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and then we really have to stop.

When I ran for mayor, I went before a large number of Jewish groups, and I remember going before one group which was the Jewish civil servants -- it's a very right-wing group, I mean really right-wing. They're afraid of losing their jobs to blacks as a result of reverse discrimination, and to some degree they are right. In other areas they are overstating the case, so they're unfair.

Anyway in the course of the questioning one guy gets up and he says, “Listen, Congressman, what do you think of the new police regulations where they're going to reduce the height requirement?” and the purpose of that was the encourage Puerto-Ricans, who are short, to become policeman. I said, “There's nothing wrong with that. That has nothing to do with merit -- your height requirements.” I said, “I believe in the merit system. I don't believe that people should be given preferences if they're not qualified. I don't believe that you should go to college simply because you're a black or a Puerto-Rican and you get out of high school and you can't read. You have to qualify. And there are qualified people. Height is not a qualification in my book. The height has to correspond to the overall population, not just six-foot white people.”

This guy says, “Oh, Congressman, who is going to respect a short cop?” I said, “Did you ever see a short Puerto Rican with a gun?” (laughs) That was a nice line.