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February 26, 2004 Trent Lott....without the outrage Let's see if this makes a splash.... U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown verbally attacked a top Bush administration official during a briefing on the Haiti crisis Wednesday, calling the President's policy on the beleaguered nation "racist" and his representatives "a bunch of white men."Mr Noriega - one of the "bunch of white men" in the administration backing that "racist" policy - is a Mexican-American. But that's not the worst. The worst was yet to come.... Noriega later told Brown: "As a Mexican-American, I deeply resent being called a racist and branded a white man," according to three participants.That's unacceptable language, no matter who says it. Representative Brown needs to suffer at least as much criticism as Trent Lott did for praising for a fellow who ran on a segregationist platform. Lott's statement could be interpreted as support for segregation. Representative Brown needs no interpretation...what she said was simply racist. And the Democrats had damned well better LEAD to charge on that criticism. There's just no excuse for that kind of language...not from a Republican, not from a Democrat. Fortunately, Mr Noriega's response was both terse and pointed.... After her comments about white men, Noriega said he would "relay that to (Secretary of State) Colin Powell and (national security adviser) Condoleezza Rice the next time I run into them," participants said. Powell and Rice are black.I hope the blogosphere picks this up in the same way they picked up the Trent Lott story. It made a difference once before. The clock is ticking, guys. UPDATE: Hmm...Instalanche. Welcome to QandO. Now, go raise a fuss about this story. UPDATE II: Read Rep. Corrine Brown's press release about the meeting. No reference is made to her own remarks, but she somehow manages to Gore-jack the Haiti problem.... Yet for whatever reason, the Bush administration has been anything but a friend to the Aristide government, and insist ironically that Haiti does not deserve our monetary assistance because their elections were “unfair.” It simply mystifies me how President Bush, a President who was selected by the Supreme Court under more than questionable circumstances (in my district alone 27,000 votes were thrown out), is telling another country that their elections were not fair and that they are therefore undeserving of aid or international recognition.>Lord...that again. Give it up already. It's been over 3 years, and there's another election in just a few months. Move On. The economic situation in Haiti is dire, yet the Bush administration’s State Department apparently does not lend help to nations for humanitarian reasons, only when a precious natural resource such as oil is at stake.Representative Brown should spend less time race-baiting and more time in Washington. You know....Washington...where they're currently overhauling foreign aid programs so that they're debating Bush's proposal to nearly double "U.S. aid that goes primarily to promote development in poor countries". What's more, the proposal refines the foreign aid program specifically to encourage humanitarian improvements. But you just couldn't resist cheap shots about "white men" and "oil", could you? Your district deserves far better. |
I am very curious to see how John Kerry responds to this. Will he disassociate himself from Brown's remark, rationalize them, support her? If he doesn't come down strongly against these comments, what will that say to Hispanic voters?
Posted by: Partizaner at February 26, 2004 09:50 AM
I'm not holding my breath waiting for the left to express outrage here. They're all too tired after excoriating Rod Paige.
You can quote me here: no one on the left will publicly condemn Ms. Brown for her comments. No one.
Posted by: Steverino at February 26, 2004 09:51 AM
Partizaner, what makes you think he'll even be asked about it, much less bring it up himself?
You obviously "misunderestimate" the double-standard at play today.
Posted by: Tim at February 26, 2004 09:59 AM
How long before Glen Reynolds slags Kerry for Browns remarks? The betting man says less than 24 hours.
I can see from the previous post that the minions have already been mobilized. Drudge says there is an intern involved. Heh.
Posted by: Tennessee Tuxedo at February 26, 2004 10:08 AM
Hmmmm....
Posted by: Chris Muir at February 26, 2004 10:10 AM
Oh yes, Tux man (aka instahypocrite), that is the most important issue in all this. Yep you got it. It's not that someone public met anyone's standard for racism, it's whither (in your specious opinion) someone might ask their new boss about that behaviour. If not not kerry then who?
But irony is lost on lefties.
Posted by: capt joe at February 26, 2004 10:14 AM
I assume that Mr. Muir's "hmmmm" means we'll see this in "Day by Day." Attacking Liberal misbehavior ain’t EVER going to get you in the big papers, Chris, but I love ya for it!!
I might be overly optimistic, but I suspect there will be some serious fallout over this, especially considering the importance of the Hispanic vote for the Democratic Party.
After all, to be fair, Trent Lott’s egregious remark went unreported for several days by the lame stream media and only grew legs when the “blogosphere” wouldn’t let it rest.
Posted by: Jim in Texas at February 26, 2004 10:42 AM
So, Tennesse, were Brown's remarks offensive or not? Let's hear what you have to say about it.
Posted by: Steverino at February 26, 2004 10:43 AM
Rep. Brown's comments were definitely racist and she owes a public apology to the Secretary for her comments.
Posted by: jimf at February 26, 2004 11:07 AM
Oh don't worry about Tennesse, liberals are never wrong. Of course Tenn won't say if it is racist or not. Only Republicans and other assorted right wingers are racist. To even suggest that a liberal is racist is racist. After all she may as well not have said anything cause it sure as hell isn't going to get carried in the main stream press. Like it never even happened.
Posted by: Dave Miller at February 26, 2004 11:19 AM
As a Mexican American, I have always found that democrats care nothing about us, but take for granted that just because we are minorities (in some states) that we are automatically democrats.
Does Kerry speak spanish? Does Edwards? Dean?b
No, but Bush does, fluently and actually has neices and nephews that are as mexican american as I am.
I really love the comment by Brown, "That you all look alike"
Perfect.
Posted by: DDavila at February 26, 2004 11:43 AM
Jimf, yeah, she does owe Noriega an apology, but that ain't enough. Saying, "I'm sorry" doesn't make it all better, no matter how un-PC that might sound. I can't subscribe to the "I screwed up, please forgive me and we'll go on from there" school. Rep. Brown is obviously not only a racist but a practicing vicarious victim. Granted that, to an extent, an elected official should be something of a reflection of his or her constituency, I rather doubt that her entire district is populated exclusively (or even preponderantly) with real victims of whitey, and certainly not of Powell, Rice, Noriega, et.al.
That she seems to think so is most disturbing. Unfortunately, only the voters in her home district have any real opportunity to do anything about it. Come November, we'll see what they think.
Can't wait for your take, Chris -- this should be fun!
'Berg
Posted by: Mark B. at February 26, 2004 12:22 PM
I must make my stand on this one.
Fire her. Gone. Kaput. Out of office.
If anyone else, in any other scenario made such statements to a no matter how distant "co-worker" (they both are gorvernment employees on tax dollars) that person would be out of a job, plain and simple.
Posted by: BloodSpite at February 26, 2004 12:38 PM
I suggest Rep. Brown (D. Insanity) immediately resign her seat in Congress and move to Haiti where she can make a real difference.
Posted by: JorgXMcKie at February 26, 2004 02:33 PM
She's now "apologized."
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,112651,00.html
Posted by: Puddle Pirate at February 26, 2004 10:05 PM
I agree with you about everything except the votes. If Greg Palast's numbers are right, Brown probably lost 15,000 votes, not 27,000. But that's not the kind of thing any congressperson should forgive easily. Certainly not before the next presidential election.
That said, Brown is a horse's ass.
Posted by: anon at February 26, 2004 11:25 PM
Noriega later told Brown: "As a Mexican-American, I deeply resent being called a racist and branded a white man," according to three participants.
Maybe I'm being overly sensitive, but it seems that the worst thing you can say about a person of color is to accuse them of being white. Isn't that racist towards white people? Or is that pc racism?
Posted by: alsoanon at February 27, 2004 05:41 PM
BROWN IS A RACIST IGNORANT BLIGHT ON OUR CITY, STATE AND NATION. HOWEVER WHERE IS THE REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP AND WHY ARE THY NOT BANDING TOGETHER TO CALL FOR THE OUSTER OF THIS BIGOT. I HAVE LOST RESPECT FOR THESE "WHITE MEN". POLITICIANS... THEY ALL LOOK ALIKE.
Posted by: PETER at March 4, 2004 08:23 PM