# 33 Dubya reaches leftward.
Now that he has your vote and doesn't need you for reelection, GWB can go farther left than ever before. He didn't meet with the racist, liberal NAACP last term, but this time he did right away. We can expect lots more slides to the left by Bush.
http://www.cnsnews.com//ViewPolitics.asp?Page=\Politics\archive\200412\POL20041222a.html
NAACP Welcomes White House Meeting With President Bush
By Susan Jones
CNSNews.com Morning Editor
December 22, 2004
(CNSNews.com) - President Bush invited outgoing NAACP President and CEO Kweisi Mfume to the White House for a private meeting on Tuesday --- something the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) described as a "surprise move." According to an NAACP press release, Mfume wrote to President Bush on November 5, two days after Bush won re-election, requesting an opportunity to discuss "some of the domestic and social problems that continue to plague us as a nation."
Four years ago, the Bush White House ignored a similar letter from Mfume, the NAACP press release said. The NAACP also noted that in 2004, "President Bush became the first President since Warren G. Harding to refuse to meet with the country's oldest and largest civil rights organization when he declined an invitation to speak at the 2004 NAACP Annual Convention in Philadelphia.
"But that was then and this is now: "We welcome any meeting with an American President," said Julian Bond, chairman of the NAACP National Board of Directors, in Tuesday's press release."After being shut out of the White House for four years, we look forward to discussion about our differences -- and even agreement when our agendas intersect."
According to Bond, "the NAACP has been wrongly accused of being hostile to Republicans." He said the organization has had "good relationships" with Education Secretary Rod Paige and Secretary of State Colin Powell, who have spoken at our meetings; with National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice who received an Image Award from the NAACP; and even with Attorney General John Ashcroft, whose appointment the NAACP opposed.
"We object to policies, not to parties, and when we think the policies are wrong, we're not afraid to say so," Bond stated.
But the Internal Revenue Service is currently investigating whether some Bond's remarks as NAACP chairman violate the organization's tax-exempt status. In remarks to hundreds of cheering liberal activists in June, Bond singled out Republicans as enemies of black Americans and compared conservatives to the terrorist Taliban who once ruled Afghanistan.
"Their idea of equal rights is the American flag and the Confederate swastika flying side by side," Bond told a cheering audience last spring. "They've written a new constitution for Iraq and ignore the Constitution here at home. They draw their most rabid supporters from the Taliban wing of American politics. Now they want to write bigotry back into the Constitution."
According to the Washington Post, Mfume described his Tuesday meeting with President Bush as a "man-to-man" discussion about repairing the strained relationship between Bush and the NAACP.
Mfume was quoted as saying he hopes Tuesday's meeting will pave the way for "future dialogue between the NAACP and the White House." He told reporters that President Bush asked for his advice on various issues, "particularly issues affecting race in this country."
http://www.cnsnews.com//ViewPolitics.asp?Page=\Politics\archive\200412\POL20041222a.html
NAACP Welcomes White House Meeting With President Bush
By Susan Jones
CNSNews.com Morning Editor
December 22, 2004
(CNSNews.com) - President Bush invited outgoing NAACP President and CEO Kweisi Mfume to the White House for a private meeting on Tuesday --- something the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) described as a "surprise move." According to an NAACP press release, Mfume wrote to President Bush on November 5, two days after Bush won re-election, requesting an opportunity to discuss "some of the domestic and social problems that continue to plague us as a nation."
Four years ago, the Bush White House ignored a similar letter from Mfume, the NAACP press release said. The NAACP also noted that in 2004, "President Bush became the first President since Warren G. Harding to refuse to meet with the country's oldest and largest civil rights organization when he declined an invitation to speak at the 2004 NAACP Annual Convention in Philadelphia.
"But that was then and this is now: "We welcome any meeting with an American President," said Julian Bond, chairman of the NAACP National Board of Directors, in Tuesday's press release."After being shut out of the White House for four years, we look forward to discussion about our differences -- and even agreement when our agendas intersect."
According to Bond, "the NAACP has been wrongly accused of being hostile to Republicans." He said the organization has had "good relationships" with Education Secretary Rod Paige and Secretary of State Colin Powell, who have spoken at our meetings; with National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice who received an Image Award from the NAACP; and even with Attorney General John Ashcroft, whose appointment the NAACP opposed.
"We object to policies, not to parties, and when we think the policies are wrong, we're not afraid to say so," Bond stated.
But the Internal Revenue Service is currently investigating whether some Bond's remarks as NAACP chairman violate the organization's tax-exempt status. In remarks to hundreds of cheering liberal activists in June, Bond singled out Republicans as enemies of black Americans and compared conservatives to the terrorist Taliban who once ruled Afghanistan.
"Their idea of equal rights is the American flag and the Confederate swastika flying side by side," Bond told a cheering audience last spring. "They've written a new constitution for Iraq and ignore the Constitution here at home. They draw their most rabid supporters from the Taliban wing of American politics. Now they want to write bigotry back into the Constitution."
According to the Washington Post, Mfume described his Tuesday meeting with President Bush as a "man-to-man" discussion about repairing the strained relationship between Bush and the NAACP.
Mfume was quoted as saying he hopes Tuesday's meeting will pave the way for "future dialogue between the NAACP and the White House." He told reporters that President Bush asked for his advice on various issues, "particularly issues affecting race in this country."
posted by T.G. at 9:17 AM
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