The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. "seems a bigger man" than he did 40 years ago on the day of his death, Republican presidential candidate John McCain said Friday as he stood outside the motel where the civil rights leader was slain.
"The quality of his character is only more apparent. His good name will be honored as long as the creed of America is honored," McCain said in front of the balcony where King was shot in 1968.
All three of the presidential candidates marked the anniversary of King's death. Although McCain, who once voted against creating a national holiday on King's birthday, was the only one to accept an invitation to speak at an observance of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which King headed.
"We can be slow as well to give greatness its due," McCain said. "A mistake I myself made long ago. I myself made long ago when I voted against a federal holiday in remembrance of Dr. King. I was wrong. I was wrong."
McCain added, "We all make mistakes. We all make mistakes."
On Thursday, ABC's Jake Tapper wrote about "The Complicated History of John McCain and MLK Day," and observed that the Republican presidential candidate's "views on race in the 1980s do not stand up to the sunlight of America a quarter-century later."
Today isn't the first day McCain has apologized for first voting against the holiday.
As Tapper noted, "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.'"
This video is from CNN's Newsroom, broadcast April 4, 2008.
Transcript via closed captions
:: implied to men and women of conscience. who will not endure cruelty nor abide justice. we hear them. we hear them though this in darfur, tibet, iran, other lands. directed at every brave soul who dares to disturb the peace of tyrants. sometimes the most radical thing is to be confronted with our own standards. to be asked simply that we live up to the principles we profess. even in the most idealistic of nations we don't always take kindly to being reminded of what more we can do or how much bet we can be. or who else can be induced into the promise and promise of america included. we can be slow as well. to give greatness its due. a mistake i myself made long ago. i myself made long ago when i voted against a federal holiday in remembrance of dr. king. i was wrong. i was wrong.
:: we all make mistakes. we all make mistakes.
:: i was wrong and eventually realized that in time, in time to give full support, full support for a state holiday in my home state of arizona. i remind you that we can all be a little late sometimes in doing the right thing. dr. king understood this about his fellow americans. but he knew us well in the long term confidence in the reasonability and good heart of america is always well placed. always and always that was his method and word and action to remind us of who we are and what we believe. his arguments were unanswerable and were familiar, a case always resting on the writings of the founders, teachings of the prophets, the word of the lord. perhaps with more charity than was always deserved he often reminded us that there was moral badness and there was moral blindness and they were not the same. it was this spirit that turned hatred into forgiveness and anger into con and a bitter life into a great one. he loved and honored his country even when he -- the feeling unreturned. counselled others to do the same. he gave his fellow countrymen and fellow christians to benefit of the doubt. believing as he wrote and returning hate for hate and multiplies hate. and added darkness to a night already devoid of stars. darkness cannot drive out darkness. only light can do that. only light can do that. i remember -- i remember first learning what had happened here on the 4th of april, 1968. feeling just asch else did back home. only perhaps even more uncertain and an alarmed for my country in the darkness then enclosed around me and my fellow captives. and our circumstances at the time, good news from america was hard to come by. the bad news was a different matter and each new report of violence, roy on thing and other tribulations in america was delivered without delay. the enemy had correctly calculated that the news from memphis would deeply wound morale and leave us worried and afraid for our country. confirming their belief america was a lost cause and that the future belonged to them. yet, how differently it turned out and then the more reflective kind, our enemies would have understood the cause of dr. king was bigger than any one man and could not be stopped by force of violence. struggle is rewarded and god's own time. wrongs are set right and evil is overcome. we know this to be true because it is a story of the man we honor today and because it is the story of our country. and yet, for all of this, we are all -- for all of this, 40 years in a world away, we look up to that balcony and we remember that night and we are still left with a feeling of loss. here was a young man who composed one of literature's finest testimony to the yearning for equality and justice under law and writing on the margins of a newspaper in the confinement of a prison cell. and here was a preacher who endured beatings and survived bombings and suffered knifings abuse and ridicule and still placed his trust in the peace. here was a husband and father who will stand in children in every generation, a model of christian manhood but never got to raise his own sons and daughters or to share in the gift of years with his good wife. all of this was lost on the 4th of april, 1968. there are no consolations to balance the scale. what remains, however, an example and witness of the reverend martin luther king jr. and that is forever. thank you. thank you for being here today. thank you for honoring dr. king. thank you.
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. "seems a bigger man" than he did 40 years ago on the day of his death, Republican presidential candidate John McCain said Friday as he stood outside the motel where the civil rights leader was slain.