Quote of note:
In an interview with reporters from the Philadelphia Inquirer and other local Pennsylvania newspapers, Bush described his relationship with current NAACP leaders as "basically nonexistent."
Bad idea of note:
McClellan said that "the president is going to reach out to everyone in the African-American community and ask for their vote based on his record and his vision for the country."
Bush to Skip NAACP Meeting Due to Hostile Comments
Fri Jul 9, 2004 11:15 PM ET
KUTZTOWN, Pa. (Reuters) - President Bush has decided not to speak to the country's largest civil rights group, the White House said on Friday, citing openly hostile comments by its leaders about the president.
The White House initially attributed Bush's decision not to accept the invitation to speak at the NAACP annual convention to a scheduling conflict. The convention opens on Saturday in Philadelphia.
But White House spokesman Scott McClellan, traveling with Bush on a campaign bus trip through Pennsylvania cited "hostile political rhetoric about the president" from the group's leaders.
"It's disappointing to hear," McClellan said.