You have to admit you are being unfair in your characterization of McCain on this one. From his perspective, his constituents felt other things were more important. We elect people to represent us. At the time, he was representing the people of Arizona.
They continued to re-elect him, so I assume he was doing his job: Representing.
McCain did try to get the holiday passed by referendum in 1990. The people of Arizona once again did not pass the holiday.

I know you are passionate about your candidates, but when you make these posts, you sound like you don't operate on facts, but only on emotional arguments that support what you already believe. I've spoken about this "feedback loop" before. It is the same thing that makes people hate Limbaugh.

Quote Archimago

This may be true, but politicians are not elected to blindly follow the will of the people. A bad decision is not abdicated by the fact that it's what the people wanted.

If a majority of the people in Arizona decided that they would like all children under 2 murdered, should McCain then try to pass legislation to make it so? I'd like to think not.

As to Nate's issue of his vote on the holiday, however, who cares? Where's Crispus Attucks day, Harriet Tubman day or Rosa Parks day? Dr. King was a great man, and not having or having a holiday doesn't lessen or increase the impact of his deeds, in my opinion.

It's really just an excuse for the banks to close and the post office not to run.

By your reasoning many elected represenatatives did their job well by promoting and protecting slavery, fighting women's suffrage, etc.

As to David's point: I, like most Americans, favor MLK day. On that basis I see that McCain disagrees with me on this point and loses some of whatever (small) appeal he may have had. Also, since McCain opposed recognizing King, it seems hypocritical to now give speeches in his honor. Most importantly, though, McCain made the frankly absurd argument that at the age of 47 years old he was unaware of King's significance.

He voted against making Martin Luther King Day a national holiday. In this, I think following the people's will is fine. Comparing that to killing children or promoting slavery is ridiculous and you both know it.
Making MLK day a national holiday is not a moral imperative.
McCain doesn't disagree with you now Nathan. He had a differing view at one time, but he did indeed change his mind. That he tried for MLK day recognition in Arizona without popular support, indicates this.

"Comparing that to killing children or promoting slavery is ridiculous and you both know it."

Neither of us made these comparisons*. We applied your reasoning to different situations. The manner in which we made these applications was not ridiculous. The example I used was intentionally ridiculous in the interest of underlining my point.

A comparison would sound something like, "Making MLK day a national holiday is a lot like killing babies and slavery because..."

*words in bold do not all mean the same thing

I am in full agreement with David here.