NAACP Chairman Julian Bond called on members of his organization to help oust President Bush. At the group’s 95th annual convention Bond accused the Republican party of appealing to “to the dark underside of American culture, to the minority of Americans who reject democracy and equality.” President Bush declined an invitation to speak at the NAACP’s annual convention. He became the first president since Herbert Hoover to not address the NAACP during his first term in office. Senator John Kerry is scheduled to address the conference on Thursday. Bond said of the election, “The differences between the candidates this year are neither incremental nor inconsequential. Yes — the stakes are high, higher than ever in recent memory, and the consequences of loss almost too dire to bear.”