Republicans warned over incendiary racial slurs by own adviser

AN ADVISER to John McCain has accused the Republican presidential candidate of "sowing the seeds of hatred and division" at his increasingly frenzied campaign rallies.

Black Congressman John Lewis, a Democrat, who was recruited to advise the McCain campaign on race issues, hit out at the growing controversy over racial chants and shouts of "kill him" directed at Mr Obama that are now a regular feature at Republican election events.

He compared the rhetoric of some supporters to the race-baiting of former Alabama governor George Wallace, which fomented the 1963 bombing of Birmingham's 16th Street Baptist Church. Four black girls died in the blast, which was linked to the Ku Klux Klan.

Accusations by Democrats that the Republicans are playing the race card have reached boiling point, and Mr Lewis has touched a raw nerve in America's psyche, where memories of race violence and political assassination are never far below the surface.

The last lynching of a black man by whites occurred in 1981, and all Americans remember that the country's most famous black leader, Martin Luther King, was assassinated in 1968.

Mr Lewis said: "Senator McCain and Governor Palin are playing with fire, and if they are not careful, that fire will consume us all.

"Because of this atmosphere of hate, four little girls were killed on a Sunday morning when a church was bombed in Birmingham, Alabama."

The comments come amid criticism that the Republican candidates are not doing enough to discourage racial slurs on the campaign trail.

Mr McCain hit back at his adviser, whom he once described as "one of the wisest men I know". He said: "Mr Lewis's statement was a character attack against Governor Palin and me that is shocking and beyond the pale."

The McCain campaign insists it does not condone racist taunts at its rallies, but some say Mrs Palin provoked outrage by characterising Obama at her rallies as a man who "palled around with terrorists", a reference to his association with former 1960s terrorist Bill Ayers, now a Chicago University professor.

However, Bill McPherson, a Washington political analyst, said: "Sarah Palin is stirring it up with these insinuations. They (the McCain campaign] have the responsibility to tone down the hatred and venom."

On Friday, a woman at a rally in Lakeville, Minnesota, said she did not trust Mr Obama because "he's an Arab", a comment Mr McCain quickly condemned.

Leading an invocation prior to a rally the following day in Davenport, Iowa, priest Arnold Conrad told the crowd that it was the duty of Christians to support Mr McCain.

He said: "There are millions of people around this world praying to their god, whether it's Hindu, Buddha, Allah, that (Mr McCain's] opponent wins, for a variety of reasons. And Lord, I pray that you will guard your own reputation, because they're going to think that their God is bigger than you, if that happens."

Despite this, Mr Obama is enjoying healthy leads in all the key swing states, with a widening polling gap on Mr McCain.

Adding to the Arizona senator's woes is the conclusion of the investigation into Troopergate in Alaska that found Governor Palin was guilty of improper interference in trying to engineer the sacking of a state trooper who had divorced from her sister.