Honor for Hugo

Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

Bond Berates Republicans?

NAACP Chairman Julian Bond is comparing the Republicans to Nazis and calls black officials such as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice administration "tokens."

An audience member tells FOX News that during a speech at Fayetteville State University in North Carolina, Bond said, "The Republican Party would have the American flag and the swastika flying side by side." Leon DeLane says Bond called President Bush a liar, and says he and his family walked out after Bond compared President Bush's judicial nominees to the Taliban.

Bond, however, says his use of the word "swastika" was taken out of context, he denies using the word "token" and tells FOX the story is being driven by "pathetic... divisive partisans."

Honor for Hugo

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who alongside anti-war protester Cindy Sheehan last week called for activists across the world to "bring down the U.S. Empire" and who is calling for a military buildup to face a possible attack by the U.S. — is now being honored by the United Nations.

Chavez will receive the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's Jose Marti Prize marking his "contribution to the unity and integration of the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean and to the preservation of their identities, cultural traditions and historical values."

Chavez will accept the award tonight in Havana, where his ally Fidel Castro plans to gather more than 200,000 people in Revolutionary Plaza to celebrate the honor.

Reid's Rebuttal

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid says he never accepted campaign contributions from Jack Abramoff. And while he admits to receiving thousands of dollars from Indian tribes connected to the disgraced lobbyist, he has called the corruption surrounding Abramoff, "a Republican scandal." But the National Republican Senatorial Committee now alleges Reid only got money from the Indian tribes after they hired Abramoff.

The Nevada senator took in more than $50,000 from tribes with gambling interests between 2001 and 2004 after Abramoff signed on to represent them. But Reid shrugs off questions about the donations, telling the Las Vegas Review-Journal, "I received money from Indians in the past and will continue to do so."

No Recognition for Israel

A top Hamas official says that despite mounting international pressure in the wake of their sweeping victory in the Palestinian election, the radical Islamic group will never recognize the state of Israel. In a letter to an Arabic newspaper, political leader Khaled Meshaal writes, "we will never recognize the legitimacy of the Zionist state that was established on our land."

But Meshaal, who is based in Syria, says Hamas might be willing to negotiate a temporary truce with the Jewish state. Israel's Foreign Ministry dismissed the letter reiterating its demands that Hamas unequivocally recognize Israel's right to exist and abandon its terrorist activities and infrastructure.

— FOX News' Aaron Bruns contributed to this report