the president of the united states is actually going to turn his back on the NAACP and not meet with them, still upset, reportedly for their accusations that the civil rights group has made against him, the Associated Press reports today.
“(President Bush) 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.”
Impossible?
How would the President know that it’s impossible to talk to a group when he hasnt talked with them in four years?
Mr. Bush will certainly debate Sen. Kerry. Will he decline any debates with the Democrat since they will surely cross the line of partisanship?
And what is crossing the line of partisanship, anyway? Isn’t it balking at an invitation with a group year after year after year simply because they traditionally overwhelmingly vote against you?
They’re still Americans. Don’t they deserve to be included in the dialogue? Aren’t their concerns and issues important?
Isn’t the message that the President is sending one that says, “disagree with me once, shame on me… you… disagree with me twice… wont get fooled again”?
or something?
i thought the president was a cowboy.
i thought the president wasnt afraid to stand his ground and answer his critics.
i thought this president was proud of his accomplishments over the last three and a half years.
and as dumb as this president is portrayed in Fahrenheight 9/11, you’d think the yale grad would think he could take on a bunch of minorities who certainly are wrong about comparing his anti-abortion stance toward the taliban, and being upset about the rapidly deteriorating inner-city education problem, or the high unemployment rate for blacks.
guess i was wrong. again.
“The president may be too busy to talk to you,” Kerry told the NAACP today in Philadephia, “but I have news for you: He’s going to have plenty of time after Nov. 2.
“I will be a president who is truly a uniter, not one who seeks to divide one nation by race or riches or by any other label.”
The NAACP has about 500,000 members. There are 36 million African-Americans in the USA, approximately 13% of the nation’s population, according to the March 2002 census; which also reports that 11.9% of Black men were unemployed at the time of the survey, while only 5.7% of white men were unemployed.
Also of interest is the fact that although Blacks account for only 13% of the population, they accounted for 23% of american poverty.
If the president and his party of economic superstars wanted to prove their mad skillz, i cant imagine an audience who would benefit more that enlightenment than the NAACP.
the president missed a great opportunity.