When I read about a Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies poll conducted for the 2000 presidential election that purported to show Democratic presidential nominee Al Gore getting only 74 percent of the Black vote, I knew something was wrong. Gore ended up with 90 percent of the Black vote, according to exit polls. The Joint Center was correct in predicting that Bush would receive about 9 percent of the Black vote in his first outing.

Then, it overdosed on something. Last month, the “Joint” Center claimed that 18 percent of African-Americans were supporting George W. Bush this year, double his support from four years ago. As we now know, that figure was only 10 percent. Now I know why they call it the “Joint” Center - they must be smoking something illegal over there in order to believe that Bush could double his support among African-Americans. In fact, I think I’ll start calling it the “Crack” Center for Political and Economic Studies. Someone must be on something heavier than weed.

Prior to the election, I criticized the Crack Center’s figures during an appearance on NPR's “Talk of the Nation.” A publicist at the center sent me an e-mail saying, “…The New York Times released its own poll of such voters on the same day that we released our 2004 poll with similar results. However, most experts, including those at the Joint Center, agree that President Bush is unlikely to get that many black votes on Nov. 2.”

First, I don’t look to the New York Times to be the authority on Black politics. Until now, I had expected the Crack Center to fill that role. Furthermore, it’s no compliment to say you got it wrong and so did the New York Times. Whether someone else got it wrong is irrelevant.

Second, why keep releasing polls that are so widely off the mark? What’s the point? Are your polls being funded by the Republican National Committee? Are you trying to give aid and comfort to the GOP?

GOP operatives, citing Crack Center figures, boasted of making inroads into the Black community and tried to mislead other African-Americans into jumping on the Republican bandwagon en route to nowhere. But it didn't work.

The reason Republicans make such lousy showings in our community is because they have lousy records on civil rights. The most recent NAACP Civil Rights Report Card shows that every Republican in the House and Senate except one earned an F. The lone exception - James Leach of Iowa - earned a D.

African-Americans, like any other group, are smart enough to support people who support their interests.

The tragedy of today’s GOP is that in order for most African-Americans to advance, he or she must oppose affirmative action. Look at Bush’s top appointees. To his credit, Secretary of State Colin Powell has been an ardent supporter of affirmative action. Condoleezza Rice has supported it sometimes and opposed it at others, such as the landmark University of Michigan cases. Secretary of Education Rod Paige firmly opposes affirmative action. So does Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson.

Republicans weren’t always this hostile. There was a time when Black Republicans supported affirmative action. Former Sen. Ed Brooke of Massachusetts, Former Assistant Secretary of Labor Arthur Fletcher and Former Secretary of Transportation William Coleman were perhaps the most prominent. Because Black Republicans in the 1960s and 1970s fought for affirmative action and “Black capitalism” programs, they enjoyed a certain amount of respect in our community. We didn’t always understand them, but we knew that when it came to civil rights, they wouldn’t betray us.

As late as 1960, when John F. Kennedy ran against Richard M. Nixon, the Republican nominee received 32 percent of the Black vote. But when the GOP shifted radically to the right in 1964 with the nomination of states’ rights candidate Barry Goldwater, Black support fell to 6 percent and since that time has never exceeded 15 percent.

George W. Bush’s opposition to affirmative action, his refusal to meet regularly with the Congressional Black Caucus or accept an invitation to address the NAACP, the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization, and his snubbing the Black media makes GOP inroads into the Black community highly unlikely over the next four years.

The Crack Center for Political and Economic Studies is not dealing with reality when it keeps ballyhooing flawed reports overstating Black support for Republicans. It should be required to enroll in a detox program until it kicks the habit.