Brown Rips Into Bush Administration Official

Miami Herald.com ^ | 2/25/04 | Ken Thomas/AP

[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.

[yonif]

who is black, is "very passionate about Haiti."

Only when a Republican is president.

[William McKinley]

Brown then told him "you all look alike to me," the participants said.

If a Republican said this, reporters would hound the Press Secretary and/or Bush for a comment at every opportunity.

And if he repudiated the comment, they would push it for a stronger response. None would be satisfactory.

Wonder how the media will handle Kerry?

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

For emphasis: 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."

... and...:

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.

Will this foul, disgusting creature be given the Trent Lott treatment by the liberal media, however? Oh, NOOOOOOOOOOO...

[Rome2000]

Give em enough rope and they will hang themselves.

[KantianBurke]

this the same biotch who refused to wish R.R. a happy birthday? What a shock. Ignorant. Hateful. And a friggin idiot to boot.

[atomicpossum]

Brown is a racist.

[KQQL]

TIME TO SEND HER TO GITMO>!

[PRND21]

Brown then told him "you all look alike to me," the participants said.

Pfffttt!

[Celtjew Libertarian]

If I lived about five blocks to the east, she'd be my representative. Thank God she isn't.

She's so bad that, even though she is in a minority-access district, the GOP candidates consistently get about 40% of the vote against her.

[SF Republican]

Brown then told him "you all look alike to me" no racisim there

[anniegetyourgun]

"Brown then told him "you all look alike to me," the participants said."

If you're caucasian, don't even think about trying to get away with this one.

[AmishDude]

"I think it was an emotional response of her frustration with the administration,"

Translation: "Don't print anything that my boss says. Ignore it."

[SF Republican]

can someone please post her email address

[anniegetyourgun]

Proves (once again) that the biggots are on the Left.

[clintonh8r]

Apparently black Americans identify more closely with black Haitians than their fellow white Americans. It's all about race, all the time. Relentlessly.

[lodwick]

Welcome to the New World Order.

We will have Order out of Chaos.

[yonif]

District Offices Jacksonville Office
101 E. Union Street, Suite 202
Jacksonville, FL 32202
(904) 354-1652
Fax: (904) 354-2721

Orlando Office
219 Lime Avenue
Orlando, FL 32802
(407) 872-0656
Fax: (407) 872-5763


From Gainesville call (386) 376-6476.

Washington Office
2444 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-0123
Fax: (202) 225-2256

http://www.house.gov/corrinebrown/

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

(in my district alone 27,000 votes were thrown out)

Yeah. From U.S. servicemen and women.

[John Beresford Tipton]

"a bunch of white men."

Quesque c'est, mon ami?
Ah, les honkies!!