Assemblyman Defends Maxine Waters

Katy Grimes: I sat through a State Assembly session this morning wondering why I was there. It was obviously a thinly veiled excuse by legislators to capture the $142 per diem payment.

There were the usual speeches honoring the recently departed. But, time spent at the Capitol is rarely a waste. During the earnest floor speeches about a resolution highlighting the WWll internment of Japanese-Americans, Democratic Assemblyman Charles Calderon complained that a Fox News Anchor made racist comments about “one of the most distinguished former members of this house, and member of Congress, Maxine Waters.”

I nearly choked. 

Calderon’s reference was to a brash comment made by “Fox and Friends'” Anchor Eric Bolling, Thursday morning.  “Congresswoman, you saw what happened to Whitney Houston. Step away from the crack pipe, step away from the Xanax, step away from the Lorazepam because it’s going to get you in trouble,” Bolling said.

But Calderon neglected to mention that Maxine Waters had called U.S. House Republican leadership “demons” on Wednesday, inciting Bolling’s controversial comments.

Fox News can discipline or get rid of Bolling, but America appears to be stuck with Maxine Waters and her nasty mouth.

Waters is notorious for her rants and imbecelic comments about colleagues, as well as depictions of those she deems “racist” when it suits her.

Water’s “demon” comments were made last weekend at the state Democratic party convention in San Diego. Video of her speech shows her ginning up the crowd with the incendiary comments.

“I saw pictures of Boehner and Cantor on our screens (at the convention). Don’t ever let me see again, in life, those Republicans in our hall, on our screens, talking about anything. These are demons,” Waters told the crowd, Fox News reported. “They are bringing down this country, destroying this country, because they’d rather do whatever they can do destroy this president rather than for the good of this country.”

I tried to locate news reports of Waters’ comments on ABC, CBS, NBC, or MSNBC, but was unable to find anything. However, England’s Telegraph UK reported the incident.

Waters also claimed that banks will be “shaking in their boots” if Democrats take back the house and she becomes the House Financial Services Committee chairwoman. Egads. I’ll be shaking in my boots if a daft grandstander like Maxine Waters takes over the House Financial Services Committee. If you thought Rep. Barney Frank was an unscrupulous reprobate, just wait for Maxine.

Rep. Maxine Waters is quite famously known for really ridiculous, inflammatory statements:

“I have to march because my mother could not have an abortion,” Waters said at a pro-abortion rally.

“The tea party can go straight to hell,” Waters said in August, at an unemployment forum in Los Angeles.

“The President is a liar.  Dick Cheney, the chief architect of the Big Lie, is not only a liar, he is a thief,” Waters said about  President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, while they were in office.

About President Obama: “He’s been on the other side of the aisle talking with people. He’s invited them up to the White House to have beer. He’s invited them to come and watch the Super Bowl games. He’s done all of that, and when they eat his food and drink his beer and leave, then they go and try to kill him.”

During a congressional hearing in 2008, while lecturing oil company executives, Waters let slip that she would like to “socialize” oil companies. “Guess what this liberal would be all about?  This liberal would be about socializing … uh, umm.  … Would be about, basically, taking over, and the government running all of your companies,” Waters said.

As a senior member of the House Financial Services Committee, Waters was as responsible as anyone on the committee for allowing the nefarious actions of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which led to the housing meltdown.  “At a 2004 congressional hearing, (and yes, that is the same “Frank” Raines that vastly overstated Fannie Mae’s earnings in order to receive $90 million in bonuses).  ‘We do not have a crisis at Freddie Mac, and particularly Fannie Mae, under the outstanding leadership of Frank Raines,'” Waters famously said. (Human Events)

Waters said about then-sitting president George H.W. Bush: “I would like to … say … very clearly that I believe George [H.W.] Bush is a racist.”

Waters regularly refers to the Republican Party as “the enemy.”

She has referred to former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, a Republican, as a “plantation owner.”

Waters called the 1992 Los Angeles riots a “rebellion,” and defended the looters. “They are not crooks.” But that “rebellion” and city-wide looting included assault, arson, murders and property damages adding up to more than $1 billion. 53 people died during the riots, and thousands were injured. The murderous free-for-all, brawling, and lawlessness was hardly an uprising.

Even Wikipedia reports that Waters is currently under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for alleged insider deals benefitting her husband. “Waters’ husband is a stockholder and former director of OneUnited Bank and the bank’s executives were major contributors to her campaigns. In September 2008, Waters arranged meetings between U.S. Treasury Department officials and OneUnited Bank, so that the bank could plead for federal cash. It had been heavily invested in Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, and its capital was “all but wiped out” after the U.S. government took them over. The bank received $12 million in Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) money.”

It would all be so embarrassing if only Waters was capable of shame.

Calderon’s shameless pandering to Waters was so out of place during the Remembrance resolution, I wondered if any of his colleagues might have bristled. I did notice a few heads snap to attention as he spoke about Waters.

Remembering past atrocities is appropriate and important; capitalizing on the emotions of the moment is boorish, and shameless brown-nosing is conceited.

FEB. 17, 2012