Bush to NAACP: "I understand that racism still lingers"

[deminks]

http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=129920

President Bush acknowledged persistent racism in America and lamented the Republican Party's bumpy relations with black voters as he addressed the NAACP's annual convention Thursday for the first time in his presidency.

"I understand that racism still lingers in America," Bush told the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. "It's a lot easier to change a law than to change a human heart. And I understand that many African-Americans distrust my political party."

That line generated boisterous applause and cheers from the thousands in the audience, which generally gave the president a polite, reserved reception.

[Broken_Hero]

1. Wow...

"I understand that racism still lingers in America," Bush told the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. "It's a lot easier to change a law than to change a human heart. And I understand that many African-Americans distrust my political party."

What a statement...at least he admits racism still exists, but on the other hand, its like admitting there is a Sun in space. At least, he admitted it though, baby steps George, baby steps!...But, I'm inclined to believe the statement was pure pandering, and he just said it, to appear to geniunely care.....

[goclark]

18. "Lingers" is way too soft a word for RACISM

Lingers is someone staying a while with their girlfriend/boyfriend for more hugs and kisses.

[rfranklin]

2. He's had first hand experience...

His friend Rush Limbaugh spouts it every day.

[ComerPerro]

11. His campaign in 2000 used racism to be McCain in the south

[populistdriven]

3. So Bush accused his Party of harboring Racists

Its true but will he do anything about it?






Bush is manwhore

[uppityperson]

4. he understands! That makes it all better! (actually means he doesn't care)

I am very tired of "I understand" bs from Mr.bush as it is just a weasely way of pretending to care and wanting to do something, but actualy is saying he knows and cares not.

[mark11727]

5. Racism still lingers in America? I tell ya, NOTHING gets past that guy..!

[Solly Mack]

6. Remember when Bush would visit some group or organization

and the next thing you knew, he was calling for cuts or laws that would directly affect the very group he graced his presence with?

It got to be a running joke that if Bush came to make a speech to your organization, watch out! - he's about to hit you where you live...

sort like when he praises you, you lose your job shortly afterward...but get a medal

well...just saying...

[Judi Lynn]

7. From TomPaine.com: Bush Bombs At NAACP

7/20/06

Bush Bombs At NAACP

In anticipation of President Bush’s speech before the NAACP today, Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., a former chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, told USA Today that after refusing to address the organization the first five years of his presidency, "I hope that this time, he makes it worth the wait."

It was not. Bush used a mix of humor, frankness and attempts to mimic the cadences of the black church to sell a set of policies that generally fell flat when delivered to the audience at the Washington Convention Center.

Bush even acknowledged as much halfway through his speech.

“I asked {NAACP Board Chairman Julian Bond} for a few pointers on how to give a speech,” Bush said, to scattered laughter. “It doesn’t look like they’re taking.”
(snip/...)

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/07/20/bush_bombs_at_naacp.php

[C_U_L8R]

8. For good reason I might add

The Republican Party has earned every ounce of distrust it has piled upon itself.
And George Bush has done NOTHING to change a single mind or sway a single heart.
The Republicans are JUNK.

[AndyA]

9. Bush should consider himself lucky the audience didn't pelt him with

rotten tomatos, and a big hook didn't come from off stage to yank his sorry butt off. Empty promises and shallow sentiments of understanding is all Bush can offer, and it's not enough. Never was, never will be.

He's in a position to do something to make things better for everyone in America, he's had six years of opportunity, and...NOTHING. Bush has no answers, no clue. Bush is not a leader, he is a failure in every since of the word.

[WI_DEM]

10. The racism in America is given aid and support by the winks and nods

from the top.

[seemslikeadream]

12. Racism still lingers? It's the peace of the common grave, isn't it

mr. bush

BUSH'S PLAN FOR PEACE IS THE PEACE OF THE COMMON GRAVE



EVERY DEATH CREATES NEW ENEMIES

MORE TERRORISTS

MORE DANGER

MORE DEATH

AND REMEMBER...

HE IS JUST GETTING STARTED...

BUSH'S PLAN FOR PEACE

IS THE PEACE OF THE COMMON GRAVE

http://www.bushflash.com/pax.html WATCH THIS VIDEO

Let America be America Again

Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.

(America never was America to me.)

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed--
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.

(It never was America to me.)

O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.

(There's never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.")

Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?
And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?

I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek--
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.

I am the young man, full of strength and hope,
Tangled in that ancient endless chain
Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!
Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!
Of work the men! Of take the pay!
Of owning everything for one's own greed!

I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.
I am the worker sold to the machine.
I am the Negro, servant to you all.
I am the people, humble, hungry, mean--
Hungry yet today despite the dream.
Beaten yet today--O, Pioneers!
I am the man who never got ahead,
The poorest worker bartered through the years.

Yet I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream
In the Old World while still a serf of kings,
Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,
That even yet its mighty daring sings
In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned
That's made America the land it has become.
O, I'm the man who sailed those early seas
In search of what I meant to be my home--
For I'm the one who left dark Ireland's shore,
And Poland's plain, and England's grassy lea,
And torn from Black Africa's strand I came
To build a "homeland of the free."

The free?

Who said the free? Not me?
Surely not me? The millions on relief today?
The millions shot down when we strike?
The millions who have nothing for our pay?
For all the dreams we've dreamed
And all the songs we've sung
And all the hopes we've held
And all the flags we've hung,
The millions who have nothing for our pay--
Except the dream that's almost dead today.

O, let America be America again--
The land that never has been yet--
And yet must be--the land where every man is free.
The land that's mine--the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME--
Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.

Sure, call me any ugly name you choose--
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people's lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!

O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath--
America will be!

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain--
All, all the stretch of these great green states--
And make America again!

Langston Hughes

[madrchsod]

13. shit--- put him in front of the apollo theater

audience during saturday night amateur hour. see how long he lasts there!

[goclark]

19. Oh that would be a pretty picture

I would love to see Monique take him on!

[politicasista]

14. He is one of the main reasons it still exists n/t

[Vickers]

15. Way to go, Captain Obvious!

:eyes:

[warrens]

16. Lingers sort of like a wolverine at your throat "lingers"

Christ, what an idiot.

[applegrove]

17. Did he say anything about trying to ignore the NAACP and traditional

American of African descent groups...in an attempt to create their own black leaders (mega-churches) who they could then control?

Did he say he was sorry? For that 4 year policy?