In defense of a Democrat

I've watched the video a few times, and I really don't see what all the outrage is about.  HotAir's headline is Dem Rep says “minorities, defective[s]” not “average, good American people”.  That makes you think that the man pulled a Margaret Sanger, but after watching the video I'm actually offended since that title seems so disingenuous.  Watch and decide for yourself:



The key quote that people seem to be freaking out over:

"We're giving relief to people that I deal with in my office everyday now unfortunately.  That because of the longevity of this recession these are people - and they're not minorities, and they're not defective, and they're not all the things you'd like to insinuate that these programs - these are average, good, American people."

Was the choice in words poor on paper?  Slightly, but it seems pretty clear to me that the Representative is addressing the Democrat held belief that Republicans are racists and oppose things like welfare because they "help too many brown people."  Watching the video should make it very clear that he's not saying that minorities aren't "average, good American people", but that he's combating the notion that minorities are the only ones on the system, and that they're living off of it.

In fact I feel like if you're going to criticize anything he said it should be the suggestion that the poor can never be anything other than poor, although I'm fast discovering that that is a rather common belief among liberals.