Charlie Rangel is Toast

The Daily Beast ^ | July 23, 2010 | Tunku Varadarajan

[Gaffer]

Three words: ADAM CLAYTON POWELL

This is Harlem! It is OJ nullification city for cripe's sake.

Of course he will be cleared! Of course he will be re-elected in perpetuity, if he should live that long. Don't hold your breath.

[meyer]

Charlie Rangel is the ‘rat's “fall guy”. He's the sacrificial lamb that will be given up at the altar to show that the dems are “policing their own”. They're desperate for votes this fall, and showing a dim glow of ethics might help them slightly.

If they had any true desire to do this for any reason other than to effect this fall's election, they'd have taken Rangel out 2 or 3 years ago. But they couldn't do that - they needed his vote on commie-care first.

[pnh102]

This article is wishful thinking. It is clearly built upon the premise that a voting majority of people in Rangel's district share the same sense of moral values that say, most of the rest of the USA shares. This is not the case.

Rangel will not be expelled because the Democrats in the House, or at least enough of them, will stand with him. The GOP most likely won't touch him because of an irrational fear of the race card being played. Rangel will run for re-election, and he will win in a landslide like he always does.

Unless the moral values of a great number of people in his district change, he will remain in office until he either dies or decides that he no longer wants to hold office.

[The Comedian]

Charlie Rangel is an organic cartoon.

His hilarious appearance, voice, and ethics aside, I would love to see him share a cell with Bernie Madoff.

However, Charlie is an ancient Democrat. He could nail a child to a cross and set it on fire on the White House lawn, and all we'd get would be explanations from the media of how the stress of the Republican witch hunt against this clean and articulate colored vet had pushed him into classic Tea Party behavior.

Prediction: He'll skate with the humiliation of a full pension and as many office supplies as he can steal on his last day in office.

Frowning takes 68 muscles.
Smiling takes 6.
Pulling this trigger takes 2.
I'm lazy.

[John 3_19-21]

[Clara Lou]

It should, but it doesn’t work that way— not locally, not statewide, not federally. Special rules for special people.

[mad_as_he$$]

Wishful thinking. Charlie ain't goin anywhere.

[OneWingedShark]

or perhaps they’ll find him not-guilty but issue a censure for having things that *appeared* to be violations of ethics.
...why do I offer this option? Because it would be even MORE unjust, and that seems the goal of government now.

[SunTzuWu]

From Wikipedia...

In the morning hours of April 10, 1986, the House held recorded votes on three amendments to FOPA in Record Vote No's 73, 74, and 75. The first vote involved the interstate sale of handguns and was Record Vote 73. The second vote was the controversial Hughes Amendment that called for the banning of machine guns. Despite an apparent defeat of the amendment by voice vote, Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), at the time presiding over the proceedings, declared the amendment approved despite the recorded vote clearly indicating otherwise. The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were: ayes 124, noes 298, not voting 12. [5] The Hughes Amendment regarding the banning of machine guns was defeated in Record Vote No 74. The bill, H.R. 4332, as a whole passed in Record Vote No: 75. Nevertheless, the Senate, in S.B. 49, adopted H.R. 4332 as an amendment to the final bill, which included the defeated Hughes Amendment. It was subsequently passed and signed on May 19, 1986 by President Reagan to become Public Law No 99-308, the Firearms Owners' Protection Act.

[vaudine]

Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe Charlie took over this seat from another black rep who lived very high on the hog indeed. A handsome, oleaginous, Harlem church pastor whose name is escaping me. Someone who knows, please insert name.His predecessor likewise bent and stomped on rules of conduct and law for long years, until he became so blatant it could not be ignored further.

How should Charlie NOT expect to do the same things--except he seems to have forgotten the final outcome. He and the former rep have gotten away with any and everything because of their color and Dem status UNTIL the conduct became too egregious to ignore.Charlie knows how to smile and be charming, and for that reason has had much more than his share of TV face time.

Pray God he is toast. However, next question--Who is waiting in the wings to take over?

vaudine

[tioga]

I fear he will die in office like teddy........

[rushmom]

I bet he’s overwhelmingly reelected. We saw the same thing with Marion Barry and Adam Clayton Powell and Judge Hastings. It’s a curious phenomenon.

[FrankR]

Just when he had such high hopes for America's young people...

[pnh102]

We need term limits. Do your time, then go home. Give someone else a chance. 21st term....disgusting.

Amen to that. The founding fathers never intended for public office to be a permanent career for anyone. They believed that a citizen would be called to serve in office, and then return to private life within a reasonable time.

It was George Washington who insisted on not running for a third term because he believed it would not be in the best interests for the country. The fact that term limits were never explicitly mentioned in the Constitution shows that most of the founding fathers believed that most people who would serve in office would have at the very minimum the type of moral grounding to know when enough is enough.

Of course, people like Charles Rangel show this is not the case. That aside, it is not right that less than 1/435 of the US population has the power to savage the rest of us with this SOB. The same can be said of senators like Robert Byrd and Ted Kennedy.

Congressional term limits, say 2 (or maybe even 1) term for a Senator and 3 terms for a Representative will ensure that no one can build up the clout needed to rob the rest of the country blind in order to serve his or her personal needs. While this won't fix all the problems in government, it will at least limit the type of damage that politicians such as Charles Rangel can do to the country.

[mad_as_he$$]

Seems so. On FNS last night even the ‘conservatives” were talking about what a great guy he is.

[RC2]

That is what has to change. It gives them too much power over the people and doesn’t stop criminal activity within the power structure.

[The Sons of Liberty]

Rangel has been a sleazy dirtbag for at least 20 years. The timing of this “probe” is definitely not coincidental, but set up to ensure that he gets a slap on the wrist and the short attention span public will forget long before November, as San Fran Nan continues to proclaim that they are the most ethical ever.

[Mojave]

[EyeGuy]

“21st term....disgusting.”

######

Racism is nothing, if not utterly reliable.

[Venturer]

I believe he will get a mere slap on the wrist.

He isnt going anywhere. The rest are frightened of his little black book with all of their crimes in it.

Plus we havent heard from the CBC uyet.