White House Bristles at Bond Comments
WASHINGTON (AP) - A White House spokesman bristled Monday over NAACP board chairman Julian Bond's harsh criticisms of President Bush (news - web sites)'s first few months in office.
``The comments made by Mr. Bond are another reminder about why the tone in Washington needs to be changed,'' said chief White House spokesman Ari Fleischer (news - web sites).
In a speech Sunday at the NAACP annual convention in New Orleans, Bond criticized some of Bush's Cabinet choices, saying he selected a few people ``whose devotion to the Confederacy is nearly canine in its uncritical affection.''
Fleischer said ``there was a certain sense of going too far'' in that remark and Bond's reference to ``the Taliban wing of the Republican Party.'' The Taliban is a militia that rules Afghanistan (news - web sites) under a strict version of Islamic law. The criticisms were unfair, Fleischer said, given Bush's outreach to black Americans since taking office.
``Those remarks were excessive,'' Fleischer said. ``Those remarks were not made under Kweisi Mfume's leadership, when Kweisi Mfume was president of the NAACP.''
Mfume is currently NAACP president, and has held the post since December 1995. Bond, a 1960s student activist who is now a history professor at the University of Virginia, has been NAACP board chairman since 1998.
When a reporter reminded Fleischer of his error, the spokesman didn't acknowledge the reminder and seemed not to notice that he misspoke. Despite Bond's strong condemnations, there is no bad blood between the president and the leadership of the country's oldest civil rights organization, he said.
``Certainly not on the president's part,'' Fleischer said.
Bush addressed the NAACP's convention in Baltimore last year as a candidate, telling the gathering he wanted to make civil rights a cornerstone of his administration. ``While some in my party have avoided the NAACP, and while some in the NAACP have avoided my party, ... I'm proud to be here,'' Bush said then.
The president planned to send videotaped remarks to this year's gathering, Fleischer said. ``Unfortunately, he cannot attend everybody's event every year of his presidency. He still wishes the NAACP a successful convention,'' Fleischer said.
Neither Bond nor Mfume has met with Bush since he took office in January. Fleischer said no meeting was on the president's schedule as of Monday.
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