House Speaker John Boehner commented Thursday on the hoodie Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) was thrown off the House floor for wearing. "I think the rules are enforced evenly...We expect all members to follow the rules," he said, according to Yahoo's Chris Moody. Rush wore a hoodie under his suit to the chamber on Wednesday, then took off his suit jacket and put on sunglasses to protest the Trayvon Martin shooting.
On the "Laura Ingraham Show" on Thursday morning, Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) attacked Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) for wearing a hooded sweatshirt on the House floor, calling the act "immature gimmickry...that does not have any place, especially on the House floor and, really, in the United States." Rush was removed from the House floor on Wednesday morning for violating the chamber's dress code. At the time, he was wearing a hoodie in support of Trayvon Martin, a teenager who was shot and killed last month in Sanford, Fla. George Zimmerman, the local resident who shot Martin, told police he was suspicious of the teen in part because he was wearing a hoodie. Zimmerman said he acted in self defense and has not been arrested.
WASHINGTON -- Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) was thrown off the House floor Wednesday after wearing a hoodie and sunglasses in protest of the Trayvon Martin shooting in Florida. "Racial profiling has to stop," Rush said as he peeled off his suit jacket to reveal a hoodie underneath, at which point he pulled the hood over his head and replaced his glasses with sunglasses. "Just because someone wears a hoodie does not make them a hoodlum."