Mr. Rangel Goes to Washington … and Leaves
Keen observers of the D.C. circus have been eagerly anticipating the day when Charles Rangel (D-NY 15) would finally take the stand in his own defense on a laundry list of ethics charges. On a cloudy day in November, the wait finally came to an end.
All the players were in place. The ethics panel, led by Congressman Zoe Lofgren (a fellow Democrat from California), had allotted a full ten hours for the elder Harlem statesman to mount his defense against a variety of allegations. Some dealt with rent-controlled apartments of dubious utilization and properties he owns in the Caribbean, but most stemmed from his vigorous fundraising efforts on behalf of the Charles Rangel Center for the Advancement of Charles Rangel.
(I’m sorry … I’m being told by the editor that the proper name for the facility is the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service at City College of New York.)
Many of Congressman Rangel’s colleagues from both sides of the aisle were in attendance. No expense had been spared in expert consultants, with Abbe Lowell — an attorney who represented Bill Clinton during his 1998 impeachment — standing by to mount a vigorous defense. All that was missing was Raymond Burr in a wheelchair, ready to roll forward and decry the unjust system seeking to bring down a venerable voice of the people.
And at last the moment had arrived. Charlie took the stand to clear his good name, but his opening was more of a surprise than anyone had anticipated. After declaring that he required more time to prepare his legal footing (ignoring the fact that this process has been playing out for a couple of years now), Congressman Rangel pulled the equivalent of grabbing two beers and heading for the emergency exit slide.
Charlie Rangel walked out the door.
“All I am asking for is fairness,” Rangel later said. “Can you tell me under what theory of fairness would dictate that I be denied due process, that I be denied an attorney, because it’s going to be the end of the session? How far does this go to a person not having counsel, not having due process, because we don’t have the time?”
Some of our readers might be thinking that such a response sounds rather crazy. But I maintain it’s simply crazy like a fox.
Best headline: “Charlie Rangel flees ethics trial to avoid getting any ethics on him” from “Jim Treacher”.
Cholly is an acquired taste. He’s a rogue and a scoundrel, but a very likeable guy.
Rogues and scoundrels that “forget” to report taxible income of over $600,000, while simultaneously raising MINE every which way they can, are NOT likeable guys…
They are thieves, theives that would none the less that jail either of US if we dared do such a thing
Rangle, and everyone like him, deserve nothing but a rope
Yup, especially as these SCUMBAGS Always seem to avoid Due Process and avoid the Law… The Texas solution :- A Tall Oak Tree and a Good Hemp Rope.
While we are at it, lets make a list. I wanna add Barney Frank and Babs Boxer.
The author may be correct however I am hoping Congress will still find a way to do the right thing, keep the pressure on and hold Mr. Rangel accountable. Follow the money and ask questions.
Nice to know that the more things change in Congress the more they stay the same. You wonder if they let in sunlight to one of these hearings how many of the honorable members of Congress would start to hiss and then break out in flames (kind of like the vampires you see in movies). No wonder people have little faith in politicians….
Rangel should be in a federal penitentiary. That would be fairness. Come to think of it, nearly everyone in the federal government should be incarcerated, from the WH to both houses of Congress because there here are not too many of them that can really pass muster. When you throw in people like Tax-cheat Timmy Geithner and serial sexual predator Napolitano, my goodness! We might need to activate Alcatraz again because I doubt that we have enough space left for all of this crowd in existing facilities. A move like that would get the country headed in the ‘right direction’ very quickly!
Which Napolitano is a sexual predator? Andrew or Janet
There was an the old line from “Seinfeld” where George says “If you really believe then it isn’t a lie.” I admire Charlie Rangel for this. He is a crook and a charlatan but such a SINCERE crook and charlatan. Almost everything he says is a bald-faced lie but on some level Charlie genuinely BELIEVES it. He is so delightfully free of integrity, honesty and ethical restraint that he is almost endearing.
All that he needs to do is stand up in the well of the House and say…”OK I’m coming clean. Everything that I do and everything I am about is for the greater aggrandizement of Charlie Rangel. I am simply incapable of telling the truth and all this crap about ethics and standards simply doesn’t apply to me. But you all understand, right?” The entire House would break into applause and carry him out on their shoulders. Sort of the Bizarro world version of “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.”
Chambers,
I read you first paragraph with smoke literally coming out of my ears. I was fully perpared to rip into for falling for the guys “harmlessness”, screaming to you that even HITLER was nice to his dog.
By the second paragraph, I was vanquished….I could hear his voice, smoothly explaining the simple truth…the way it, and all of them, are simply meant to be, and I sigh.
Fleeced again we are….
And always will be.
rangel is making a mockery of his fellow congresmen. he basicaly flipped them a bird. typical democrat the rules just dont apply to him
Just like his predecessor, the notorious crook Adam Clayton Powell.
Come all you merry makers
You wine drinkers and heart breakers
Pass me the bottle one more round
Come all of you love makers
All you cheaters and lie makers
Fill me with happiness and bring on the clowns
Only one stepped forward – then fled – way to go Charlie
I had to laugh at this total bufoon’s request for a continuance after he refused to make a plea deal this summer. He is entirely without shame.
New Yorkers reelected this carnival barker in a landslide two weeks ago. He is an exact reflection of the constituents who value him so highly. And Blake Chisam doesn’t see any corruption!!?? He ought to be brought up before a professional conduct hearing for that whopper. He and Rangle make a perfect pair. The “ethics” commitee will slap Chuckies wrist and that will be that. What a complete group of incompetents, both Republican and Democrat.
New York state is going to default on its obligations to creditors, it is inevitable. When that happens “Cholly” and his blowhard liberal buddies are going to breathlessly attempt to shame Congress into bailing it out. I doubt the new Congressional majority is going to go for anything that lets this bastion of liberalism and irresponsibility escape from the mess it has created for its self.
Keep it up Charles, you can fool the simpletons you represent, but not the rest of us. We all know just what a charlatan huckster you really are. Your constituents richly deserve the harsh fate that awaits them.
OK, I’m back…
“you can fool the simpletons you represent, but not the rest of us.”
They aint no simpletons….theyre supporting a brother who’s made it big “stickin it to the man” while smiling at him.
Add up the subsidies of his constutuants, verses the taxes they contribute (if any) and you’ll see what a great job he’s doing for them.
Cholly is a hometown boy done good, the financial disaster awaiting the State of NY and the Nation at large only confirms it.
CAn only be explained by rampant Congressional racism, right??
His constituents love the old thief because “He sticks it to The Man!”
You left out ‘white’.
Is it too early for presidential pardons? How about a pardon from the Congressional Black Caucus, or NAACP? United Nations?
Charlie is such a nice guy, I am sure any problems have to do with past discrimination and prejudice. In fact, Nancy should put him as the ranking minority member of the Ethics Committee. I am sure he could instruct other members how to better hide the indiscretions of others. The Dems lost a good man just because of some cold cash in his freezer. It was supposed to be in the Mistresses freezer.
All that was missing was Raymond Burr in a wheelchair, ready to roll forward and decry the unjust system seeking to bring down a venerable voice of the people.
Actually, Burr in a wheelchair was Ironside, a detective (before becoming disabled) who then worked with the police as a consultant. Burr as defense attorney Perry Mason was never disabled.