1983, a vote which was supported by a large number of Republicans. McCain claimed this week that he was largely unaware on the importance of King's work at the time, due to his Vietnam-era service overseas. Speaking on Thursday to reporters, he explained that his conversion occurred around 1990:

"I voted in my...first year in Congress against it and then I began to learn and I studied and people talked to me. And I not only supported it but I fought very hard in my home state of Arizona for recognition against a governor who was of my own party."

But McCain's voting record since 1990 doesn't support this explanation. In addition to voting to oppose a state holiday in 1987 (which he later supported) and a federal holiday in 1989, McCain voted in 1994 to cut funding for the commission that promoted King's holiday.

He said something similar in Memphis on the 40th anniversary of that morale-sapping occasion when he was apologizing for the dilatory nature of that proud support

Sen. John McCain apologized Friday for opposing a federal holiday honoring Martin Luther King Jr. as he honored the slain civil rights leader at the hotel where he was assassinated 40 years ago.

In a speech outside the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, McCain said he was "slow ... to give greatness its due" before eventually supporting a state MLK holiday in Arizona.

"I was wrong and eventually realized that, in time to give full support for a state holiday in Arizona," he said. "We can all be a little late sometimes in doing the right thing, and Dr. King understood this about his fellow Americans."

See? All the dogwhistling about race has nothing to do with race. Race is totally yesterday as a political issue.

Or it will be, as soon as we can get everyone in America to run for president.