Posted on 07/15/2004 7:00:50 AM PDT by areafiftyone
BOSTON (AP) -- Democrat John Kerry is telling the NAACP that as president he will always talk with people who disagree with him - a slap at President Bush for declining to address the civil rights group.
"I will be a president who talks with everyone those who agree with me and those who don't," Kerry says in remarks prepared for delivery Thursday in Philadelphia before the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
Bush has not spoken to the NAACP since he was campaigning in 2000. He was angered when, during that race, the NAACP National Voter Fund ran an ad that portrayed Bush as unsympathetic to the dragging death of James Byrd in Texas.
Since the campaign, leaders of the NAACP have called Bush an illegal president, compared his anti-abortion views to the Taliban and called his trip to Africa a photo-op. A Bush spokesman blasted the NAACP on Thursday.
The president "has many friends who belong to the NAACP and respects their proud history of championing civil rights," White House communications director Dan Bartlett said. "Differences of opinion and opposing views are of course part of the national debate. Yet the current leadership of the NAACP has clearly crossed the line in partisanship and civility, making it impossible to have a constructive dialogue."
"Despite the current leadership's intolerant views, President Bush will continue to reach out to members of the NAACP and African-Americans from across the country," he said. Bush addresses the Urban League, another civil rights group, next week.
The leaders of the NAACP have said they are committed to helping Kerry defeat Bush this year. Kerry welcomes the help as he tries to stir blacks to get to the polls this year.
I will be a president who shares the values of people of all colors who get up and go to work every day, try to raise their families in dignity and want to leave this world a better place for their children," Kerry says in the NAACP speech. "I will be a president who when he is invited into your home, will always say yes."
In a statement, the Kerry campaign said Bush has failed to bring opportunity for blacks. It criticized Bush for failing to support affirmative action, for dropping employment among blacks and for cutting education and health care programs that disproportionately impact blacks.
Bush campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt said, "Kerry continues to campaign making fundamentally baseless assertions about the economy." He said minority homeownership is at record levels.
After his speech to the NAACP, Kerry was beginning his "Front Porch Tour" in Philadelphia suburb of Lansdowne. The Kerry campaign is putting a new spin on an old technique - trying to get the candidate more time sharing concerns with regular Americans.
While Kerry is visiting with voters in the swing state of Pennsylvania, his running mate John Edwards will be visiting voters on a front porch in New Orleans. Although Kerry and Edwards were officially kicking off what they say will be a regular feature of their campaign trips, Kerry sat with voters on their porch at least once before.
Last month in Columbus, Ohio, Kerry chatted with two sisters who brought out iced tea and talked about the struggles of raising their kids in a tough economy. The normal intimacy of a front-porch chat was somewhat disrupted by the glare of the flood lights brought in by the campaign and more than a dozen national journalists and staff who watched from the lawn.
Kerry said the importance of the porch visits is "going to the homes of ordinary citizens across this nation and talking with them about the values that matter most to them - values you live by every day - family, responsibility, service, opportunity, inclusion, fairness, faith."
I cannnot get over how dumb they are; not to the NAACP, but to the rest of us.
Kerry's in BIG trouble because of his New York gross out and HE makes a joke about Cheney cussing?
Bush did speak to them.. He told them 'No'.
What the hell is it with all the hooting and foot-thumping?
It sounds like he's holding court in the Alcatraz meal-room.
He's bashed the president which they love, but what is he really offering them otherwise? Nuttin'!
He's speaking now--I missed some, but it is a huge Bush/Cheney bash.
So far he's bashed Bush for not appearing at this event.
He's slammed Cheney for using a "swear word" (as if the Rolling Stone interview is non-existant).
And now he's slamming Bush for his faith ala the Ron P Reagan angle.
What a mean jackass.
How can he promise to do that about himself when, as senator, he continues to fail to make time to show up and vote in the Senate?
You heard that too? ;)
And don't forget the in-unison foot-stomping a la prelude to a prison-riot.
feel the hate.
I'm listening to this idiot. He's so pathetic.
He's so fake.
It's coming out in waves.
From them...
Man, that man is falling flat as a pancake. It's fun to watch.
Excellent observation. JfnK is a lowlife for accepting his Senate salary, in my opinion.
He can't help it, it's his nature. He's a typicrite. ;) (a typical hypocrite)
I refuse to be part of Kerry's one America, since it sounds pretty sinister to me. Plus he is sounding like we are a third world country.
This guy is an awful person.
"Don't tell us"...."Don't tell US"..."Don't tell US"..
He's like a broken record.."Don't tell US"..
sw
How can he promise to do that about himself when, as senator, he continues to fail to make time to show up and vote in the Senate?
He's a typicrite. It comes naturally to him.
"An Administration that has licensed a creed of greed." How cute.
I thought the same thing...
Now he's back to talking about HIS faith (subtext "unlike that hypocrite in the WH")
Again with the fighting now, a la Gore.
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