Well, at least according to George Bush, who when asked why he wouldn't be speaking at the 2004 NAACP national convention called his relationship with the NAACP virtually non-existent.

"You've heard the rhetoric and the names they've called me," Bush stated last week.

Hey, what the hell? I've been upsetting people with my journal here lately. Why stop now?

Tell me ladies and gentlemen, is that the kind of whiny, mealy-mouthed President you want? This is the man who promised himself as a "uniter?"

Kweisi Mfume , president of the NCAA tried many times to arrange a meeting with President Bush, writing him several letters. "The president never wrote me back," he said.

"I always got a letter from someone else in the White House stating his schedule did not permit such a meeting and they would get back with me ... and they never did. Two days ago, President Bush made his 30th visit to Pennsylvania. ... Yet he couldn't come to Pennsylvania to speak to us."

Now it's true that the NCAAP has been critical of the Bush administration and their policies. Mr. Julian Bond, NAACP chairman stated that Mr. Bush had, " . . .selected nominees from the Taliban wing of American politics, appeased the wretched appetites of the extreme right wing and chosen Cabinet officials whose devotion to the Confederacy is nearly canine in its uncritical affection."

You know, I'm not a religious man, but I can't help but respond to this comment with a hearty, "Amen."

But it's not as if Mr. Bond has spared the Democrats, who he said are too often " . . .not an opposition; they're an amen corner. With some notable exceptions, they have been absent without leave from this battle for America's soul. When one party is shameless, the other party cannot afford to be spineless."

Double Amen to that. We have to stand up and be heard and call the Republicans to task whenever even the scent of impropriety arises. We can no longer afford to be nice while our opposition shreds the Constitution of this country.

"The NAACP is a nonpartisan organization," Bond said, "but that doesn't mean we're noncritical."

Bond then went on to point out the irregularities in the 2000 election, where black voters in Florida--the election being overseen by a close friend of George Bush--innacurately listed black voters as felons, who were then not allowed to vote. Some black voters were stopped by police and asked for multiple forms of identification while white voters were not.

"We must guarantee the irregularities, suppression, nullification, and outright theft of black votes that happened on Election Day 2000 never, ever happen again," Bond said. "Any NAACP branch that isn't registering voters ought to turn in its charter."

But instead of trying to mend fences; instead of making a basic effort, Bush will be the first President since the 1930's not to address the NAACP.

Instead, he'd just sit in the corner and say,"You've heard the rhetoric and the names they've called me."

Ahh, that's our President. We should all be so proud.

Joseph Haines, signing off from The Edge of the Abyss.