On the Odious Defense Of Hiram Monserrate

New York State Senator Hiram Monserrate was convicted by a Bronx jury of committing assault on his then girlfriend. Yet, despite a bipartisan chorus of calls for Monserrate to resign, a Democrat has come forward to claim that this is a witchhunt based on Monserrate's race, and that's just the half of it.

State Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr. told Fox 5 News that many of the officials telling Monserrate to resign are white, while Monserrate is Hispanic. Diaz said that Monserrate was convicted of a misdemeanor for trying to force her to go to the hospital to get treatment, not for the slashing itself.

After his trial Monserrate indicted he would not resign, but did not comment about the latest developments involving members of his own party.

Diaz seems to buy into defense claims that Monserrate was trying to help his girlfriend get to the hospital, when the video shows Monserrate grabbing and yanking and pulling the woman forcefully from the apartment building.

It was largely on the basis of that video that he was convicted of assaulting his girlfriend by yanking her out of the apartment building. That's not helping his girlfriend as Diaz would like to claim. Instead, Diaz frames this as an attempt to submarine a non-white member of the State Senate.



Fellow State Senator Bill Perkins (who is a Democrat and is black) has also called on Monserrate to step down.

The arrest and conviction have nothing to do with race and everything to do with Monserrate's thuggish and criminal actions. The jury saw through this. It's time to see through Diaz as well.