Sen. Kerry and others have criticized Bush for snubbing the NAACP convention. Here's my question to you. If you were president, would you speak before a group whose president, Kweisi Mfume, said, "We have a president that's prepared to take us back to the days of Jim Crow segregation and dominance," or whose chairman, Julian Bond, said, "(President Bush) has appeased the wretched appetites of the extreme right wing and has chosen Cabinet officials whose devotion to the Confederacy is nearly canine in its uncritical affection"?

 It's always been my contention that the conservative vision shows far greater respect for blacks than the liberal you-can't-make-it-without-us vision. For decades, there have been buy-off-the-black-vote presidential appointments like secretaries of labor, health and human services, education and housing. But it's been conservative presidents who have appointed blacks to top positions of responsibility and authority such as secretary of state, national security adviser, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Republican presidents didn't make these appointments to buy off the black vote. They chose the best people around, who just happened to be black Americans.

 Maybe it's guilt that motivates white liberals. That's why I've graciously offered a Certificate of Amnesty and Pardon (http://www.gmu.edu/departments/economics/wew/gift.html).