The Republican Party, after receiving only 8 percent of the African-American vote in the 2000 presidential election, has established a goal of winning 25 percent of the Black vote in next year’s contest. Instead of making that announcement when most people were preparing to make their New Year’s resolutions, the GOP should have delayed that announcement for three months. Then, it would be clear that this was some sort of April Fool’s joke.

What has George Bush done to quadruple his Black support? Let’s ignore the rhetoric and look at the record.

First, Bush pledged during his 2000 campaign that he would govern as a compassionate conservative. As has been observed, he has been compassionate toward conservatives. For example, most of his tax cuts benefited the wealthy, the majority of whom vote Republican. Meanwhile, Bush did not seek to fully fund his No Child Left Behind education law, he has proposed changes in programs such as Head Start that will be detrimental to Black children, and the president has no significant domestic policy that will uplift African-Americans.

Bush had a chance to show some compassion by supporting affirmative action in a pair of University of Michigan cases that came before the Supreme Court in 2003. Instead, Bush ordered his solicitor general to oppose the cases and had the insensitivity to announce his decision on Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday. That’s a strange way of showing compassion.

A conservative Supreme Court – with seven of its nine members appointed by Republican presidents – upheld the concept of affirmative action in the case involving the University of Michigan’s Law School. And true to form, Bush praised the virtues of diversity after the ruling while neglecting to point out that his position would have made that goal more difficult to achieve.

In a move that will make courts of the future more likely to reflect his politics, Bush has packed the federal courts with Right-wing judges. One of them, Janice Rogers Brown, is so far out of the mainstream that she is a frequent dissenter on the Republican-controlled California Supreme Court. Bush wants to elevate her to a seat on the U. S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. The Black conservative is so extreme that the White chief judge in California, also a Republican, says she minimizes the harm of racial discrimination in order to make political points.

Bush has displayed his disdain for Black America by meeting only once with members of the Congressional Black Caucus, despite repeated requests for meetings. Like them or not, Black members of Congress were fairly elected by voters – and that’s more than we can say about Bush. When Bush thumbs his nose at them, he thumbs his nose at all African-Americans.

By disrespecting authentic Black leaders, Bush seems to be subscribing to thinking of Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker. In 1983, Gingrich said, “It is in the interest of the Republican Party and Ronald Reagan to invent new Black leaders, so to speak…”

The GOP has “invented” several Black front organizations that they are propping up with money. But money can’t buy credibility and these groups that oppose affirmative action and favor school vouchers have little, if any, influence on African-American thought.

In one sense, Bush’s problem is a GOP problem. Republicans have established a clear record of hostility toward the interests of African-Americans, yet they want to dupe us into believing that they are our friends. That’s an insult to our intelligence.

One of the best barometers of legislative support for issues important to Black America is the NAACP’s annual report card on civil rights. Year after year, it is difficult to find Republicans in the House or Senate who earn a C-grade or higher on civil rights. Most earn Ds and Fs.

But Bush and the GOP don’t want us to get confused by the facts. So they are targeting young Black voters they feel are more likely to be receptive to their message, they are planning a barrage of commercials on Black radio, ads in Black newspapers and parading their Black Cabinet members before us – all of whom except Colin Powell opposed the University of Michigan affirmative action programs – to say why we should vote for George Bush in 2004. It won’t work.

George Bush began his administration by putting on a minstrel show in Philadelphia. He should realize that no amount of buck dancing by Black entertainers or trying to replace legitimate Black leaders with his hand-picked Black appointees will blind African-Americans to his sorry record on civil rights.