Monday, March 01, 2010

More Rangeling

In the past, I have made no secret of my distaste for race-baiting tax cheats like Charlie Rangel. And frankly, I am not the least bit inclined to start now.

As it turns out, Rangel has done the unpatriotic thing by failing to pay his taxes; still, he chairs the House Ways and Means Committee. Not only that, he has recently been found guilty by the House Ethics Committee of major ethics violations; still, he chairs the House Ways and Means Committee.

We all know that Rangel likes to wrangle his way out of his crimes of corruption. He did it after the discovery of his little IRS problem, and appears to be more than pleased to be doing it right now, even after this most recent finding. And still... he refuses to give up his chairmanship.

Even the journalistic aberration we know as the NY Times is calling for the gavel to be removed from his hand:

Congressman Charles Rangel was far from humbled after the ethics committee admonished him for taking corporate-paid Caribbean junkets in violation of the House ethics code. Rather, the New York Democrat berated the panel’s leaders on the House floor.

The moment was characteristic of Mr. Rangel’s arrogance throughout the investigation, which continues into more serious allegations about his official behavior. It is one more reason why Speaker Nancy Pelosi — who championed ethics reform — should stop protecting him and relieve him of his crucial role as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee.


The NY Post has gone even further and called the man a coward:

This newspaper has had its share of differences with Rep. Charlie Rangel over the years, but one word we never thought to associate with the Harlem lawmaker is “coward.”

Yet what other term is appropriate when a 79-year-old political veteran, the dean of the New York delegation and chairman of one of the most powerful panels on Capitol Hill, ducks responsibility for a pretty obvious personal ethical lapse by throwing his staff under the bus?

That’s Rangel’s story in the face of the House Ethics Committee’s report Friday declaring that he violated House rules by taking corporate-sponsored trips to the Caribbean in 2007 and 2008.


So now it's up to Nancy Pelosi to demonstrate that she meant what she said when the Democrats won control of the House. Remember that promise?

Somehow, I am not going to hold my breath, because Nancy Pelosi has been known to lie her ass off on numerous occasions....just like Charlie. In fact, there's not a hell of a lot of difference between either one of them, when you get right down to it. Both are about the lowest of an already low bottom feeding parasitic crowd, who do not know how to earn money by the sweat of their brows.

And just so we all are clear here's something else for the record:

The staff here at PYY does not believe Mr. Rangel to be a coward, Ms. Pelosi is the coward. Mr. Rangel is a race-baiting, tax-cheating, coward. I think that pretty much sums it up.


8 comments:

Chuck said...

Nancy Pelosi came and drained the swamp and saw Charlie Rangel smiling back at her.

Anonymous said...

Beneath the covers of this well-written essay is the truth of politics in Washington (or any state house). And the truth is that American politics is filthy. When a freshman shows up to begin his first term of office, majority or minority leaders tell him/her quite plainly that his or her success will very much depend on whether or not the newly elected official plays ball.

You see, the party apparatchik will determine a freshman’s committee assignments, his or her office location, and whether or not the freshman will have access to lucrative ‘contributors’; important in future elections. You see … when the office is a former restroom on the top floor, next to the janitorial storage room, not many people will call on the newly elected official. If his committee assignment involves peanut crop oversight, he will suffer from diminished influence.

We’ve heard the term “majority and minority whip.” And so on his very first days in Washington (or any state house), the freshman learns that he isn’t serving in the people’s house at all … he’s serving at a corrupt road house run by gangsters and cut-throats —people who will break your arm, shoot you in the head, and bury your body in the desert. But success as an elected crook is more or less guaranteed if you happen to be a member of the Congressional Black Caucus.

I seem to recall one argument articulated at this blog is the supposition that good people go to congress with every proper intention, only to fall by the wayside as he or she is made aware of how things are done in Washington (or any state house). This could be true, but I doubt it; a truly good person won’t succumb to corruption. Now let me make a further proposition: alarm bells ought to go off any time a politician announces his or her run for a third term of office.

Prediction: President Obama will award Rangel the Medal of Freedom.

Mustang out

Greg said...

So much for 'draining the swamp.'

~Leslie said...

One day, perhaps in my lifetime, we shall be shocked when a political leader actually stands on principle instead of the basic foundation of corruption.

But then, I am only dreaming here...

The question is: how much corruption do the American people accept and live with within the political system?

LA Sunset said...

//Nancy Pelosi came and drained the swamp and saw Charlie Rangel smiling back at her.//

I sense a movie in this.

Call it "Swamp Bastard".

LA Sunset said...

//I seem to recall one argument articulated at this blog is the supposition that good people go to congress with every proper intention,//

Some have. How many? Since we cannot always know the depths of another person's heart, it's anyone's guess.

But the machines have sent people to Washington before. Take Dick Lugar for instance. He was a popular mayor of Indianapolis before he made it to the Senate. So in his case, he was already a consummate politician when he got there.

I seem to remember hearing a well articulated point at your blog and on the phone during the many Commander to First Sergeant ass-chewings. Let's take the best and the brightest people from our community kicking and screaming that they do not want to go and tell them they can come home only after they get something right.

I don;t know how we can implement is without violating their civil rights and being charged with criminal confinement. But it's worth a couple of focus group sessions to explore the possibility, as long as the catering is good.

LA Sunset said...

//So much for 'draining the swamp.

I bet that was one ugly looking fish.

LA Sunset said...

//The question is: how much corruption do the American people accept and live with within the political system?//

We are about to find out in this midterm election. This one will tell us the story.