We are headed in a direction that casts an ugly shadow over our land.  the events of today conjure  up memories of a time in our history that none of us want to repeat.  While our country is in crisis, we are seeing characters appear on the national stage that have raised the rhetoric to a dangerous level.  Read the following excerpts, and pray that we move back from this brink before we all get sucked into the abyss of hatred and division from which we cannot return.

This is the endgame, the ugly stuff, meant to assassinate character and distract the electorate with foolishness as our financial house of cards flutters away into the uncertain winds of whatever's left of the global economy.

Georgia congressman, John Lewis made this statement in response to tactics of the McCain-Palin campaign this week.  "What I am seeing reminds me too much of another destructive period in American history. Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are sowing the seeds of hatred and division, and there is no need for this hostility in our political discourse," Lewis said in a statement.

"George Wallace never threw a bomb. He never fired a gun, but he created the climate and the conditions that encouraged vicious attacks against innocent Americans who were simply trying to exercise their constitutional rights. Because of this atmosphere of hate, four little girls were killed on Sunday morning when a church was bombed in Birmingham, Alabama," wrote the Democrat.

John McCain responded, "Congressman John Lewis' comments represent a character attack against Gov. Sarah Palin and me that is shocking and beyond the pale," he said in a Saturday afternoon statement released by his campaign.

"The notion that legitimate criticism of Sen. Obama's record and positions could be compared to Gov. George Wallace, his segregationist policies and the violence he provoked is unacceptable and has no place in this campaign. I am saddened that John Lewis, a man I've always admired, would make such a brazen and baseless attack on my character and the character of the thousands of hardworking Americans who come to our events to cheer for the kind of reform that will put America on the right track.

"I call on Sen. Obama to immediately and personally repudiate these outrageous and divisive comments that are so clearly designed to shut down debate 24 days before the election. Our country must return to the important debate about the path forward for America."

Shortly after, Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton released a statement on the Lewis comments.  "Sen. Obama does not believe that John McCain or his policy criticism is in any way comparable to George Wallace or his segregationist policies," Burton said. "But John Lewis was right to condemn some of the hateful rhetoric that John McCain himself personally rebuked just last night, as well as the baseless and profoundly irresponsible charges from his own running mate that the Democratic nominee for president of the United States 'pals around with terrorists.' "

This is not the dialog we want to see in the final days of this historic campaign.  I am hoping that the upcoming debate in 4 days acts as a safety valve to shine a bright light on the leader that will set a new direction for the dialog, and our country.  I am confident that the only leader who can set forth a "healing agenda" is Barack Obama.