Kerry Praises NAACP Chairman

Robert B. Bluey, CNSNews.com, Jul. 15

(CNSNews.com) — In a speech at the NAACP convention Thursday, Sen. John Kerry offered a glowing portrayal of the group’s chairman, Julian Bond, who only one month ago compared Republicans to terrorists.

“Julian Bond sent electricity through this country when he burst on the scene when he was a young man,” Kerry said. “I remember watching him set an example for our country, and he’s still setting an example for our country. He is eloquent. He is powerful.”

Bond, a self-described militant, introduced Kerry to a rousing ovation. Kerry then proceeded to praise Bond, who became a well-known participant in the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

Just last month at the liberal Take Back America conference, Bond caused a stir when he singled out Republicans as enemies of black Americans and compared conservatives to the terrorist Taliban who once ruled Afghanistan.

“Their idea of equal rights is the American flag and the Confederate swastika flying side by side,” Bond said at the time. “They’ve written a new constitution for Iraq and ignore the Constitution here at home. They draw their most rabid supporters from the Taliban wing of American politics. Now they want to write bigotry back into the Constitution.”

Bond continued, “By playing the race card in election after election, they’ve appealed to that dark underside of American culture, to that minority of Americans who reject democracy and equality. They preach racial neutrality, and they practice racial division.”

Even though the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People remains a non-partisan organization, it is one of President Bush’s harshest critics, with Bond often serving as its most outspoken leader.