Congressman Henry Bonilla Calls on Corrine Brown to Resign

[NewJerseyDem]

http://www.rollcall.com/issues/1_1/breakingnews/4513-1.html (subscription required)

Rep. Henry Bonilla (R-Texas) is demanding that Rep. Corrine Brown (D-Fla.) resign her seat in Congress after she labeled a Bush official and two Hispanic lawmakers a bunch of "white men" who "all look the same" during a private Congressional briefing on Haiti.

Brown kicked off the firestorm at a Wednesday night meeting of the Florida delegation in which she lashed out at State Department official Roger Noriega, who is Mexican-American. Republicans in the room charged that Brown also appeared to be referring to a pair of Hispanic Members from Florida, Reps. Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R) and Mario Diaz-Balart (R).

In reaction to a RollCall.com report on Thursday about the confrontation, Bonilla said that it's time for the Florida lawmaker to step down.

"Congresswoman Brown's comments demonstrate a complete lack of ethnic sensitivity," said Bonilla, a founding member of the Congressional Hispanic Conference. "This irresponsible statement represents a step backward for race relations. I will not stand by and allow these comments to be made without repercussions."

[Elidor]

1. oops, misread

[stopthegop]

3. they were Hispanic..

and if a white person had said it (assuming it really happened) people here would be calling for his head...don't you think?

[tom_paine]

19. Yes. She should apologize immediately and without delay.

She was wrong wrong WRONG. There's no way to spin it. And it plays right into Bushevik hands as they court Latinos to vote for their and our doom.

[Richardo]

2. Until Lott has to resign, I'd say all she has to do is apologize...

...but those were pretty idiotic comments. :eyes:

[Gman]

4. Tio Tomas Bonilla is another white man

that looks like all the rest.

[David__77]

5. One thing: Trent Lott!

Where's his letter of resignation for lauding lynchmob Thurmond?

[Judi Lynn]

6. People who serve the racist core of the right wing extreme

all must seem the same to their victems. I'm sure she meant to point this out.

[tom_paine]

20. Whatever she meant, it was poorly worded and wrong

No way around that.

Just apologize. Geez, it worked for Lot and more than that it's the right thing to do.

[revcarol]

7. "Pot calling kettle." "Pot calling kettle."

Bonilla uses the race/ethnicity card at the drop of the hat. Used to live in what is now his district. He is one sorry dude. Hope he is gone before I retire.

[mobuto]

8. FL District 3

is fairly evenly divided. If Corrine Brown resigned, it could be competitive. She really stuck her foot in her mouth if she said what it says she said, and it will be interesting to see what happens.

[NewJerseyDem]

10. No, it isn't competitive

It gave 65% of the vote to Gore in 2000. It is about 50% black and 8% hispanic. Brown has won with less than 60% recently against a strong black republican, but the seat is safely democratic.

[mobuto]

13. I see

That's what I was looking at - the fact that she won less than 60% of the vote in 2002. Its nice to know the seat is safe. She's from Jacksonville, right?

[NewJerseyDem]

15. Yeah

She represents Jacsonville and Orlando and is designed to have basically as much of the heavily black areas in and around those two cities.

[Rationality]

9. It ain't pretty

The Jax bloggers are acting like a bunch of piranhas ripping a sheep up in the water today. On my other (jacksonville.com) message board, the right wingers are going after me for defending her.

I must say though, Corrine Brown's statements are getting blown out of proportion. It's not like she came up and said it out of conversation; she was pretty pissed off. She shouldn't have lost control the way she did and she owes an apology, but the Duval County Republicans there are trying to label her a racist and that simply isn't accurate.



Local article (WARNING: The Florida Times Union is heavily biased):
http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/022604/met_14923147.shtml

Some reactions (I = Doug C)
http://cgi.jacksonville.com/cgi-bin/msgboard/boards/news/view.cgi?section=4350

[1monster]

14. "(WARNING: The Florida Times Union is heavily biased)"

ha ha! Heavily biased? Honey, the Times Union is so right wing it almost makes * look centrist.

Every time they call me to try to get me to subscribe, I take great pleasure in telling them what an unreliable right wing piece of facist trash that paper is. And every time I do that I also ask them to remove me from their calling list. And then they always call back again two days later.... sigh.

[Rationality]

21. Read my sig

I have a pet name for them :D

[NewJerseyDem]

16. Well, she says that the policy toward Haiti is racist

Basically, she says that the policy of not accepting Haitian refugees and accepting Cuban refugees is racist. I think it is more complicated by that, but she is entitle to her opinion. But, her apology wasn't the best. This is what she said in an interview with Roll Call that is later in the story.

“They were all white men,” she said. “Well, he says he’s not a white man. Whatever. He’s says he’s Mexican-American. I wasn’t questioning who he was. I was saying, 'You’re all alike. And your racist policy is all alike. You’re anti-Haitian people.'”

[bluestateguy]

11. I'll call for her to resign when Rod Paige resigns

Her remarks were unprofessional, but Paige's remarks were dangerous.

[sonias]

12. Hey Henry when Rod Paige and Trent Lott resign

Maybe she'll think about it, but until then shut your ugly mouth. You Texas repuke creep, are a sell out who pushed for redistricting in Texas, to save your sorry ass. And you have the gall to accuse someone else of ethnic sensitivity? Henry, did you just now realize that your're Hispanic? Imagine that?

I for one am ashamed you and I are the same color and race, pinche culero.

Sonia

[schultzee]

17. Good response.lol He deserved that.

[SilasSoule]

23. Great Point Sonia

As a Bonilla constituent and writer of many emails & letters to him. I think I will pop him off another one. Especially asking about his boistrous objections to the Fla Congresswoman yet his silence on the Rod Paige statements.

[MasonJar]

18. And while we are calling for resignations, how about GWB, Ron

Paige (of NEA terrorist fame) and Cheney?

[SmokeyBlues]

22. Let me repeat myself

Why isn't anybody calling for an apology from Roger Noreiga for being highly offended that Brown mistook him for a white man? In fact, the word he used was "branded".

This is some weak sheet from the Republicans. And anyone who seriously thinks a majority of Hispanics, many of whom are not white, are going to rush to the Republican camp in droves because three white-looking Hispanics were mistakenly identified as white (again, why isn't no one upset that the three are upset about being mistaken for white men?) males, then you're in dire need of an immediate reality check.

Also, can someone please explain to me the following US census ethnic categorizations: non-Hispanic blacks and non-Hispanic whites? Hey folks, there are some Hispanics who do look white and think of themselves as white. But don't take my word for it, travel to the home state of the Diaz-Balarts and perform a little research of your own. Then come back and share your findings with us on DU.

In the meantime, how's this for a compromise: Brown apologizes (resigning is not even an option)to Noriega and the Diaz-Balarts for mistaking them for being white males or resembling white males, and in turn Noriega and the Diaz-Balarts will apologize to real white men for taking umbrage at being mistakenly identified as or resembling real white men.

That should make everybody happy.