Julian Bond Update

From OpinionJournal - Best of the Web Today: "NAACP chairman Julian Bond and Fayetteville State University are disputing WorldNetDaily's account of Bond's FSU speech last week, which we noted Friday. From an FSU press release:

'I didn't say these things I'm alleged to have said,' Bond told FSU. '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.'
FSU officials reviewed a tape of Bond's speech to verify the alleged comments.
Based on the review, it was determined that nowhere during Bond's speech was
reference made to the Nazi Party, nor was the word 'token' used.
'We received numerous calls and emails from concerned individuals about Mr.
Bond's presentation, so we felt compelled to review the tape in an effort
to address their concerns,' said Jeffery Womble, director of public relations
at Fayetteville State University. 'After a close review, we have concluded
that the comments attributed to Mr. Bond about the Republican Party, Dr. Rice,
and Mr. Colin Powell were not made.'

We phoned Mr. Womble this morning, and he told us that FSU disputes the WND
account only on these two points. That means the following elements are
undisputed:

'Calling President Bush a liar, Bond told the audience at the historically
black institution that this White House's lies are more serious than the lies
of his predecessor's because Clinton's lies didn't kill people.'


'He referred to former Attorney General John Ashcroft as J. Edgar Ashcroft.'


'He compared Bush's judicial nominees to the Taliban.'


''The Republican Party would have the American flag and the swastika
flying side by side,' he charged.'

Womble confirmed the accuracy of that last quotation, but said FSU disagrees
with WND's interpretation of the remark as 'equating the Republican Party
with the Nazi Party.' Perhaps Bond meant to equate the GOP to Hindus?
On only one point there is a factual difference between WND's and FSU's accounts:
Womble told us Bond not only did not call Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice
'tokens' but did not say anything disparaging about them. Who's right?
We don't know! We asked Womble for a copy of the tape, but he said it is 'the
property of Mr. Bond,' who is not releasing it."