She may be a Democrat, but Rep. Corrine Brown (D-Fla.) was way out of line this week. Her comments were repulsive and indefensible. If she were a Republican, I’d be apoplectic, so fairness demands that I condemn her here as well.
In case you’ve missed the reports, the AP explained:
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.”
Her outburst was directed at Assistant Secretary of State Roger Noriega during a closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill. Noriega, a Mexican-American, is the State Department’s top official for Latin America.
“I think it was an emotional response of her frustration with the administration,” said David Simon, a spokesman for the Jacksonville Democrat. He noted that Brown, who is black, is “very passionate about Haiti.”
Brown sat directly across the table from Noriega and yelled into a microphone. Her comments sent a hush over the hourlong meeting, which was attended by about 30 people, including several members of Congress and Bush administration officials.
Noriega later told Brown: “As a Mexican-American, I deeply resent being called a racist and branded a white man,” according to three participants.
Brown then told him “you all look alike to me,” the participants said.
Completely unacceptable.
I can appreciate that Brown has strong feelings about recent developments in Haiti. Her district has many Haitian immigrants who are begging the U.S. government to intervene in their former country to help bring stability to a failing government. Brown believes the Bush administration is unconcerned with violence in Haiti because its citizens are black.
Frankly, I’m not even sure that’s true. It seems far more likely that our troops are already spread pretty thin in Iraq and Bush simply doesn’t have the ability to redirect them right now.
Ultimately, however, explaining Brown’s frustration is insignificant when compared to her terribly offensive remarks. I’ve seen reports that she’s issued an apology to Noriega, after initially refusing to do so, and I hope it’s sincere. Her reputation isn’t necessarily the best on Capitol Hill to begin with and idiotic attacks like these won’t help bolster her standing, no matter how strong the apology was.
That said, I’d prefer to keep this is perspective. Brown said something incredibly offensive and she deserves the criticism she’s receiving. She’s apologized and I’m glad. In time, Brown can (and should) work to rebuild her tarnished reputation.
I noticed, however, that Rep. Henry Bonilla (R-Texas) is demanding that Brown resign from Congress because of her remarks. There’s no real defense for Brown’s comments, but Bonilla is pushing political opportunism a bit to suggest her outburst should drive her from her elected position.
If voters in her district are outraged and no longer want Brown as their representative, that’s their choice and they’ll have a chance to speak to this in November. But it’s troubling that Bonilla wants Brown to resign, and yet he remained completely silent in the face of equally reprehensible comments from his Republican colleagues.
For example, Rep. Cass Ballenger (R-N.C.) recently admitted to having”segregationist feelings” against African Americans, and then blamed his proximity to a Muslim charity for the breakup of his marriage. We’ve also recently heard Sen. Rick “Man on Dog” Santorum (R-Pa.) call for criminal prosecution of gays and lesbians, Rep. Barbara Cubin (R-Wyo.) compare African Americans to drug addicts, Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) say America would have been better off with a segregationist president in 1948, and Rep. John Cooksey (R-La.) insult Muslims everywhere by saying, “If I see someone comes in that’s got a diaper on his head and a fan belt wrapped around the diaper on his head, that guy needs to be pulled over.”
In some of these instances, the Republican offender apologized, in others not. But if Bonilla and others in the GOP believe Brown should be forced to resign for her stupid attacks on Wednesday, she’ll have to get in a pretty long line.