GOP Leader Alleges ‘Racial McCarthyism’

House Majority Leader Dick Armey asked the head of the NAACP to meet with him to discuss what Armey said was a common practice of trying to make political gains by labeling Republicans as racists, which he labeled “racial McCarthyism” or “reverse race-baiting.”

Armey (R-Texas) said he realized he might be opening himself up to “bogus charges of racism” by writing the letter, but he hoped Kweisi Mfume would meet him.

Mfume, president of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, has said that he wants to meet with President Bush, House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and Armey to discuss education, economics, hate crimes and racial profiling.

Armey’s letter, however, wasn’t appreciated by Julian Bond, the NAACP board chairman. “This is a typical complaint of those who oppose justice and fairness and who accuse those of us who insist on fairness of this tactic,” he said.