Pat Buchanan vs. the NAACP?

Pat Buchanan has selected a black running mate–a former Los Angeles schoolteacher and conservative activist named Ezola Foster. Uncharitable readers of this column may wish to point out that Foster’s name never came up in Chatterbox’s previous item handicapping the Reform Party veepstakes. On the other hand, Chatterbox did point out that the presence of a black on the Reform Party ticket “would certainly help Buchanan allay fears that he’s a racist.” (The black candidate Chatterbox had in mind wasn’t Foster, but Alan Keyes.) On yet another hand, Foster’s presence on the ticket may end up angering blacks more than any number of white candidates would, because Foster has proclaimed herself the sworn enemy of the NAACP. In 1994, Emerge magazine quoted Foster as saying that the NAACP was a “subversive” organization: “When I speak to audiences now, I tell them if they are supporting the NAACP, they are supporting a race war in America.” If you have ever been to an NAACP convention, you probably have some idea how insane a characterization this is of that venerable-to-the-point-of-stodginess institution. If the Reform Party weren’t disintegrating before one’s very eyes, Buchanan would probably face tough questioning from the press about this. Perhaps he will anyway.