Reason Magazine
- reason.com
- reason.tv
- reason.org
- Donate
- Site Search:
Reason on Facebook
Reason on Twitter
Reason on YouTube
Reason RSSGet Reason E-mail Updates!
Manage your Reason e-mail list subscriptionsadvertisements
Is Mrs. Conyers Smarter than an Eighth Grader?
A few weeks ago, Detroit City Councilwoman Monica Conyers, wife of Congressman and House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI), erupted at Council President Kenneth Cockrel Jr. over some inconsequential, uninteresting slight, calling him "Shrek" and incoherently mumbling about his lack of "respect." David Freddoso links to this Detroit News video in which an unrepentant Mrs. Conyers attempts to justify her disgraceful behavior to a room full of pre-teen girls. Watch as Conyers gets worked—and I mean worked—by a delightful, clever, poised eighth grade girl named Kierra Bell:
The Detroit News
has more on the remarkable Ms. Bell.
|5.2.08 @ 3:36PM|#
I'm flabbergasted. How did she get to city council if she can't handle questions from a bunch of little kids?
|5.2.08 @ 3:40PM|#
What's up with that ghetto behavior? Is she the product of
public schools or does she just watch too many rap videos?
-jcr
|5.2.08 @ 3:50PM|#
This girl deserves a medal. Good for her parents to. They obviously raised a decent child. That has to be one of the best youtubes ever.
h-dawg|5.2.08 @ 4:00PM|#
Yea, she's cute now, that 8 year-old kid reaming the councilwoman a eighth orifice. But when she grows up into one of those crusading journalists or, worse yet, politician, then let's see how "oh, yea, go girl" y'all are.
|5.2.08 @ 4:05PM|#
Monica Conyers is an embarrassment (one of many) to my fair
city. Kierra Bell makes us all proud. But for age restrictions, she
could probably get elected to city council.
It' probably already been said but I can't resist. Monica Conyers,
pwned by a child.
Mike Laursen|5.2.08 @ 4:11PM|#
I'm flabbergasted. How did she get to city council if she
can't handle questions from a bunch of little kids?
I can think of many, many city councilpersons who wouldn't fare
well under questioning from Kierra. Hell, is she available to
moderate the Presidential debates?
TallDave|5.2.08 @ 4:18PM|#
This is the natural result of telling people that only the ghetto is "authentic."
|5.2.08 @ 4:39PM|#
What a great girl! And notice that at no time did Conyers give her a straight answer or respond in a thoughtful way. It was all about sparring and face-saving....up against an eighth-grade girl. She looks like a fool.
|5.2.08 @ 4:41PM|#
Conyers' responses reminded me of Nick Naylor in thank you for
smoking:
"But that's not what we're talking about"
"But that's what I'm talking about"
|5.2.08 @ 4:43PM|#
I'm flabbergasted. How did she get to city council if she
can't handle questions from a bunch of little kids?
Her husband, John Conyers(D) is chairman of the House Judiciary
Committee. I humbly suggest that she received considerable help in
organizing and running her political campaigns.
I know, that makes me sound like a sexist pig. Lurleen Burns
Wallace was elected Alabam governor on her own merits. I'll go say
10 Hail Marys now.
|5.2.08 @ 4:47PM|#
Councilwoman Monica Conyers: And so we're all human,
right?
Eighth grader Kierra Bell: We're human, but you have to know your
boundaries. He's President.
Councilwoman Monica Conyers: Of what?
Eighth grader Kierra Bell: Of the city council.
Join us next week for a new episode of As Detroit Hits the
Fan.
[cue music and roll credits]
|5.2.08 @ 5:00PM|#
I wish that when Conyers tries to justify her actions by
questioning whether or not these grade schoolers at times lost
their temper and call other kids names she would have answered
:
"Yes and when we do it, we are punished for it and we get in
trouble. What should your punishment be?"
|5.2.08 @ 5:19PM|#
Join us next week for a new episode of As Detroit Hits the
Fan.
Y'all can wait a week. As a motor city resident, I get new episodes
daily. As an adult, I've lived in a lot of cities, both big and
small, and there ain't no show like the one here. Nothing even
close.
|5.2.08 @ 5:30PM|#
Excellent!!!! Some people just do not know when to quit. Conyers looks like an utter fool.
|5.2.08 @ 5:35PM|#
On our august city council sits the eminently qualified
Martha Fucking Reeves! Yes,
that one. And she's an improvement over Lonnie Bates who got
himself federally indicted and voted out. The last city clerk,
Jackie Currie, whose responsibilities include running the
elections, filed suit when she got defeated. She contended that the
election was improperly run.
I laugh instead of going insanee, what else can you do?
|5.2.08 @ 5:40PM|#
I laugh instead of going insanee, what else can you
do?
Move to a different place. Move today.
|5.2.08 @ 5:56PM|#
Jeebus H. Christ. I can't remember seeing a better interview of
a politician. Ever. In my life.
As much as this is an indictment of one idiotic Councilwoman, it is
an indictment of our pathetic journalists.
|5.2.08 @ 6:14PM|#
I have since stopped laughing about things in Detroit. Not to
sound like a Pinko, but there are people's lives genuinely effected
by the gross negligence and inability of the local government of
Detroit to govern in a sane manner.
To see morons like this, who can't even control their impulses in
public forums, goes to show why these problems continue.
Geoff Nathan|5.2.08 @ 6:50PM|#
I have since stopped laughing about things in Detroit. Not
to sound like a Pinko, but there are people's lives genuinely
effected by the gross negligence and inability of the local
government of Detroit to govern in a sane manner.
For example, you're welcome to visit our potholes--pictures I took
of a couple on a bridge over I-94 made it to the paper a couple of
weeks ago--you could see the rebar under the concrete.
Not to mention the schools. They closed a few schools last summer.
Some of them were just abandoned, with textbooks, computers, papers
(including student records) just left sitting. The buildings were
not secured and the stuff was trashed, stolen, whatever.
It's a pity, because the people in the area mostly want Detroit to
come back, and there are some good things happening (symphony,
opera, lofts going in downtown). Then there's our clown of a mayor,
not exactly helping...
Sigh....
|5.2.08 @ 7:56PM|#
The only part of Detroit we'd take is the part that plays hockey in Auburn Hills. Though that little girl would make a great Prime Minister, so send her over, too.
Confused hockey fan|5.2.08 @ 8:10PM|#
The only part of Detroit we'd take is the part that plays
hockey in Auburn Hills.
Huh? What part of Detroit plays hockey in Auburn Hills? Not the Red
Wings. Is there a junior hockey team there or something?
|5.2.08 @ 8:11PM|#
Out of the mouth of babes. The look on her face says it all;
sheer, utter contempt for this useless woman. Good for Kiera to
recognize bullshit when she sees and having the guts to call it to
her face too.
Dear god, what a babbling, drooling idiot Conyers is. J sub, you
have our condolences. No one deserves *this* level of
government.
|5.2.08 @ 8:30PM|#
Milwaukee, Gary, Detroit, Toledo, Erie, Buffalo, Rochester...what is it about the US side of the Great Lakes that gives rise to shithole cities?
|5.2.08 @ 9:36PM|#
Potter - that some kinda canuck name? Problem is all you damn whitebacks sliding across the border and taking spots away from our junior hockey players. They demoralize our communities then refuse to drink our beer. No amnesty, vote Tancredo.
|5.2.08 @ 10:21PM|#
In addition to all the above...
... is "Shrek" really the best insult this Conyers woman can come
up with? That's a pretty sad statement in its own right.
If she's going to insult people like that, she should at least
consult an insult
generator.
|5.2.08 @ 11:18PM|#
Somebody better warn that little girl that thinking is frowned upon in many circles.
mack leduff|5.3.08 @ 2:04AM|#
"... is "Shrek" really the best insult this Conyers woman can
come up with? That's a pretty sad statement in its own
right."
Funny you should mention that. In an interview with that campy,
international man of mystery, Charlie LeDuff (that's not really his
name is it?) she says, "I didn't say *shrek* was anything
*bad*."
popinjay|5.3.08 @ 2:07AM|#
"That depends," she said in that first interview with the school
kids, when asked if it was wrong to call the president of the
council 'shrek'? I can see one of the school kids thinking, "sure,
if he's trying to drag you into the forest to broil your ass over
an open flame or force you to listen to Donkey prattle away for
hours on end, then yeah, it might be okay to call him
'shrek'."
Isn't subjecting kids to this self-delusional, retarded,
egotistical nonsense, a form of child abuse?
ed|5.3.08 @ 7:32AM|#
It's almost like they don't know they're being taped,
and they've never heard of YouTube.
Are all politicians technological retards?
|5.3.08 @ 8:06AM|#
Well at least now people can see the difference between a sophisticated black woman like Condolezza Wright and a lower class colored girl like Councilho' Monica
jkp|5.3.08 @ 8:54AM|#
J sub D wins the thread by mentioning "Governor" Lurleen
Wallace!
And the answer to Mr. Moynihan's question appears to be: NO.
What a Loser|5.3.08 @ 9:50AM|#
Anyone notice that Conyer's immediate response to the young Miss
Bell's 2nd-grader statement was to accuse the young girl also
calling people names?! [And then cut her off in overpowering way
when she tries to respond ("That's not my question though.")]
Great self defense Mrs. Conyers. Kids are doing it so it's OK for
me.
|5.3.08 @ 11:27AM|#
"Is Mrs. Conyers Smarter than an Eighth Grader?
NO....not even AS smart as the 8th grader.
|5.3.08 @ 12:13PM|#
The picture of a grown woman of authority brow beating a 14 year old girl is powerful. The "adult" in the picture needs to be replaced. Can anyone spell "recall"? Ndak
|5.3.08 @ 12:15PM|#
If you have watched John Conyers over the years, you will realize he is as sharp as his wife. The light is on, but no one is home for these two.
|5.3.08 @ 12:29PM|#
Oh my goodness! Kierra Bell took Conyers's wife to the cleaners! Her questioning was worthy of a prosecutor facing a defendant in the dock. She totally cut the ground out from under Conyers's feet with her sharp distinction between what's acceptable behavior for kids and not so for adults. Lord, keep that child!
|5.3.08 @ 12:59PM|#
That is an impressive, and brave, group of young ladies. But
it's obvious Mrs. Conyers was laboring under the handicap of having
been deeply under the influence of some kind of substance that
destroys judgment, seriously degrades the ability to reason, and
generally makes a person stupid and very unpleasant to be
around.
I blame the Klan. And George Bush, but that goes without
saying.
Master Smith|5.3.08 @ 2:18PM|#
The Detroit News has more on the remarkable Ms.
Bell.
Ms. Bell? Is it not OK to call an eighth grader "miss"?
Trudger|5.3.08 @ 2:32PM|#
"Well at least now people can see the difference between a
sophisticated black woman like Condolezza Wright and a lower class
colored girl like Councilho' Monica."
Who is Condolezza Wright?
|5.3.08 @ 6:15PM|#
I'm flabbergasted. How did she get to city council if she
can't handle questions from a bunch of little kids?
As was pointed out, she's married to John Conyers, who as a Detroit
congresscritter has a sinecure in the US House of Reps. Like Kwame
and his mom, she's a member of the Detroit black political mob.
They've never really had to fight for political office and are
filled with feelings of entitlement so it doesn't surprise me that
Mrs. Conyers would not be able to withstand hard questioning from a
bright junior high kid.
Makes you kind of pine for the days of hizzoner, Head MF In Charge,
Coleman Young. He was corrupt, but the city functioned better.
|5.3.08 @ 6:41PM|#
In 4 years or so Bell will turn 18. When does Conyers run for
re-election?
I will pledge the legal maximum for Bell's campaign right now.
|5.3.08 @ 6:43PM|#
I could point out the blatantly obvious to why if you were to
give America an enema, you'd plug the hole in Detroit, but
why?
Looks like Congressman Conyers married right, though.
|5.3.08 @ 6:50PM|#
And Detroit matters, uh, why?
The buckle on the rust belt. Somebody turn off the lights,
please.
|5.3.08 @ 7:30PM|#
Censored and REMOVED from You Tube and hacked at Free Republis. I guess we are not allowed to see this. Why?
|5.3.08 @ 8:36PM|#
Uh as a lifelong resident of Milwaukee, I beg to differ with it having been characterized as a 'shithole city'. It certainly has issues, but it isn't a shithole.
|5.3.08 @ 8:39PM|#
The major "urban" cities of America are run by these idiots. I ask, what party do they belong to? This young lady has more sense than this "elected" woman. I would be ashamed to be related to Conyers.
|5.4.08 @ 3:36AM|#
SCHOOLED!
Forget the scholarship. Someone get that 8th grade girl a column in
National Review: She's the next William F. Buckley.
|5.4.08 @ 11:03AM|#
Wow, I wondered who would replace Katherine Harris in the "crazy as a loon politician" category. Contender #1....
|5.4.08 @ 1:26PM|#
The culture gap continues and regularly surfaces in darnedest places. When, oh when, are we going to leave the 'slave mentality' behind and all start acting and thinking like Americans? We should be the most educated and inclusive society on the planet, and a few 'throwbacks' have to pursue this dumb 'respect me because I'm (put your own description in here)' and I can be rude, juvenile and downright obnoxious on my path to getting my way.
|5.4.08 @ 2:02PM|#
That whole Q&A went off the rails from the get-go, when that idiot refused to simply admit she was wrong to act the way she did and use her mistake to teach those children how someone can act wrongly while being righteous. People like her make me want to throw myself off a bridge. Or run for office. I can't decide.
Jumbie|5.5.08 @ 1:38AM|#
The video seems to be playing fine right now.
What's this about it being removed at youtube?
Jumbie|5.5.08 @ 1:58AM|#
I just noticed that COnyers wiki page re-directs to the city
council page for some reason.
Could this be a strategy to avoid negative publicity? I mean, as a
casual wiki editor I have no idea how to change a page that
automatically redirects me.
Google spits out tons of juicy stuff about COnyers so she's very
worthy of her own article in wiki.
Foxhunter|5.5.08 @ 10:45AM|#
I wish that young lady would come to Georgia and have a roundtable with the school board of Clayton County. They could use some of her life lesson, as well.
Vee|5.5.08 @ 1:16PM|#
Potter: Milwaukee, Gary, Detroit, Toledo, Erie, Buffalo,
Rochester...what is it about the US side of the Great Lakes that
gives rise to shithole cities?
Hey, what about Cleveland?
|5.5.08 @ 2:24PM|#
Electing retards like the Conyers' (both of 'em) is why Detroit
has become a festering pustule on the asscheek of the
Midwest.
/no offense to retards intended
//too bad Cleveland is following Detroit's example
///Vee, you read my mind
Site comments/questions:
Media Inquiries and Reprint Permissions:
(310) 367-6109
Editorial & Production Offices:
3415 S. Sepulveda Blvd.
Suite 400
Los Angeles, CA 90034
(310) 391-2245