WASHINGTON -- The White House on Thursday defended President George W. Bush's decision to skip this week's NAACP convention, saying its leaders have engaged in "repeated partisan comments and hostile rhetoric."

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White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the civil rights group's leadership shows "no interest in a constructive dialogue."

McClellan insisted Bush has "great respect" for the NAACP and has "many friends" among its membership but added that the president is "disappointed" at what its leaders have been saying.

Although he addressed the group as a candidate in 2000, Bush is the first president not to speak to its convention since the 1930s.

The head of the NAACP said this week he wants members to help oust Bush from office.

Chairman Julian Bond said the Bush administration has "tried to patch the leaky economy and every other domestic problem with duct tape and plastic sheets."

In a scathing address at the group's convention in Philadelphia Sunday night, Bond said, "They preach racial neutrality and practice racial division."

Sen. John Kerry, Bush's presumptive Democratic opponent, spoke to the Philadelphia convention on Thursday and took a jab at Bush's decision not to speak there.

"I understand you had trouble getting some speakers," Kerry said.

"As a campaigner, I know something about scheduling, conflicts and hostile environments," he said. "But, when you're president of the United States, you can pretty much say where you want to be and when. And when you're president, you need to talk to all the people, and that's what I intend to do."

Next week, Bush will address another civil rights group, the Urban League.

Meanwhile, Rod Paige, the nation's first black education secretary, condemned NAACP leaders in a Wall Street Journal column published Thursday.

In the opinion piece, Paige slammed the group's leaders, who suggested some black groups are fronts for white conservatives.

"You do not own, and you are not the arbiters of, African-American authenticity," Paige said.