Posted on 12/21/2004 1:47:11 PM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection
Nah, look at it from Mfume's position! Unless he can persuade Bush to provide meaningful federal employment for an attractive young lady of African heritage, good education and some degree of intelligence, Mfume is going to get tagged with yet ANOTHER illegitimate kid. Mfume can be friend to the blue eyed devils when he wants something but, of course, he can not change his spots.
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush met Tuesday at the White House with the outgoing head of the NAACP, the first meeting of his presidency with the nation's oldest civil rights group. "It was a very frank and a very open dialogue," NAACP President Kweisi Mfume told reporters afterward. "We both have real differences." White House press secretary Scott McClellan described the session as "a good discussion about a wide range of issues." "The president has a long record of reaching out to the African American community, and he will continue to build upon those efforts," McClellan said. The meeting came about after NAACP President Kweisi Mfume sent Bush a letter on Nov. 5 congratulating him on his re-election and requesting the chance to discuss challenges confronting the nation, said John White, the group's spokesman. Mfume announced Nov. 30 he is stepping down from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People leadership post. The "surprise invitation" to meet with Bush came from the White House late last week, White said. The meeting comes after a period of chilled relations between the White House and the NAACP - and after Bush failed to improve on his performance among black voters in the November elections, winning support from only about one in 10. NAACP board chairman Julian Bond has condemned the administration's policies on education, the economy and the war in Iraq and urged high black voter turnout to defeat Bush for re-election. And Mfume once described Bush's black supporters as "ventriloquists' dummies." Earlier this year, Bush refused an invitation to speak at the group's annual convention. Though he had addressed the 2000 convention when he was first running for president, Bush has declined each year of his presidency, becoming the first president since Herbert Hoover to do so. Bush has generally avoided sit-downs with other established black civil rights groups as well, for instance meeting only rarely with the Congressional Black Caucus. But he has reached out to carefully chosen minority audiences and to civil rights advocates less critical of his policies such as the National Urban League. In those sessions, Bush typically asserts that his administration's prescription of tax relief, increased home ownership, education reform - including school vouchers - and support for the involvement of religious charities in government programs is doing more than the traditional programs of Democrats to address the nation's ills that hit blacks particularly hard. Mfume said the president asked for his advice on a range of issues including Social Security, the image of law enforcement, affordable health care and education reform - despite his being one of Bush's "more vocal critics." The outgoing NAACP leader said he hoped the session would "at least begin the process for future dialogue between the administration and the NAACP." As for Bush's previous snubs of the group, Mfume said he partly understood the president's explanation. "He was concerned not so much about any potential humiliation of himself, but protecting the office of the presidency from any sort of humiliation that might have occurred," he said. "I think he does have some validity in the fact that protecting the presidency from public humiliation, whether it's he or someone else, as president, is important."
I can not believe the President agreed to meet with "Queasy n' Fumin". What a terrible move.
Normally, you meet with people when you believe something productive can come out of the meeting.
There are a rising number of blacks in the political process that the President should be talking to. "Queasy n' Fumin" is not nor ever will be one of them.
In general, I would say that the NAACP is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Democratic Party, and as such there is no reason for any Republican ever to meet with them.
But, in Mfume's case, I would make an exception. He is being forced out, precisely, because he called for the organization to reach out to Republicans. So for Bush to invite him in for a meeting, is classy, I think.
Dubya is such a real person, I bet the meeting was, in diplo speak, 'a frank and fair exchange of views."
Okay. That works.
"Normally, you meet with people when you believe something productive can come out of the meeting."
I don't know what Mfume's future plans are, but I doubt he's going into permanent retirement.
He will be around, and there's no harm in having him at least open to hearing our side of things. Indeed, the President may well know something about Mfume's future plans. This show of respect may yield fruit down the road who-knows-where.
Ever heard of Powell, Rice? What kind of idiotic statement is this?
The sad truth is that African-American "leaders" don't do themsleves any favors when they band together and put out whacky conspiracy theories and phony accusations of intimidation and fraud like they did both in 2000 and in that embarrasing spectacle yesterday. Behaving this way makes them look mentally deranged in the eyes of most normal Americans.
Yes, I have heard of Colin Powell, Condi Rice, Rod Paige, Bill Cosby, Lynn Swan, Don King, Walter Williams, etc. and literally millions of other great American Blacks, both Democrat and Republican who are successful, honest, hardworking, talented and honorable folks. Problem is, that when Black folk follow leaders that preach hate, racism and division, they are bound to fail. Right now, the Congressional Black Caucus is mud with the powers that be, and rightfully so. If the CBC and the NAACP continue down the road they have set Blacks on, I can assure you, no good will come of their hatred path for American Blacks.
And....with Hispanics now, and for the forseeable future, the largest minority group in the USA, the majority of "poor" Blacks are falling further behind. Hispanics and Asians as groups, both understand the value and power of political diversification. Until Black folk get it, and dump some of their current leaders, the majority of Black Americans will remain at the bottom of the political, economic and opportunity totem pole, just as their Democrat "masters" wish and have kept them chained there for at least fifty years. The truth is there for the viewing. My friend, I am not bad mouthing Blacks, I am imploring them to be all that they can be in, this, the greatest country in the world. In the real world of today, being Black, Liberal and Democrat is neither cool or where it's at!!!
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