Tape: Bond tied GOP to 'Confederate swastika'

Julian Bond

An audiotape of NAACP Chairman Julian Bond's controversial speech at Fayetteville State University in North Carolina last week shows the civil rights activist did not directly equate the Republican Party with the Nazi Party but, nevertheless, associated the GOP with what he called the Confederate "swastika."

The tape was published online by the Fayetteville Observer, which reported on the talk but in its initial story made no mention of Bond's swastika reference and other controversial remarks that caused a black family to walk out in protest.

Bond said, according to the tape, Republicans' "idea of equal rights is the American flag and the Confederate swastika flying side by side."

The quote reported to WND left out the word "Confederate."

Bond delivered the same remark in a July 2004 speech to Indiana state lawmakers and business leaders, saying President Bush and other Republicans appeal to a racist "dark underside of American culture."

"They preach racial equality but practice racial division," the Indianapolis Star quoted him as saying in the 2004 speech. "Their idea of equal rights is the American flag and Confederate swastika flying side by side."

WND sources also reported last week Bond characterized Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her predecessor, Colin Powell, as tokens.

According to the tape, Bond said, "The Bush administration likes to use former Secretary of State Colin Powell and current Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as kinds of human shields against any criticism of their record on civil rights. After all, they're proud of saying their administration is more diverse than any in history."

The tape confirms Bond referred to former Attorney General John Ashcroft as "J. Edgar Ashcroft," saying Americans don't "want to live in a country that permits infiltration and surveillance of religious and political organizations, yet the FBI guidelines proposed by J. Edgar Ashcroft do just that."

Prior to that statement, Bond said, "We used to have an attorney general who was a cross between J. Edgar Hoover and Jerry Falwell. Now we have an attorney general who when asked at his confirmation hearing whether American soldiers or intelligence agents could legally engage in torture under any circumstances, he answered, 'Let me get back to you on that.'"

WND sources said Bond compared Bush's judicial nominees to the Taliban. According to the tape, however, he made a general reference to religious backers of the GOP and a separate criticism of the president's latest high-court pick.

The civil rights activist said Republicans "draw their most rabid supporters from the Taliban wing of American politics."

Later, without naming him, Bond blistered newly sworn-in U. S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito as a "radical judicial activist."

"We have a president who talks like a populist and governs for the privileged," Bond said. "We were promised compassionate conservatism, instead we got crony capitalism. And now the United States Senate has confirmed another radical judicial activist – a man hostile to civil rights and women's rights, a man dedicated to enshrining imperial presidency, unconstrained by our Constitution or the rule of law."

However, Bond did clearly equate GOP nominees with the Taliban in July 2001, saying, "[Bush] has 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."

Bond's talk last week so infuriated at least one black family in attendance among the 900 in the auditorium at the historic black institution that they got up and walked out in protest.

"He went on and on name calling," said Leon Delaine. "I walked out in the middle of his speech with my wife and three kids."

Stung by national criticism of the talk, Bond last week denied the comments and lashed out at WND as a "right-wing blog."

"I didn't say these things I'm alleged to have said," the university quoted Bond as saying. "There is no one in the audience who can say I said them. The reporter from the Fayetteville newspaper did not report I said them. I have denied I said them and refuse to engage in a back and forth about what I did say. This is an irresponsible attack by a right-wing blog – a partisan blog – and these kinds of attacks should be expected and dismissed for what they are."

Previous stories:

NAACP chief denies equating GOP, Nazis

Black groups denounce NAACP chief

NAACP chairman compares GOP to Nazis

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