Skip to comments.
Brown Rips Into Bush Administration Official
Miami Herald.com ^
| 2/25/04
| Ken Thomas/AP
Posted on 02/25/2004 4:14:57 PM PST by KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle
MIAMI - 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.
During the meeting, Brown criticized the administration's response to the escalating violence in Haiti, where rebels opposing President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's government have seized control of large parts of the country.
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.
A State department spokesman did not return a phone message.
U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, R-West Palm Beach, who organized the meeting, called the comments "disappointing."
"To sit there and browbeat this man who is a Mexican-American and call him names, it was inappropriate," Foley said.
Brown has criticized the detention of Haitian migrants fleeing their country and the freezing of millions of dollars in aid over flawed 2000 legislative elections in the impoverished Caribbean nation. In a statement Wednesday, she made parallels to the disputed 2000 election in Florida.
"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," Brown said.
Participants at the meeting included eight members of Florida's congressional delegation, U.S. Reps. Christopher Cox, R-Calif., and Maxine Waters, D-Calif.; John Maisto, U.S. Ambassador to the Organization of American States, and Adolfo Franco, an assistant administrator with the U.S. Agency for International Development.
TOPICS: Breaking News; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Government; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: bunchofwhitemen; corrinebrown; haiti; racistdemocrats; rantingrats
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20, 21-40, 41-60, 61-80 ... 101-114 next last
To: KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle
President Bush's statement is an exact repeat of Bill Clinton's statement the last time Haiti erupted into anarchy.
21
posted on
02/25/2004 4:27:08 PM PST
by
OldFriend
(Always understand, even if you remain among the few)
To: KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle
Isn't it time for this ummm 'lady' to step down or be removed?
To: clintonh8r
Apparently black Americans identify more closely with black Haitians than their fellow white Americans. It's all about race, all the time. Relentlessly. Yeah, because of course Rep. Brown speaks for me because we have the same color of skin, even though 1) She represents a small region in Florida, I don't even live in the state, 2) She wants to coddle Haitian boat people, I don't want mass numbers of Haitians or anyone else invading our country by land or sea.
I guess she is not the only one thinks "they" are look alike?
23
posted on
02/25/2004 4:28:05 PM PST
by
LWalk18
Comment #24 Removed by Moderator
To: SF Republican
Call the US Capitol and ask for her office........1-877-762-8762........let her know what you think.
25
posted on
02/25/2004 4:29:02 PM PST
by
OldFriend
(Always understand, even if you remain among the few)
To: Broadside Joe
bump
To: SF Republican
Her website is www.house.gov/corrinebrown.
There is an email link on the site.
27
posted on
02/25/2004 4:30:04 PM PST
by
Truth29
To: John Beresford Tipton
No call for that crap here.
28
posted on
02/25/2004 4:30:07 PM PST
by
jwalsh07
Comment #29 Removed by Moderator
To: KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle
Corrine Brown is an idiot and an embarrassment to my city (Jacksonville, FL). She runs around ranting about this and that, throwing the race card at every opportunity. I believe she just might be Jesse Jackson's great grandmother (old sea hag).
To: John Beresford Tipton
Yeah, the same.
31
posted on
02/25/2004 4:37:15 PM PST
by
buffman
To: atomicpossum
"...his representatives "a bunch of white men."
Sure sounds like it.
32
posted on
02/25/2004 4:41:12 PM PST
by
TheDon
(John Kerry, self proclaimed war criminal, Democratic Presidential nominee)
To: KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle
SPITHERE
33
posted on
02/25/2004 4:43:57 PM PST
by
StriperSniper
(Manuel Miranda - Whistleblower)
To: Dixie Pirate
I believe that Corrine Brown was first elected to Congress in 1992 and was one of the victims of a Spy Magazine joke. A Spy representative called Brown and asked her about the ethnic cleansing currently going on in Fredonia. Her response was something to the effect of, "That's terrible, what's going on there. We should do more to help those people." (I'm trying to quote her accurately 11-12 years later so the grammar is not good.) The answer she gave revealed her to be a phony and a total idiot. If she knew anything about which she was speaking, the correct answer would have been to brand Firefly a war criminal. (You have to be a Marx Brothers fan to get this.)
34
posted on
02/25/2004 4:44:37 PM PST
by
Smber
(The smallest minority is the individual. Get the government off my back.)
To: StriperSniper
Thanks for the target. Bulls eye twice. Am now wiping my screen! LOL
To: StriperSniper
The last time I saw something that looked like that, I was twelve years old and watching an episode of Sigmund and the Sea Monsters... :)
36
posted on
02/25/2004 4:48:28 PM PST
by
KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle
(I feel more and more like a revolted Charlton Heston, witnessing ape society for the very first time)
To: KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle
Participants at the meeting included eight members of Florida's congressional delegation, U.S. Reps. Christopher Cox, R-Calif., and Maxine Waters, D-Calif.;
I wonder if Maxine was embarrassed for her; I doubt it - probably jealous she didn't do the popoff.
37
posted on
02/25/2004 4:50:16 PM PST
by
ErnBatavia
(Gay marriage is for suckers...)
To: yonif
The great stain maker fixed Haiti didn't he?
38
posted on
02/25/2004 4:51:41 PM PST
by
boomop1
To: Smber
I love that one! Sounds like something I have to do more often...
Comment #40 Removed by Moderator
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20, 21-40, 41-60, 61-80 ... 101-114 next last
Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson