Harry Alford manages to flummox Barbara Boxer by pointing out that an endorsement from the NAACP has nothing to do with energy policy, but that her condescending attitude is a problem:
The Briefing Room has the transcript:
The President and CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) tore into Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) Thursday for what he said were “condescending” and “God awful” racial statements at a hearing.
NBCC head Harry C. Alford took strong exception to Boxer having referenced an NAACP report favoring climate change legislation during a hearing of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, of which Boxer is the chairwoman.
“Madam chair, that is condescending to me,” Alford said. “I’m the National Black Chamber of Commerce, and you’re trying to put up some other black group to pit against me.”
Boxer defended including the report, however, saying the report reflects a “diversity” of support behind climate change legislation facing the Senate.
“If this gentleman were here, he would be proud he’s being quoted,” Boxer said in defense of the NAACP support.
Alford, however, struck back against Boxer, accusing her of “getting racial” in the climate change debate.
“All that’s condescending, and I don’t like it. It’s racial. I take offense to it. As an African-American and a veteran of this country, I take offense to that,” he said. “You’re quoting some other black man — why don’t you quote some other Asian or some other… You’re getting racial here.”
“You’re speaking on behalf of the black community?” Alford asked. “Why are you doing the colored people association’s study with the black Chamber of Commerce?”
He finally concluded:
“We’ve been looking at energy policy since 1996. And we are referring to the experts, regardless of their color. And for someone to tell me, an African-American, college-education veteran of the United States Army, that I must contend with some other “black group” and put aside everything else in here — This has NOTHING to do with the NAACP, and really has nothing to do with the National Black Chamber of Commerce. We’re talking about energy. And that — that road the chair went down, I think is God awful.”
Liberals have been working for decades on the premise that their own “special groups” should think alike. The phrase I’ve heard when I do not agree with a Liberal’s idea of what Puerto Ricans should think/do (regardless of what the subject at hand or the merits of my argument may be) is, “but you don’t even look Puerto Rican.”
H/t Ed.
Flummoxing Sen Boxer is like stabbing a Quarter Pounder but claiming instead to have ventured into a plaza de toros.
I’m surprised she didn’t chastise him for daring to call her ma’am, instead of “senator.” She’s worked for that title, y’know.
Of course, she’s also worked for the title of “moron,” but I doubt I’ll hear any witness use that to her face.
And she’s my senator, too. 🙁
I doubt very seriously if you added the IQ of both our senators together that you still wouldn’t find someone smart enough to get into the UC system. Of course that might just explain why none of our senators attended a public school or college in California.
Ed Driscoll at PJM has a subsequent Breitbart interview with Harry Alford. He’s good.
I personally cannot stand that Pellosi is supposed to represent me as a woman. Who do these people think they are? The dear departed TOTUS is the only one I know of who lacked his own vocal chords.
So what does a Puerto Rican look like? I’ve only lived in PR for 38 years and have not figured it out yet.
Native Puerto Ricans seems about as diverse in appearance as anyone else in the US.
Or maybe they mean that “Wertz” is not a Puerto Rican name? It used to be that the US govt classified people strictly on the basis of whether one had an Hispanic surname. Of course, Colberg, O’Neill, Sullivan, O’Daly, Wirshing, Delanoy, Higgins and many other famous Puerto Rican names don’t sound Puerto Rican either.
So is my son, John Thomas Henry (as he generally calls himself) born and lived in PR all his life, Puerto Rican?
How about Juan Tomas Henry-Sanchez as his name appears on his birth certificate.
Sorry for the rant. Keep up the good work.
John
http://www.changeover.com
Thanks, John!
I like how Barbara Boxer says- “you don’t know when I came”. She really thinks he’s an idiot!! This is a SMART man who is calling it how he sees it! She is doing what many Democrats do- talk down to Black Americans as though they are their own separate group. He is there on behalf of business owners, not on behalf of Black Americans! We are ALL Americans!! and God Bless our Veterans!!!!!!!!
“The phrase I’ve heard when I do not agree with a Liberal’s idea of what Puerto Ricans should think/do (regardless of what the subject at hand or the merits of my argument may be) is, “but you don’t even look Puerto Rican.””
Those people are prime candidates for a face-slapping.
You know, that’s one of the things that anger me the most among those people. They seem to have tatooed their “image” of a Puerto Rican from some unknown book, magazine or movie, because they simply don’t have a clue. Many of them probably have never been in the island to begin with! And then they want to sound so “enlightened” by saying that West Side Story is un-P.C.! They would still think “Puerto Rican” is the maid that makes their bed at their hotel, the guy at the meat market, the guy in prison, or the junkie at the drug rehab. They never think of the lawyer, doctor, police officer (like my brother), firefighter (like Lt. Ben Vargas, New Haven FD – remember him?) or engineer. They think of us as a bunch of welfare duds, akin to “Appalachian rednecks”, but “more worthy” of their “compassion” because we come from an “acceptable minority group”. (Spare your darned pity, hypocrites!)
Will they ever believe it if I tell them that my great-aunt, who has been dead since the 1920s, was blond and blue-eyed? So was my uncle. But both died before my mom was born. Only mi abuelita remained, “la india”. But then, los nietos (the grandkids) came. And the biznietos (great-grandkids). Two of them are blond and blue-eyed, and most of my cousins… you would mistake them for (insert ethnic group represented in NYC here). And then there are my two girls. Except for la mancha de platano and a few questions, no one ever has a clue that either pf my girls is born of a Puerto Rican mother.
Will they ever believe that I have a medical technology expert, a phone company executive, a financial consultant, an engineer, or a police detective in my family? Nope, I wouldn’t think so. Those “compassionate liberals” may still think we’re still at some factory working the long hours, like my mother was after she arrived to NY from the island in 52, with her husband and not a penny to their name. Or cleaning the “Compassionate liberals'” posh offices. Or doing the role of Mary Poppins at their luxury townhouses or mansions. And then they dare to poof-poof the “ignorant white redneck” military when so many of our (Puerto Rican!) men and women have served with distinction with others of different backgrounds in the Armed Forces, and many have returned from their missions inside boxes, even in recent years.
All that glitters is not gold, and all that “stinks” is not necessarily junk. If anything, those who say “But you don’t look Puerto Rican!” are the greater fools, because they have never, ever dared to explore what Puerto Ricans like myself really are. We’re not all the cleaning lady at the office, and we’re not all Benicio del Toro. You might, however, be surprised about us.
“Look Puerto Rican”… Wait till my belligerent aunt hears that! I think she may still pack a nasty punch in her sixties!
End of rant.
And you know what else gets me? When I hear about someone saying to any boricua that we need to apply for our “green cards” or for citizenship. We’ve been U.S. citizens since 1917, for cryin’ out loud!
Hooray, Newton!
I can top that when as a graduate teacher I had a student from Puerto Rico, who had grown up in So Cal, that ran into problems with his DOD scholarship. He had enlisted and they were paying for his undergraduate degree. We went over to Student Affairs but were told that we had to go to the officer that handled scholarships for international students. It took us 45 minutes to finally convince him that Puerto Rico was indeed a Commonwealth of the US and that the US passport was not from some foreign country.
Yet again, Boxer proves her supreame stupidity.
Go, Harry…