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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
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To: KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle
Sounds like Brown is the one with the racist attitude. sheesh.
101 posted on 02/26/2004 7:26:30 AM PST by mrs tiggywinkle
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To: Celtjew Libertarian
**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. **

After these comments are made *very* public in your general area, I wonder if there's a chance she could be defeated in the next election...?

102 posted on 02/26/2004 7:28:31 AM PST by mrs tiggywinkle
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To: JohnnyZ
"this man who is a Closeted-American"


I wonder why that group hasn't asked for official recognition? I guess once a member asks for recognition, they kick him out of the fraternity. : )

On another note, it's too bad that Corrine Brown's district doesn't have many Haitians (most Florida Haitians live in Kendrick Meeks' CD in Miami). Haitian-Americans vote Republican at much higher rates than U.S.-born blacks, and the nation's only Haitian-American mayor is a Republican in Dade County. Brown's CD is 49% black and 8% Hispanic and gave Bush 36.1% of the vote in 2000, so I assume that Bush got 10% of the black vote, 40% of the Hispanic vote and 55% of the Anglo vote in the district (after 2002 redistricting added many white liberals from Gainesville). If a GOP congressional candidate can get 62.5% of the district's Anglo vote, 50% of the Hispanic vote and 30% of the black vote, it would be enough to defeat Corrine Brown. What's the name of that really good looking woman who ran against Brown the last couple of times and later got elected to the state house? Jennifer Carroll was it? Maybe this is the year she can become the first black female Republican in Congress (although hopefully it would be a tie with Jackie Winters of Oregon).
103 posted on 02/26/2004 7:42:25 AM PST by AuH2ORepublican (Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice, moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.)
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To: KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle
Liberal looney Bump.
104 posted on 02/26/2004 7:43:57 AM PST by DoctorMichael (Thats my story, and I'm sticking to it.)
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To: William McKinley
If a Republican said this, reporters would hound the Press Secretary and/or Bush for a comment at every opportunity.

No they wouldn't. They would demand his resignation.

105 posted on 02/26/2004 7:46:27 AM PST by BlackRazor
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To: KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle
Brown, another hyphenated american represents the HATE AMERICA crowd whose only allegence is to the country before the hyphen, then all others, dead last is the UNITED STATES of AMERICA. I despise what she stands for and those that think like her.
106 posted on 02/26/2004 7:50:06 AM PST by PISANO (Our troops...... will NOT tire...will NOT falter.....and WILL NOT FAIL!!!)
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To: AuH2ORepublican
What's the name of that really good looking woman who ran against Brown the last couple of times and later got elected to the state house? Jennifer Carroll was it? Maybe this is the year

Better stay in the state house and wait for an open seat, or run statewide. Rep. Brown is 58 and I doubt she's planning to retire for at least another couple terms.

About Corrine, the poor woman has a poll on her congressional site that looks like it could have been FReeper -- but I don't think it was:

How do you feel about turning over medicare to private plans?

Answer # Votes %
Pro 475 61.3
Con 283 36.5
Undecided 17 2.2
Total 775

107 posted on 02/26/2004 7:51:40 AM PST by JohnnyZ (People don't just bump into each other and have sex. This isn't Cinemax! -- Jerry)
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To: KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle

108 posted on 02/26/2004 7:52:16 AM PST by GunnyHartman
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To: StriperSniper
As my high school football coach would say:

"Looks like she has a corn cob where one don't belong."
109 posted on 02/26/2004 10:02:17 AM PST by Levante
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To: philetus
Great Post!
"Public office is the last refuge of a scoundrel." - Boies Penrose
110 posted on 02/26/2004 10:24:31 AM PST by talleyman (It takes a village to raise an idiot.)
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To: KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle
Great post - have you pinged Fox News yet?
111 posted on 02/26/2004 10:34:29 AM PST by talleyman (It takes a village to raise an idiot.)
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To: KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle
More on Corrine Brown's statements (You all look the same)
Roll Call ^ | 2-26-2004 | Ed Henry

Posted on 02/26/2004 11:11:17 AM CST by brothers4thID

Thursday, Feb. 26; 11:47am

Rep. Corrine Brown (D-Fla.) is refusing to apologize for explosive comments she uttered Wednesday at a closed-door meeting in which she charged that President Bush is employing a racist policy toward Haiti.

In a telephone interview with HOH on Wednesday night, Brown confirmed that she told Bush official Roger Noriega that the Haitian people are in desperate straits “because of all you white men” who have under-funded relief programs.

Sources in the room for the Florida delegation meeting told HOH that Noriega, who is Mexican-American, took great offense at the comment. Some people in the room felt that Brown’s comment was also directed at Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.), a Cuban-American, who had been helping Noriega brief the delegation on the situation in Haiti.

“Do I look white to you?” Noriega asked. “Does Lincoln look white to you?”

According to a source in the room, Brown shot back: “You guys all look the same.”

Asked whether she said that, Brown told HOH, “Yeah, I did. I wasn’t speaking of color. I’m speaking of policy. I’m speaking of racist policy. Racist policy!”

112 posted on 02/26/2004 12:03:43 PM PST by Stultis
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To: KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle
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... :)

OMG you owe me a new keyboard!

That's one of the worst looking wigs I have ever seen!

113 posted on 02/26/2004 1:53:51 PM PST by FierceDraka (Service and Glory! America First - Now and Forever!)
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To: tutstar
Hi, tutstar -- radio 690 gave Corrine's words a prominent place throughout the day, replaying her words top of the hour, every hour.

Sean mentioned this on H&C last night, but did not play the audio, unfortunately.
114 posted on 02/27/2004 7:27:49 AM PST by cyn (www.terrisfight.org)
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