House Speaker Pelosi is apparently loathe to take on the problem of her House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel (D-NY). From Politico:
Why is House Speaker Nancy Pelosi refusing a growing chorus of calls to drop the hammer on ethics-challenged Charlie Rangel?Because, at the moment, doing nothing creates a lot less trouble for Pelosi than doing anything, current and former House aides tell POLITICO.
Stripping the Harlem Democrat of his chairmanship of the House Ways and Means Committee would force Pelosi to make a series of unpalatable decisions about Rangel's successor that would create a ruckus in the Democratic caucus.
It would also infuriate the Congressional Black Caucus, which is still sore over Pelosi's decision to strip committees from former Louisiana Rep. Bill Jefferson - even after Jefferson had been found with a wad of tainted cash in his kitchen.
Unless they find $90,000 in his freezer, like they did with Jefferson, we're going to wait [for the outcome of a House ethics probe]," said a Democratic aide familiar with Pelosi's thinking on the matter.
This may represent a new low in standards among the Democrats that ostensibly operate the most ethical and transparent government in history, but it is also an example of the "do as I say, not as I do" hypocrisy of that infects the elitist Washington ruling class. This is not some new phenomenom. Speaker Jim Wright comes to mind. So does the House Post Office scandal. And the House check kiting scandal. In all of these instances, House members were way behind the public's understanding and outrage, which is why many members lost their long held seats in Congress.
The tacit understanding among Democrats in the Rangel affair is that the race card is the only politically effective device remaining in the left's ideological toolbox of race, gender and class. A deteriorating economy and the very real prospect of a jobless recovery will trump the class and gender domogoguery that Democrats have historically exploited, rendering them useless in the coming election seson. The race isssue, however, has some residual political value only because of the disruptive damage it may cause within the Democratic caucus. In other words, Speaker Pelosi is now more concerned about Brutus (Rangel) than she is about the Republican hordes that threaten the power of her political Rome.
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Filed under:
Nancy Pelosi
Tags: Rangel Tax Evasion
Comments (17)
Keep him there...this is ju... (Below threshold)1. Posted by Michael | September 5, 2009 9:56 PM | Score: 11 (11 votes cast)
Keep him there...this is just another reason why the Dims are going to be massacred in 2010.
1. Posted by Michael | September 5, 2009 9:56 PM |
Score: 11 (11 votes cast)
Posted on September 5, 2009 21:56
2. Posted by 914 | September 5, 2009 10:02 PM | Score: 8 (8 votes cast)
Shes damned if she does and more damned if she doesnt.
Is the ethics committee going to check his freezer?
2. Posted by 914 | September 5, 2009 10:02 PM |
Score: 8 (8 votes cast)
Posted on September 5, 2009 22:02
3. Posted by epador | September 5, 2009 10:25 PM | Score: 8 (8 votes cast)
He has a lot of freezers in a lot of apartments to check...
3. Posted by epador | September 5, 2009 10:25 PM |
Score: 8 (8 votes cast)
Posted on September 5, 2009 22:25
4. Posted by GarandFan | September 5, 2009 10:32 PM | Score: 13 (13 votes cast)
I didn't think it necessary to point out to Democrats that 'the race card is dead'.
There's a black guy in the White House.
Find something new.
4. Posted by GarandFan | September 5, 2009 10:32 PM |
Score: 13 (13 votes cast)
Posted on September 5, 2009 22:32
5. Posted by Neo | September 5, 2009 11:03 PM | Score: 5 (5 votes cast)
Pelosi and House Democrats have no ethics to violate.
5. Posted by Neo | September 5, 2009 11:03 PM |
Score: 5 (5 votes cast)
Posted on September 5, 2009 23:03
6. Posted by justpassingthrough | September 5, 2009 11:12 PM | Score: 6 (6 votes cast)
Well thank goodness the Republicans got tossed out on there ear.
Now we get to see the most ethical and transparent government at work stating with the President.
6. Posted by justpassingthrough | September 5, 2009 11:12 PM |
Score: 6 (6 votes cast)
Posted on September 5, 2009 23:12
7. Posted by Les Nessman | September 5, 2009 11:32 PM | Score: 12 (12 votes cast)
" It would also infuriate the Congressional Black Caucus, which is still sore..."
It should infuriate all the non-blacks in the country that there is such a thing as a 'congressional black caucus'. What a racist, un-inclusive group that is.
It should also infuriate blacks with any self-esteem and self-respect.
And nobody from the major MSM ever does any in-depth stories on the obvious double standard?
7. Posted by Les Nessman | September 5, 2009 11:32 PM |
Score: 12 (12 votes cast)
Posted on September 5, 2009 23:32
8. Posted by UncleZeb | September 6, 2009 12:53 AM | Score: 5 (5 votes cast)
V. Jones just resigned.
NEXT?
OBAMA?
8. Posted by UncleZeb | September 6, 2009 12:53 AM |
Score: 5 (5 votes cast)
Posted on September 6, 2009 00:53
9. Posted by JC Hammer | September 6, 2009 1:24 AM | Score: -12 (14 votes cast)
Ensign and Vitter are still there, so what's the difference? Every damn one there is a crook.
9. Posted by JC Hammer | September 6, 2009 1:24 AM |
Score: -12 (14 votes cast)
Posted on September 6, 2009 01:24
10. Posted by Elroy Jetson | September 6, 2009 3:08 AM | Score: 13 (13 votes cast)
JC,
Ensign and Vitter cheated on their wives. As loathsome as that is, it is not against the law if their wives forgive them versus suing for divorce.
Rangel and Jefferson cheated on America. And it would appear that black democrats in Congress can do just about anything without penalty from their leadership. A weird form of affirmative action. Would you agree?
10. Posted by Elroy Jetson | September 6, 2009 3:08 AM |
Score: 13 (13 votes cast)
Posted on September 6, 2009 03:08
11. Posted by Stan25 | September 6, 2009 7:07 AM | Score: 7 (7 votes cast)
Only black Dimocrats are the ones that can get away with murder. A black Republican is hounded (even if he was somewhat honest) until he is forced out i e J C Watts.
11. Posted by Stan25 | September 6, 2009 7:07 AM |
Score: 7 (7 votes cast)
Posted on September 6, 2009 07:07
12. Posted by southernsue | September 6, 2009 8:56 AM | Score: 6 (6 votes cast)
the districts that keep electing people like rangle and pelosie will keep electing them, these districts are where the crazies live and they like their reps.
pray for our country
12. Posted by southernsue | September 6, 2009 8:56 AM |
Score: 6 (6 votes cast)
Posted on September 6, 2009 08:56
13. Posted by GarandFan | September 6, 2009 10:17 AM | Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
Poor Nancy, that 'most transparent Congress, ever' certainly is turning out that way. Guess when you're up to your ass in alligators it's easy to forget that you wanted 'to drain the swamp'.
13. Posted by GarandFan | September 6, 2009 10:17 AM |
Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
Posted on September 6, 2009 10:17
14. Posted by 914 | September 6, 2009 11:36 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
There not all crooks there JC, just the ones clutching the purse strings.
14. Posted by 914 | September 6, 2009 11:36 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on September 6, 2009 11:36
15. Posted by CDR M | September 6, 2009 1:06 PM | Score: 6 (6 votes cast)
So the mere fact that the Congressional Black Caucus might be mad is hindering doing the right thing??? If Rangel was white, what would the CBC's stand be then? Why the double standard? I thought we were "post racial" now. What does this say about the CBC? Bad behavior is OK by a black man but not by any other race??? Perhaps if the CBC actually followed MLK's words, they would gain credibility. "Judge a man by his character, not by his skin color".
15. Posted by CDR M | September 6, 2009 1:06 PM |
Score: 6 (6 votes cast)
Posted on September 6, 2009 13:06
16. Posted by Scott | September 9, 2009 5:27 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Of course, as everyone knows, opposing Obama, Obamacare or Charlie Rangel is just another rank display of American racism. Just ask Charlie Rangel.
Here's a bit you might find funny, entitled "You're Surely a Racist, If..." Here's a link:
http://firebreathingchristian.wordpress.com/2009/09/03/youre-surely-a-racist-if/
16. Posted by Scott | September 9, 2009 5:27 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on September 9, 2009 05:27
17. Posted by mabeSealiff | September 18, 2009 11:15 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
joking povestvuesh , happen to a regular reader .
17. Posted by mabeSealiff | September 18, 2009 11:15 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on September 18, 2009 11:15