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McCain's speech to the NAACP yesterday was received with polite applause compared to the thunderous reception Obama received two days earlier. People weren't impressed. One blogger described it like this: John McCain Has the Gall to Speak at NAACP
I'm fairly certain that reaction is based on McCain's past snubs and votes.
McCain opposed a day to honor Martin Luther King - at both the state and federal level. McCain, at least for a while, supported the flying of the Confederate flag in South Carolina, praising it as "a symbol of heritage." He's even praised Bob Jones University. [...]
Last year, for example, the NAACP invited McCain to speak. He declined. The NAACP held a forum for all the Republican presidential candidates, and McCain didn't show up. PBS hosted a Republican presidential candidates' debate at historically black college in Baltimore, and McCain didn't show up to that event, either. The Congressional Black Caucus Institute organized a debate, co-sponsored by Fox News, and McCain didn't show up to that event, either.
Not surprisingly, the NAACP doesn't think too highly of McCain.
McCain received an 'F' from the NAACP's Civil Rights Federal Legislative Report Card for the 109th Congress (the last date for which a complete report is available), voting with the NAACP only 7 percent of the time and tying with 14 other conservative senators for last place. McCain "also received failing grades from the NAACP in every report card of the last decade."
Losing in the polls, McCain didn't have any choice this year. He had to speak to the NAACP. His message to black voters was that he would expand education opportunities, partly through the use of vouchers, a position McCain has long favored even though evidence shows they don't improve academic performance.
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