(Headline USA) Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., embarrassed himself during a congressional hearing this week after trying to deny that Democrats have engaged in racial discrimination.
The House Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet heard testimony on Thursday about Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’s wife and whether the justice should recuse himself due to her political activism. One of the witnesses called on by the GOP, Mark Paoletta, testified that Democrats were attacking Thomas because he is a black conservative who doesn’t conform to what the Left thinks a black man should be like.
Jeffries responded: “What evidence do you have to support that incendiary charge?”
Paoletta pointed out that, just last year, the chairman of the committee, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., accused Thomas of being an “Uncle Tom” because of “his views on voter ID and affirmative action, when in fact more black Americans support voter ID, and with respect to affirmative action and college education, 62% opposed to it.”
“So that is the most vile, disgusting thing you can say,” Paoletta continued, “and so yes, that’s the evidence.”
Jeffries then tried to intervene: “Reclaiming my time, there are a lot of vile and disgusting things,” he said.
“You just asked me for an example,” Paoletta shot back.
“The notion that that answer is, and some members on this side of the aisle and others have been called the N-word throughout different points in our lives, but lies the point you have a particular bias, and its an overstatement which is not surprising when you look at the balance of your testimony. And if Chairman Bennie Thompson has an observation to make, he’s entitled to free speech,” Jeffries responded.
“Can I give you another example?” Paoletta asked.
“No,” Jeffries said.
