WP: Bush NAACP Address Receives Lukewarm Applause

[deminks]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/20/AR2006072000794.html?nav=rss_nation

President Bush, addressing the annual NAACP convention for the first time despite being repeatedly invited, said today that slavery is a stain on America that has not yet been "wiped clean." He promised to work with African-American leaders in practical ways to address the problems faced by American blacks.

Bush's remarks were met with largely lukewarm applause from the crowd and at one point near the end of his speech, a heckler threatened to disrupt the address. The president pressed ahead undaunted, though, and told a concerned NAACP Chairman and Chief Executive Bruce Gordon, "Don't worry about it."

Bush kicked off his speech by acknowledging his long-running absence from the group's annual meeting. After being introduced by Gordon, Bush said: "Bruce is a polite man. I thought he was going to say: It's about time you showed up."

Bush has declined invitations to address the annual convention for five years. This year, with the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act set to be renewed by the Senate as early as today, he accepted.

(end snip)
A photo op, but the "wiped clean" comment is a little unnerving.

[benburch]

1. "lukewarm"?

The place was nearly silent.

[pooja]

2. Why would he even bother to embarass himself by going now.

[Beausoir]

11. Because he's not running for anything now. Before...his racist base would

have lynched him for appearing before the NAACP.

He didn't go when it would cost him votes with his mentally ill base.

Now..he's trying to rehabilitate himself.

[shain from kane]

3. These aren't the plantation blacks that he expected, shuckin' and

jivin', and high-fivin'.
Stepenfetchit and Sambo unavailable for comment.

[partylessinOhio]

4. I didn't see the performance, was it intense?

Two hecklers.



The audience looks intense.



US President George W. Bush, seen here, wooing black voters who overwhelmingly opposed his two White House bids, ended a five-year boycott of a premier US civil rights group and asked for its help.

(What is that in his nose?)

[KoKo]

5. And the "charming Drunk P-Resident" says: "Bruce is a polite man...

"Bruce is a polite man. I thought he was going to say: It's about time you showed up."

[Judi Lynn]

6. ABC hopes to bamboozle those who didn't see the early reports!

Bush laments poor Republican relations with blacks

Jul 20, 2006 — By Steve Holland

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush, addressing America's leading civil rights organization for the first time since he took office, lamented the poor relationship between blacks and his Republican Party.

Bush drew roars of approval from members of the NAACP gathered for their 97th annual convention when he criticized his party, which is campaigning to keep control of Congress in November's elections, for writing off the black vote in the past.

"I consider it a tragedy that the party of Abraham Lincoln let go of its historic ties to the African American community," Bush said. "For too long my party wrote off the African American vote and many African Americans wrote off the Republican Party."

"That history has prevented us from working together when we agree on great goals. It's not good for our country," said Bush, who received only 9 percent of the black vote in the 2000 presidential election and 10 percent in 2004.
(snip/...)

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2216589

[Supersedeas]

10. the Networks have never left his side and they never will (shameless)

[coalition_unwilling]

12. Blacks who vote Repuke are like Jews who voted for the Nazi Party.

[ariesgem]

14. This does not look like a picture of "roars of approval"

The media has proven that they are officially in Bush's pocket.

[goclark]

26. They are listening with their hands folded and no smiles

This picture is just like the DEAN SCREAM, they turned the sound up on the replays of some channels.

The camera captured the segment for Georgie Boy.

Don't think that African Americans that were there took his remarks like the Gospel. They took care of plenty of Business with him.

Better to see him face to face and let him know what you feel ~ he knew his speech bombed but it shows that he is a weak President because he finally HAD to come to speak to them.

As an African American may I say this ~Harriet Tubman and Slavery taught us well.
We know how to pass the news from person to person.

Believe me, at least 50% of my people have already heard how the "heckler" spoke TRUTH to POWER to George Bush! " Condi is a HOUSE NEGRO!" is already a household truth. It's our new STICKIE phrase for her!

Don't worry that he will fool my people. He did not ~ we got the word from people that were there immediately after it happened. And now that the internet is our friend, the pictures are going all over the African American Community.

What we need to do is get the Corporate Owned News/CONews to tell the truth about the event.

That is something that DU can do by spreading the TRUE story of that day ----that Georgie Boy STRUCK OUT with the NAACP.

[ronnie624]

28. A very telling photo.

Every face appears thoroughly disgusted.

Anyone who cannot see the truth in your statement about the media is an idiot. I remember a news item on one of the television propaganda networks shortly after 9/11 about a meeting between Condoleezza Rice and media executives. For what reason would the National Security Adviser meet with media executives if not to coordinate a message for propaganda purposes?

Here is an interesting FAIR article from late 2001:

<http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1089>

[Judi Lynn]

30. That's a tremendous photo.Tells me all I need to know about that speech.nt

[Az_lefty]

7. did anyone ask about the pig?

that was a really big concern of his a few days ago. Just wondering...
:blush:

[peace frog]

8. No wonder he was met with stony silence

If you plan to listen to his speech, you might want to don the hip boots first.

[thereismore]

9. "wiped clean" conjures up images of blacks shining shoes, and of dirt

that needs to be wiped clean. Blacks were once considered dirty. I think this metaphor is very unfortunate.

[coalition_unwilling]

13. Aside from its metaphorical meaning(s), the idea that

slavery's legacy could ever be "wiped clean" is absurd to the point of being laughable, in the absence of a far-reaching economic and social revolution in this country.

[54anickel]

22. :...slavery is a stain on America..." It's a stain that IMO should not be

"wiped clean". So much of our history has been "cleaned and sanitized" to the point where the valuable lessons of our mistakes are never learned.

[ronnie624]

29. The damage done by slavery

is a scar that runs very deep indeed. It represents the complete destruction of countless families and communities over a period of many centuries. Those who believe the Civil War and the passing of civil rights legislation has now set everything right are full of shit. They have no realistic concept of the magnitude of the damage done to African cultures as a result of this unquantifiable crime against humanity.

It is difficult not to sneer at those people who claim they bear no responsibility for the history of their own country and the benefits they enjoy as a result of that history.

[Alacrat]

16. shining shoes and dirt?

When you hear the phrase "wiped clean" you think of blacks shining shoes, and dirt?

[thereismore]

23. yes, when the words come out of shrub in front of black people. nt

[Alacrat]

24. Racist tones

Shining shoes and dirt, dirty black people, that is disturbing to me, it has a racist tone, and I find it offensive.

The evil past of slavery can never be wiped clean, not with money, not with policy.
Slavery is an eternal stain on the fabric of the United States.
I view slaves, and their oppressed descendants as honorable heroes, who's toils and pains should be praised and honored. A slave, a servant, a shoe shiner, any labor, forced on a human through oppression, should be held in the highest esteem. The shoe shine boys, the share croppers, the servants, they rebelled, rebelled against the status quo and many died for their civil rights, and for the rights, hopes and dreams of future generations. When such phrases conjure up images, I see images of heroes.

[rusty charly]

19. or

cleaning the floor and windows

[Qutzupalotl]

15. I only saw the last few minutes on MSNBC

but I thought the crowd was applauding and cheering more than "politely"--which surprised me. I guess after the walkout, he was left with moderates and supporters?

I missed the protesters altogether.

I'm seeing differing reports on the reaction from various sources. Whom to believe...

[kath]

17. Interesting - the WP has changed the headline AND at least the first few

paragraphs of the story at that link.

It now reads:
At NAACP, Bush Tries To Mend Rifts
Speech Is Met with Both Applause and Boos


By Darryl Fears
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, July 21, 2006; Page A06

After shunning the NAACP for five years, President Bush made an effort yesterday to warm up their frosty relationship with a speech that mixed folksy humor, frank talk about political disagreements, and promises to build stronger ties between his administration and black America.

The 33-minute speech at the group's annual convention drew rounds of thunderous applause, such as when the president acknowledged that his political party wrote off the black vote and when he vowed to sign a bill to renew the Voting Rights Act.


At other times, the audience groaned, such as when Bush said his family is committed to civil rights. People booed sharply when he praised charter schools. Two men were quickly hustled out of the hall by Secret Service agents for heckling Bush about the Iraq war.

Beginning his speech, Bush broke the ice, thanking NAACP President and chief executive Bruce S. Gordon for his introduction and cracking a joke. "I thought he was going to say, "It's about time you showed up' " at a convention, Bush said. "And I'm glad I did."

*******

Note the new mention of "rounds of thunderous applause".

[Blaze Diem]

18. 'Folksy Humor'.....geez!!! ya, that's George alright!!

"Folksy humor" hardly describes the completly assinign remarks by Bush.

They would like to portray George as a down home "folksy humor kind of guy", unfortunaltley he's a corporate owned racist hypocrite. A member of the most piggishly wealthy crime family on the planet.

Bush's attempts at down-home humor generally end in embarassment due to his lack of "folksy" knowledge.

[faithnotgreed]

20. yes - completely abused (and too willing) enablers

who have not had any connection to their hearts nor their minds for years

repulsive not to mention criminal

[Joe Bacon]

27. No paper lies for Bush like the WHORESHINGTON POST!

Amazing how PRAVDA ON THE POTOMAC lies any lie for God's Man...

[Seabiscuit]

21. Bush to NAACP crowd: "Yo! Y'all come from Africa, yeah? I hear that's

a big country! 8 hour flight, huh? Yeah, a big country. I hear it's pretty dark there, y'all, with all them darkies. Y'know, I just took an 8 hour flight from a big country. China. Or was it Russia? Whatever. Two big countries, there, I tell 'ya. So when you leavin'? It's a long flight home, huh? I get to ride in Air Force One. Flyin' over another big country. Mine. See y'all next year. Have a nice flight home."

[FredScuttle]

32. Yo Blair!

"See, the irony is what they need to do is get Fitty to get the Game to stop doing this shit, and it's over. I felt like telling Em to get on the phone with Fitty and make something happen. We're not blaming the Insane Clown Posse. We're not blaming Fat Joe..."

[Thor_MN]

25. The only connection bewteen the neocons and Lincoln is the name Republican

"I consider it a tragedy that the party of Abraham Lincoln let go of its historic ties to the African American community," Bush said. "For too long my party wrote off the African American vote and many African Americans wrote off the Republican Party."

If Lincoln were alive today, we would be suing the GOP for trademark infringement - the neocons have absolutely nothing to do with the Republican Party of the late 1800's. Consevative dumbasses took over the Republican party, then the neoconservative ultradumbasses took over in the late 1900's.

[Judi Lynn]

31. Wash. Post mischaracterized NAACP audience reaction as approval for Bush c

Saturday July 22nd, 2006 informationliberation.com
Wash. Post mischaracterized NAACP audience reaction as approval for Bush comments (Media Matters)
Video: QT | WMV

Summary: In a July 21 article on President Bush's first-ever speech as president before the NAACP, The Washington Post's Darryl Fears reported that Bush received "thunderous applause" after he "acknowledged that his political party wrote off the black vote." In fact, the audience responded much more energetically to Bush's preceding assertion: his acknowledgment that many "African-Americans distrust" the Republican Party. The response to that comment appeared not to be approval for Bush's acknowledgment, but, rather agreement that many African-Americans do indeed "distrust" the Republican Party.

In a July 21 article on President Bush's July 20 speech at the annual convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Washington Post staff writer Darryl Fears noted that Bush received "thunderous applause" after he "acknowledged that his political party wrote off the black vote." But, in fact, while that comment drew scattered applause, the audience responded much more energetically -- with applause and yells of "Yeah" -- to a comment he made immediately before: that many African-Americans "distrust" the Republican Party. And, as with the "wrote off the black vote" comment, audience members were not necessarily applauding Bush -- they were apparently agreeing with Bush's assertion about African-Americans distrusting the Republican Party. Fears also uncritically reported that Bush included the repeal of the estate tax as one of the "programs that he said ha{s} the potential to help more black people gain economic success." In fact, repealing the estate tax will affect an infinitesimal percentage of African-Americans.

Fears reported that Bush's speech "drew rounds of thunderous applause," and clearly set apart the "thunderous applause" from "other times" in which "the audience groaned." From Fear's July 21 Washington Post article:

After shunning the NAACP for five years, President Bush made an effort yesterday to warm up their frosty relationship with a speech that mixed folksy humor, frank talk about political disagreements, and promises to build stronger ties between his administration and black America.

The 33-minute speech at the group's annual convention drew rounds of thunderous applause, such as when the president acknowledged that his political party wrote off the black vote and when he vowed to sign a bill to renew the Voting Rights Act.
(snip/...)

http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=13543