Rep. Brown-Waite calls Puerto Ricans ‘foreign citizens.’
By on Feb 4th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
Rep. Brown-Waite calls Puerto Ricans ‘foreign citizens.’
In a press release last week, Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite (R-FL) attacked the new economic stimulus bill for sending “hundreds of millions of dollars” to “foreign citizens,” including “residents of Puerto Rico and territories like Guam.” Calling her comments “infuriating and contradictory,” the Puerto Rican House of Representatives demanded “a public apology” today from Brown-Waite for referring to Puerto Ricans as “foreign citizens.” Puerto Ricans were made American citizens in 1917.
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Poor Ginny doesn’t have a clue.
February 4th, 2008 at 4:51 pmYou just can’t make this stuff up!
February 4th, 2008 at 4:51 pmBut they speak Spanish and don’t “fully embrace our culture” – how can they be American citizens? The horror, the horror!
February 4th, 2008 at 4:52 pmD’ya spose Ginny is really our Gin here on TP?
February 4th, 2008 at 4:55 pmBefore you know it, the damn Hawaiians will want money, too!!!
Mahalo Ginny!!!
February 4th, 2008 at 4:55 pmWhat she meant to say was. “little brown people, from some other place where they don’t speak English, citizens.”
February 4th, 2008 at 4:57 pmParticularly amazing, since she is from Florida. This kind of ignorance can’t be learned, I tell ‘ya.
February 4th, 2008 at 4:59 pmHey, it’s a scum sucking repukian fascist, what do you expect from them, to know what the hell they are talking about or something?
They are repukes and they are vile scum sucking bigots, that is how they operate.
Just watch as our own vile, ignorant trolls drop their loads on this thread.
It’s like they are the Borg, a single mind, all in unison, vile, hateful, ignorant, everything evil that man has produced.
Come on Frank Moron, Bigfool, Southern Whore, let’s hear it from you vile scum.
Buck Fush
February 4th, 2008 at 5:01 pmConsidering she was merely saying what she must have thought her constituents wanted to hear, I don see how anyone can blame her. If she is discomfited, it must be because the liberal media have taken her words out of the context for which they were intended–that is, her constituents–and spread them to others less attuned to the nuances of her district.
February 4th, 2008 at 5:04 pmYeah, that’s it…that’s the ticket…
Puerto Rico is quickly becoming the province of a third-world banana republic whose idea of “justice” are mock trials held by kangaroo courts, with a government with no regard for the rule of law and is led by a military dictatorship, so hey…
THEY AIN’T THAT FAR OFF! :(
February 4th, 2008 at 5:04 pmParticularly amazing, since she is from Florida. This kind of ignorance can’t be learned, I tell ‘ya.
Comment by VerbalKint — February 4, 2008 @ 4:59 pm
I don’t know much (well, anything) about Florida’s demographics but perhaps the 5th District doesn’t have many Latinos? According to her webpage, it’s full of orange groves and horse ranches, but maybe Ginny only rubs shoulders with the owners . . .
February 4th, 2008 at 5:05 pmOMFG!!!!!! SHE DID NOT SAY THAT!!!!!!!!! *banging head on keyboard*
February 4th, 2008 at 5:05 pmMaybe it would be a good idea to screen candidates for public office, to insure that our public officials know the fundamentals of this country and its government. I’ll wager there are many others in Congress & other branches of the federal government who are no better informed than this Ginny person.
They don’t teach civics in schools anymore, do they?
February 4th, 2008 at 5:08 pmWell, to be fair, it HAS only been 91 years since Puerto Ricans were deemed American citizens. Hell, that’s not even 40% of America’s history as a free nation. You can’t expect Ginny to remember every little thing.
February 4th, 2008 at 5:12 pmI disagree with her ignorant statement about Puerto Ricans being foreign citizens however, I do have to agree her rational here. If they are exempted from paying federal taxes then why should they be a part of the stimulus package?
February 4th, 2008 at 5:12 pmhey don’t teach civics in schools anymore, do they?
Comment by judyinnm
They teach Britney Spears 101.
February 4th, 2008 at 5:12 pmIt doesn’t surprise me. Most Washington DC R’s, including Pres. Bush, think that New Orleanians are “those people in that part of the world”, as if we are not in the USA.
February 4th, 2008 at 5:14 pm“They don’t teach civics in schools anymore, do they?”
They never taught it very well.
February 4th, 2008 at 5:16 pmBecause democratic theory and practice are not highly regarded by parents where THEIR children are concerned. Most families i’ve know are totalitarian, authoritarian at best; damn few are even remotely democratic. Actually, they are not highly regarded in the ‘marketplace,’ either, except sometimes as rhetorical flourishes, or necessary nods toward the Public Mythology…The corporate is precisely the opposite of a paragon of participatory democracy.
It is much easier, therefore, to leave people in ignorance of their civic potential–to say nothing of their civil rights and privileges–than to have to confront the turmoil that might emerge from the cognitive disonances folks would otherwise experience between their political lives and the rest of their worlds.
Gee, I dunno. Mebbe because the idea of the stimulus package is not to rewward tax payers but to put cash into the hands of people who will spend it the fastest, on the most trivial things, and thereby to give a boost to Wal-Mart, Target, Krogers, and all the credit card companies who will get payments on over-due bills?
Ya fraking think?
February 4th, 2008 at 5:19 pmThis kind of ignorance can’t be learned, I tell ‘ya.
Comment by VerbalKint — February 4, 2008 @ 4:59 pm
On the contrary…
You’ve got to be taught to hate and fear,
You’ve got to be taught from year to year,
It’s got to be drummed in your dear little ear
You’ve got to be carefully taught.
You’ve got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a diff’rent shade,
You’ve got to be carefully taught.
You’ve got to be taught before it’s too late,
February 4th, 2008 at 5:22 pmBefore you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You’ve got to be carefully taught!
They teach Britney Spears 101.
Comment by Buckie Boy — February 4, 2008 @ 5:12 pm
No Child Left Behind encourages every child to go to college and minor in Paris Hilton, a nice complement to drab hippie-librul majors like math and biology.
February 4th, 2008 at 5:23 pmwith morons like Ginny Brown-What-Me-Worry as representatives, many Puerto Ricans probably feel like foreign citizens. strangers in a strange land!
February 4th, 2008 at 5:52 pmI’ve often felt that way the past 7 years or so.
I know why Repugnicans have big mouths – it’s to accomodate their feet!
February 4th, 2008 at 5:55 pmNext thing you know them there foreigners will be driving their boats through our canal in Panama! – Rep. Brown-Waite
February 4th, 2008 at 5:57 pmLittle Freep Goofballs @ 5:22 pm –
YOU’VE GOT TO BE CAREFULLY TAUGHT
South Pacific (Musical)
(Rodgers & Hammerstein)
The story is based on two short stories by James A. Michener from his book Tales of the South Pacific, which was the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1948. The musical was itself awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1950. The issue of racial prejudice was sensitively and candidly explored, particularly for a 1949 work. James Michener claimed he was pressured to ask Rodgers and Hammerstein to remove the song You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught because of its biting comments about racial prejudice.
February 4th, 2008 at 5:57 pm-wiki
Dontcha wonder how these morons get elected? What do they tell their constituents? Or are their constituents stupid enough to elect them?
February 4th, 2008 at 5:58 pmHmm, Bush was “elected” twice.
Little Freep Footballs,
February 4th, 2008 at 5:59 pmI have never forgotten those lyrics from South Pacific – they are so true. Those words were written 50 years ago!
Thanks for that interesting anecdote, Katy. I did not know that there was overt pressure to remove that song from the musical – even though I often thought that it was really courageous to have such lyrics in a musical as we entered the Civil Rights era.
February 4th, 2008 at 6:03 pmDon’t wanna be an American Idiot.
-GSD
February 4th, 2008 at 6:15 pmFrom Wiki:
Rodgers and Hammerstein risked the entire South Pacific venture in light of legislative challenges to its decency or supposed Communist agenda.
While on a tour of the Southern United States, lawmakers in Georgia introduced a bill outlawing entertainment containing “an underlying philosophy inspired by Moscow.” One legislator said that “a song justifying interracial marriage was implicitly a threat to the American way of life.”
Rodgers and Hammerstein defended their work strongly. James Michener, upon whose stories South Pacific was based, recalled, “The authors replied stubbornly that this number represented why they had wanted to do this play, and that even if it meant the failure of the production, it was going to stay in.”
February 4th, 2008 at 6:21 pmI’m embarrassed to say this woman is my Representative. She is the product of Republicans redrawing Florida’s districts in 2000. They mastered the art of gerrymandering and stealing elections down here in Florida, especially in 2000.
This is not even her most embarrassing moment in Congress. You may remember from shows like the Daily Show, she also invoked Larry the Cable Guy in a speech on the floors of Congress, saying, “Get ‘er done. Our soldiers want to get it done and come home, and our President wants the same thing, and this Congress should demand the exact same thing. Let’s get out there and get ‘er done.”
I wonder if she considers all our Puerto Rican soldiers “foreign citizens” while they are out “get’n ‘er done”
February 4th, 2008 at 6:47 pmOMG, she’s one of ours. I’m soooooooo embarrassed.
To Puerto Ricans everywhere, we’re soooooo sorry for Rep. Brown-Waite’s misstatement. She meant to say “residents of Miami and territories like South Beach.”
Phew, that was close.
February 4th, 2008 at 6:47 pm#28 Finally, some good music is quoted.
February 4th, 2008 at 6:53 pmAnd Hispanics vote for Repubs why?
February 4th, 2008 at 7:01 pmAnd Hispanics vote for Repubs why?
Comment by OxyCon
that’s a damned good question….brings to mind other oxymorons like:
February 4th, 2008 at 7:12 pmgay republican
black repubulican
female republican
place your minority here – republican
Speaks volumes, doesn’t it?
February 4th, 2008 at 8:44 pmYa know, without going on a rant, lets just be simple, for everyone’s sake. Republicans are stupid!
February 4th, 2008 at 9:16 pmI agree with Judyinnm (post #13) in that anyone who seeks elective office, especially above the state level, should be required to take a standardized test covering the fundamentals of American history and government (at no less a level than that expected of foreign nationals seeking American citizenship), and no one scoring lower than 70% would be allowed to run for office. Anyone who wishes to be retested for another chance to run would be required to score a minimum of 75% in order to seek office.
February 4th, 2008 at 9:53 pmThen, just to inflict as much psychological horror on would-be politicians-for-life, they would be required to pass special exams before they’re allowed to run for re-election (for the House, no later than 30 days before their state holds primary elections; for the Senate, no later than 6 months before the primary elections; for the Presidency, no sooner than September 1st and no later than December 1st of the year preceding the Presidential election). This would be just punishment for the standardized testing that the Federal government has imposed on public school students for the last decade or so (and, just to add a good deal for the public high schools, allow high school students to receive extra credit for acting as test monitors/proctors to the “dedicated public servants”).
She probably thinks American Indians are foreigners, too.
February 4th, 2008 at 10:00 pmGolly_gee, you’re as stupid as you seem. You are GUARANTEED THE RIGHT TO VOTE. You DON’T have a “right” to run for political office.
Is that easy enough for you to understand, Gomer?
February 4th, 2008 at 10:24 pmDoes this list of “foreign citizens” include those from Puerto Rico, Guam, and other territories who have fought and died for this country?
Have they earned the right to be considered US citizens, even if they don’t move to America, and don’t pay federal taxes?
February 4th, 2008 at 10:35 pmAll Puerto Ricans, on behalf of a fellow white (and irredeemably racist) person, I apologize. PRicans need the vote. They pay taxes, they serve….and yet they don’t get the vote?
February 5th, 2008 at 12:18 amthere’s Puerto Ricans in Iraq fighting in the TurkeyNoseIdiot’s criminal war. A considerable number of young PuertoRicans have died there too! Go f***k yourself Neo-Nazi Brown dyke!
February 5th, 2008 at 1:48 amThis explains why the US rated so low in education. Time for the President of Iran to teach American History to the Law Makers as this statement shows our Law Makers are uneducated. Maybe someone should send Rep. Brown-Waite a memo as follows Puerto Ricans were made American citizens in 1917. Knowing these Republican Law Makers they might need someone to read the memo for them. The World Leaders are watching and laughing their butts of by how stupid and uneducated the US Leaders are. I guess these are the best the US has to offer.
February 5th, 2008 at 1:49 amForeign citizens? Can you say doublethink?
~Sean
February 5th, 2008 at 5:50 amI can excuse some of these Republican nutjob’s stupidity because our schools quit teaching Civics; however this granny obviously was in school when Civics was invented. What is her excuse for stupidity. OH, I forgot, she is a Republican.
February 5th, 2008 at 9:47 amHave they earned the right to be considered US citizens, even if they don’t move to America, and don’t pay federal taxes?
Comment by RickS — February 4, 2008 @ 10:35 pm
Just a little correction: Puerto Rico is in America already.
February 5th, 2008 at 1:18 pm“the point that the Congresswoman was making was that money from the proposed tax stimulus “rebates†should go to taxpaying U.S. citizens, not to Puerto Rican citizens residing in Puerto Rico who do not pay U.S. taxes. On the other hand, the rebate checks should go to those Puerto Ricans who have moved to the United States, completed their American citizenship, and pay taxes. You may disagree with her position, but at least be truthful about what her position is.
Comment by good_golly — February 4, 2008 @ 9:45 pm”
This is an absurd interpretation of Ms. Brown-Waite’s ignorant and racist remarks. Puerto Ricans are American citizens, period, and referring to them as “foreign citizens” is just plain stupid. Moreover, the whole canard that Puerto Rican residents don’t pay taxes is a lie. Because of a special arrangement with the Federal Government, most PR residents do not pay Federal Income tax; rather, they pay local income taxes, and, in return for this exemption, they get less Federal money back. However, all PR employees of the Federal Government do pay income tax. More important, all PR workers pay Federal payroll withholding for Social Security and Medicare just like other American workers, and also pay many other Federal taxes. The Congresswoman doesn’t know what she’s talking about and neither do you.
February 5th, 2008 at 1:50 pmJust a little correction: Puerto Rico is in America already.
Comment by Evil Spaniard
Oh shoot, I knew that.
Sorry.
February 5th, 2008 at 3:21 pmBoo hoo hoo! Cry me a river. Poor liberals are mad because they cannot control every facet of the media. It is not enough they have the movies, television, newspapers, magazines and the public schools. No! They need to have talk radio as well. Well get over it! Conservatives are not going anywhere. Our beliefs are not going anywhere! I am proud to be a conservative and I think it is great that we have a place that we can just be ourselves, if you don’t like it-tough! Grow up and stop whining.
June 2nd, 2008 at 2:46 am