I think it was Coulter who said that why should the President go to the NAACP meeting when all that would happen is that they would blame him for the death of James Byrd again. Be Seeing You,
Chris
Posted on 07/11/2004 5:52:10 PM PDT by sandlady
YORK, Pa. - President Bush said Friday that he declined an invitation to speak to the NAACP's convention in Philadelphia because of harsh statements about him by leaders of the venerable civil rights group.
''I would describe my relationship with the current leadership as basically nonexistent,'' Bush told reporters. ``You've heard the rhetoric and the names they've called me.''
Bush added that he ''admired some'' NAACP leaders and said he would seek members' support ``in other ways.''
The decision not to speak was a far cry from candidate Bush's appeal to the NAACP four years ago when he conceded at its convention in Baltimore that Republicans hadn't always gotten along with the group.
`NOT ALWAYS ALLIES'
''The NAACP and the GOP -- have not always been allies, I know that,'' Bush said then. ``But recognizing our past and confronting the common future with a common vision -- by doing that, I believe we can find common ground.''
They haven't. NAACP President Kweisi Mfume is to respond to Bush's comments today at a news conference.
It's the fourth straight year that Bush has declined an invitation to attend the NAACP convention, which opens today in Philadelphia. He's the first sitting president since Herbert Hoover not to address the group.
White House officials initially said scheduling conflicts prevented Bush from making the journey to Philadelphia or addressing the conference via satellite, as he did Thursday to the League of United Latin American Citizens convention in San Antonio, Texas.
Administration officials traveling with the president on Friday on a campaign swing through south-central Pennsylvania signaled that White House annoyance with the NAACP was the major factor.
REASON REVEALED
''The current leadership of the NAACP has certainly made some rather hostile political comments about the president over the past few years,'' White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.
NAACP Chairman Julian Bond, speaking to lawmakers and business leaders in Indiana last month, said Bush and other Republicans appeal to a racist ``dark underside of American culture.''
''They preach racial equality but practice racial division,'' Bond said.
``Their idea of equal rights is the American flag and Confederate swastika flying side-by-side.''
On Thursday, Mfume accused the Bush administration of treating the black community cynically by courting the black vote while stiffing black organizations like the NAACP.
''We're not fools,'' he said.
McClellan said the Bush administration has been courting African-American voters through its political agenda. When Bush talks about his ''No Child Left Behind'' education program, he often speaks about eliminating the ''soft bigotry of low expectations'' that minority children experience in public schools. Bush received only 9 percent of the black vote in 2000.
Worden reports for The Philadelphia Inquirer.
President Bush would have accepted this invitation to speak at the NAACP convention, but Bill Cosby really said everything the President wanted to say at an NAACP event a few weeks ago.
"We're not fools, he said."
Could've fooled me!
Julian Bond's words are especially arrogant, pompous, and foolish. There is no respect for the office of President anymore. Thanks, Dems and Bill C.
vaudine
Isn't that incredible for a college professor?
The above post is a thread entirely by dougfromupland. It's a scary thing that we subject our students to J.Bond's "wisdom." I'm sure he keeps is teachings neutral. /sarcasm.
The first time I read this, I thought it was directed toward the NAACP."
My thoughts exactly. Why should President Bush address a group that constantly tells it's members to vote against him and his party? Why should he adress a crowd so the media can show audience memebers with angry scowls on their faces? Why should he cave in to constant badgering and insults?
If the NAACP wants to be such a partisan organization that it gets shut out of the political process every time there is a republican in office, that's fine. They will just be weaker for it.
Maybe the NAACP should give some recognition and props to an administration that has the highest ranking african-americans the Country has ever seen. Then maybe President Bush would be more willing to accept an invitaion.
Good memory. The press and libs would package it their way no matter what he does, so I say stay home. The heck with them.
W is one President who means what he says and sticks with it. And the NAACP can stick it.
Any thinking person who wishes to be minimally aware can turn on the TV and see Colin, Condi, etc...representing our country proudly and expertly.
nice.
The NAALCP is the same outfit that underwrote the terrible TV ad that equated Bush to the killers of the young black man who was dragged to death behind a truck in Texas. The victim's daughter tried to make the connection with the help of the NAALCP ( L for liberal, of course, as per Rush). Both white perps were sentenced to death for the evil deed, but the TV ad says nothing about the sentence.
I'm sure that Roy and Niger Innis of CORE have already extended an invitation. Good people.
More plain speaking from a man wbo says what he means and means what he says. Thank you, GW. No Nuancyboy nonsense.
It appears the NAACP thinks that they are dealing with maladjusted, co-dependent children.....sorry, guys, the GROWN UPS ARE IN CHARGE NOW!!! YEEHAAAAAWWWWW!
I think it was Coulter who said that why should the President go to the NAACP meeting when all that would happen is that they would blame him for the death of James Byrd again. Be Seeing You,
Chris
See #48.
Sure, the NAACP's dems masters like keeping black in a modified slavery beholden to the dems and obligated to vote the way they are told, but masses of illegal Mexicans is not in the best interests of blacks and the NAACP's failure to see this only emphasizes what useless field hands for the dems they are.
Of course, Bush's brave refusal will allow the step-n-fetchit members of the fully segregated, colored only Congressional Black Caucus to give about the same silly speeches they would have babbled had Bush addressed the Convention.
But they asked him twice. /sarcasm
They must have had something really big planned and he had to go and decline the invitation. :)
Is it valid to drop the word "venerable" in an "unbiased" news article?
Maybe he's the first one since Hoover to understand the concept of not casting pearls before swine.
FGS
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