President Bush has agreed to speak to the NAACP, and I’m sort of sorry about it. For years, every president — every eminento — spoke to the NAACP, because, in doing so, they thought they were speaking to Black America. And that’s the way the NAACP thought too.

But, one day, an extraordinary president — George W. Bush — said no. He recognized, I believe, that the NAACP had become another left-wing hate group. This was especially evident in the television ad they ran against him in 2000. It essentially accused Bush of lynching a man.

So Bush declined to speak to them, during his presidency. At least during its first five years.

When this current meeting opened up, the NAACP’s chairman, Julian Bond, issued a kind of taunt. I will quote an AP report: “Bond said Bush’s presence would show that he hears the concerns of African-Americans. ‘We have values, we vote our values, and we demand to be valued in return,’ he said.” In other words, Bond said, “If you don’t appear before the NAACP, you don’t care about blacks.”

Well, to hell with that. That is a reprehensible thought, and Bush ought to work against it. So should we all. Bond’s words alone were enough to rebuff the NAACP this year. Acceptance may look like agreement.

Whatever the NAACP’s glorious past, it can be a nasty piece of work now. And that nastiness is personified by Bond.

He has had a sad trajectory. I remember him well from my growing up. He was an even more prominent figure than he is today — perhaps because he was more measured, more dignified, more sane. I remember, in particular, a speech he gave to several hundred of us when I was in college. He was liberal, all right, and he said a lot of offensive things about President Reagan. But he wasn’t a nut. And he wasn’t pulsing with hate.

Maybe it was his defeat at the hands of John Lewis, way back in that Democratic primary. Maybe he vowed to be the most extreme kid on the block. I don’t know.

And what has happened to Julian Bond, I’m afraid, has happened to the Democratic party. Hubert Humphrey doesn’t live here anymore. Instead, Howard Dean, Michael Moore, and Bond are representative. Joe Lieberman — not my favorite politician — may lose his primary in Connecticut.

Maybe Bush will use his NAACP appearance to say the necessary — i.e., “You do yourselves, and black Americans, no favors by bullying, lying, and hating. I am president of all the people. And when I want to talk to my fellow Americans, I will do so as I please, and I certainly need no invitation from you. Incidentally: Not all black Americans are left-wing.”

If he speaks to them in order to rebuke them — or in part to do so — it will have been worth it.

At any rate, I thought it was kind of cool that Bush, in these years, refused to address the NAACP. He pulled out of the ABM treaty. He washed his hands of Arafat. He barely talks to the New York Times.

I will say again: What an extraordinary president.

Oh, and one final comment: When he speaks to this group, shouldn’t he upbraid them for that 2000 ad? Or at least mention it, somehow?

‐I think I have a new favorite store, with apologies to Wal-Mart. Target is well named, because it is now in the crosshairs of the NAACP. The group sent out some racial survey, demanding that businesses answer. Target and a few others said, “No, thanks.” So, as the Associated Press reported, NAACP president Bruce S. Gordon

called on blacks to stop shopping at Target, in particular, until they answer the NAACP’s questions — though he stopped short of calling the action a boycott.
“They didn’t even care to respond to our survey,” he said. “Stay out of their stores.”
The NAACP focused on Target because they’re one of the nation’s most prominent national retailers, said John C. White, NAACP spokesman. However, the group does not plan to picket or leaflet Target, but will rely on word of mouth, he said. A Target spokeswoman said via e-mail that the company opted out of the survey “because Target views diversity as being inclusive of all people from all different backgrounds, not just one group.” The NAACP survey asks only about blacks. She added that minorities make up 40 percent of Target employees and 23 percent of all officials and managers.

Good for Target. They shouldn’t be keeping book on the hues of their employees anyway. But can they stay strong? I doubt it. People tend to submit to bullies, and to racial bullies, most of all. But what a nice, stirring stand, here at the beginning!

‐At MEMRI TV — you’re familiar with them, aren’t you? — you can view an interesting interview with an Egyptian journalist, Khaled Salah. (Go here.) The money quote, as they say:

“As far as I am concerned, Arab blood, and the blood of Lebanese children, is much more precious than raising yellow flags and pictures of Khamenei in Lebanon.”

The “yellow flags” are those of Hezbollah; and Khamenei is chief mullah in Tehran. The Arab exasperation with Hezbollah is one of the encouraging things about the current war.

‐I learned something remarkable from our John Derbyshire the other day. Do you know that someone, somewhere, blamed George W. Bush for that head-butt, in the final game of that soccer tournament? (I’d better not get started on soccer.) No, really, someone did. Or almost did. It’s sort of hard to tell.

The someone I had in mind is Patt Morrison. She’s a columnist for the Los Angeles Times, and also a commentator for National Public Radio. (Natch.)

You see, the Italian who got head-butted — Materazzi — may have called the Frenchman who did the butting — Zidane — the “son of a terrorist whore.” In a column, Morrison wrote, “That’s pure trickle-down politics. From the White House to the soccer pitch, ‘terrorist’ has ‘cooties’ and ‘your mother wears combat boots’ flat beat as the top playground potty-mouth slur for the 21st century.”

She continued, “Who’s surprised? The Bush administration has been scattering the word like ticker tape on a Manhattan parade. Old McDonald left the farm for the NSA, and now it’s here a terrorist, there a terrorist, everywhere a terrorist.”

Friends, I will say again: There is no right-wing parody. Not anymore. You just can’t do it. If you’d like to see this column — not a parody — go here. Whether it’s more amusing or more depressing, you decide.

Pure trickle-down politics. Actually, Morrison has reminded me of Bill Clinton’s infamous commencement address at Michigan State University — when he suggested that conservative radio was responsible for the Oklahoma City bombing.

Clinton was talking about mass murder. At least Ms. Morrison was talking about a mere head-butt.

‐Indiana senator Evan Bayh is a new kind of a Democrat, or maybe I should write, New kind of Democrat. He got some attention the other day for saying this:

“We may consider ourselves the party of the middle class, but too many middle-class Americans no longer consider us their party. They have left the Democratic party in droves — costing us the last two presidential elections and the last six congressional elections. If we don’t learn some lessons, we’ll lose in 2006 and 2008 as well, and we must not let that happen.”

The AP elaborated, “In his speech, Bayh said the party has focused most of its attention on the needs of lower-income Americans, but it also must address issues that matter to people on the next rung up the economic ladder.” Said Bayh, “Without an agenda that speaks directly to the middle class and all who aspire to it, we will no longer be the party of Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy, and Clinton. And we will not be a majority party.” How’d you like that Clinton, tacked on to that string? Anyway, Bayh is on to something, but I have a suggestion for him: Maybe he could drop the class stuff altogether. Middle class, lower class, upper class — it’s all Marxist claptrap. And it’s especially claptrappy in the United States, where there is great mobility, most of it in the upward direction. To speak to Americans as Americans, regardless of their current financial ranking — that would be something. ‐I don’t know if you saw this story — you’re lucky if you didn’t — but the headline is, “Dutch Court OKs ‘Pedophile’ Political Party.” And the quotation marks around “Pedophile” are quite unnecessary. The AP report begins, “A Dutch court refused Monday to ban a political party whose main goal is to lower the age of sexual consent from 16 to 12. The judge said it was the voters’ right to judge the appeal of political parties.”

Uh-huh. It’s impossible to be sure what conservatism is, and what libertarianism is. There are 8,000 definitions, for each, and I never get into arguments over definition — they are utterly futile. But I know this: This, I can’t sign on to.

Moreover, it’s not the sort of thing you want to fight Islamofascism for. At least I don’t. Do the Dutch? Do other Europeans? Does “Christendom”?

‐I imagine that, now and then, American liberals wonder why American conservatives so loathe the United Nations. I will help them, a little.

As this article tells you, the U.N. is looking into human-rights abuses — by the United States. A member of the relevant panel “said he worried about U.S. efforts to deal with illegal migrants from Mexico.” The article explains, “Hundreds of National Guard troops have been deployed along the border in an effort to stop illegal immigration.” The panel member says, “My major concern . . . is the level of militarization on the border with Mexico. Militarization of the border creates a conflict zone.” You may ask whether Amnesty International, that perpetual gadfly, is involved. According to the article, the group “said it had raised a number of issues, including the death penalty, supermaximum security prisons, and life sentences for those who committed crimes as juveniles.” And still “other questions from the panel concerned racial discrimination, the rights of native Americans, and the treatment of African Americans in the Gulf Coast area before and after Hurricane Katrina.” That’s not to mention the anti-terror stuff (with Guantanamo as the centerpiece). Friends, there is such vicious, cruel, ghastly activity in the world: in Sudan, where there is genocide; in China, where there is routine torture; in Cuba, which also specializes in routine torture; in North Korea, which can be seen as one large torture chamber; in most of the Arab states; in scads of African states; in Burma; etc., etc. And consider what a U.N. concern is: “the treatment of African Americans in the Gulf Coast area before and after Hurricane Katrina.” As anyone acquainted with this hurt world knows, a huge percentage of the global population can only dream of being treated so well. Anyway, I would say to any wondering liberal listening: That is why — one reason — so many of us find it impossible to respect the United Nations.

‐I’ve got a lot more for you, folks, but I should sign off. This hasn’t been a very fun Impromptus, has it? Kind of grim, full of lima beans (so to speak). Let me give you a couple of letters: one fun, the other more like touching

Hi, Jay:
Did you pass through Christmas, Mich., on your way to Marquette? It is a very small town west of Munising. The entire town is decorated for Christmas year round. You would appreciate the 50-foot Santa and all the street names, such as Candy Cane Lane and Tinsel Avenue. When we visit, we stay in the Yule Log Cabins. Unfortunately, over the past several years, the town has suffered from declining tourism. I hope I never have to say that I vacationed in Happy Holidays, Mich.!

(For my long-ago piece on “December’s C-Word,” please go here.)

And that touching one:

Jay,
The younger generation is not lost, at least not all of them. During my son’s senior award ceremony — this is high school — they acknowledged kids receiving a wide array of awards. One young man was appointed to the Naval Academy.
In an auditorium almost completely filled with students, and a few parents, I was pleasantly surprised to see the student body rise as one and offer a standing ovation.
This group of kids received a couple of hours’ worth of awards, yet this young man was the only one to receive a standing O. Very moving and encouraging.
By the way, my eldest two proudly wear their “Viva la Reagan Revolución” T-shirts, which are styled after the Che ones. I doubt those will endear them in college.

Maybe not, but they endear them to me.

Thanks, and see you.