Inside Politics

Bond vs. Mfume

“Don’t believe the well-scripted press conference where former president and chief executive officer of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Kweisi Mfume announced his resignation,” Armstrong Williams writes in Human Events Online (www.humaneventsonline.com). “Mfume did not resign from the nation’s oldest and most prestigious civil rights organization. He was kicked out, following a long-simmering feud with NAACP Chairman Julian Bond.

“The two began feuding after Mfume nominated National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice for his 2003 NAACP Image Award. Furious that Mfume was reaching out to the Bush administration, Bond responded by nominating ‘Boondocks’ cartoonist Aaron McGruder for his Image Award. McGruder had ridiculed Rice in his comic strip and later called her a ‘murderer’ for her role in the war in Iraq.

“The rift grew as Mfume continued to reach out to the Republican Party. Mfume realized that by reflexively voting Democrat in every election, the black voting populace has given away most of their political bartering power.”

It was Mr. Bond who in 2003 “referred to the Republican Party as ‘a crazed swarm of right-wing locusts’ and called the GOP “the white people’s party,” Mr. Williams notes.

After last month’s election, he adds: “Mfume suggested sending a letter to President Bush, mapping out ways that they could work together to help the community. Bond rejected the idea. Mfume sent the letter anyway. To Bond, this was unforgivable. A few weeks later, Bond had Mfume voted out. The message was clear: There is no room within the NAACP for intellectual diversity. Just loyal servitude to the Democratic Party.”

Curious criticism

“For no apparent reason, Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democrats’ new leader, is denouncing Justice Clarence Thomas,” James Taranto writes in his Best of the Web Today column at www.OpinionJournal.com.

Mr. Reid, in an appearance Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” said he might be able to support Justice Antonin Scalia as the next chief justice, but not Justice Thomas.

When host Tim Russert asked Mr. Reid why he opposed Justice Thomas, the senator replied: “I think that he has been an embarrassment to the Supreme Court. I think that his opinions are poorly written. I don’t — I just don’t think that he’s done a good job as a Supreme Court justice.”

Mr. Taranto commented: “Now, we haven’t read Thomas’ entire oeuvre, but we’ve read quite a few of his opinions, and we wouldn’t describe any of them as ‘poorly written’ — much less so poorly written as to make him ‘an embarrassment to the Supreme Court.’ (One of our favorite opinions of recent years is Thomas’ dissent in Grutter v. Bollinger, the 2003 case upholding racial preferences in college admissions provided they’re vague enough.)

“It’s a shame Russert didn’t press Reid to name some Thomas opinions he considers to be poorly written. In the absence of such examples, one can’t help but suspect that the new Senate Democratic leader is simply stereotyping Thomas as unintelligent because he is black.”

Hand recount

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