Posted on 07/12/2004 5:28:31 PM PDT by Pikamax
Kerry Seeks Gain from Bush Rift with Rights Group Mon Jul 12, 2004 07:26 PM ET
By David Morgan BOSTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry tried to capitalize on growing rancor between the White House and civil rights leaders on Monday by accusing President Bush of ignoring racial and economic inequalities in the United States.
At a fund-raiser in his home state of Massachusetts, Kerry put a spotlight on Bush's decision last week not address the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and presented himself as a long-time civil-rights supporter inspired by John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King.
"My friends, I will be a president who meets with the leadership of the Civil Rights Congress, who meets with the NAACP," he told a predominantly black audience.
A Kerry spokesman said later the senator meant to refer to the Washington-based coalition called the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights rather than the Civil Rights Congress.
Kerry, 60, is scheduled to speak to the NAACP, the oldest and largest U.S. civil rights organization, on Thursday at its annual convention in Philadelphia.
Last week, Bush declined an NAACP speaking invitation because of "hostile political rhetoric" from the group's leaders. "You've heard the rhetoric and the names they've called me," Bush told the Philadelphia Inquirer.
NAACP Chairman Julian Bond has accused the Bush administration of presiding over racial divisions in education, criminal justice and voting rights.
Even so, Republicans say Bush, who drew only 8 percent of the black vote in the 2000 election, has made an appeal to African Americans a priority of his re-election campaign.
White House national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, the first black woman to hold the position and one of Bush's closest aides, defended his civil rights record.
"I know that this is a president whose record is impeccable on civil rights, impeccable on the interests of African Americans, and I'm quite comfortable with the decision he's taken," Rice said on CNN.
Black voter support could be crucial in the Nov. 2 election, which analysts believe may be as close as the 2000 race, decided in Bush's favor by the U.S. Supreme Court.
In his first solo public appearance since a four-day campaign swing with his vice presidential running mate John Edwards, Kerry sounded out some of Edwards' signature themes about a divided America.
He pointed to inequities faced by blacks in criminal justice and education while accusing the Bush administration of pursuing tax cuts for the wealthy at the expense of working families.
"All across this country, John and I saw a separate and unequal school system in America 50 years after Brown vs. Board of Education. That's unacceptable," Kerry said in reference to the Supreme Court ruling that outlawed school segregation.
"We've got more African Americans in jail than we do in college. That's unacceptable," he added.
Kerry said he "understands that the job of the presidency is not to look for the lowest common denominator of American politics by which you can divide and win for a few; it's to find the highest common denominator of American politics and unite and win for the many."
I think they were already going to vote for Kerry.
It's not as if Kerry had anything to worry about. They're just mad that they didn't get to give Kerry a video byte for his campaign.
They are not a "rights group". They are an organization of assorted thugs, leftists and shake-down artists.
Nah..instead of 95%..now he'll get 95.5%..(G)..seriously, I was just watching the Families rally..re the mariage amendment..their were two or three black ministers speaking..very powerful...this is a "closet" social issue that may resonate with blacks more than we think..
Bush gains by standing up to the shake-down artists.
He's accused them of a lot more than that. Here's a recent quote from Mr. Bond:
"They preach racial neutrality and they practice racial division. They celebrate Dr. King and they misuse his message. Their idea of reparations is to give war criminal Jefferson Davis a pardon. Their idea of a pristine environment is a parking lot before the lines are painted in. Their idea of equal rights is the American flag and the confederate swastika flying side by side. Their idea – their idea of compassion is to ask the guest at the millionaire’s banquet if they want an extra helping or a second dessert. They’ve tried to patch the leaky economy and every other domestic problem with duct tape and plastic sheets. They’ve written a new constitution for Iraq and ignored the Constitution here at home. They – they draw their most rabid supporters from the Taliban-wing of American politics." (emphasis added)
The NAACP's head Honcho links republicans with Nazis, slavers and the Taliban in one paragraph, and now they're shocked! shocked! that Bush has better things to do than subject himself to that kind of gathering.
Got that? He didn't win, none of the many counts and recounts (all of which he won) matter, the race was decided by the Court, not the Counts.
Not.
Doesn't matter that GWB is the only president to have appointed two high profile blacks in his administration. Yup, he's definitely a biggot. The NAACP biggot's told me so.
Looks and sounds like Kerry is doing his best to create a "divided America."
However, through all the crap, I found this gem: "I know that this is a president whose record is impeccable on civil rights, impeccable on the interests of African Americans, and I'm quite comfortable with the decision he's taken," Rice said on CNN.
That's Condi, endorsing Bush's decision to tell the NAACP to go pound sand.
Love that gal!
Be Seeing You,
Chris
The Left is playing mind-games with vulnerable Conservatives.
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