Posted on 09/07/2013 11:20:33 AM PDT by Sub-Driver
Rep. Rangel denies Black Caucus was told to be quiet on Syria By Julian Hattem - 09/07/13 12:42 PM ET
A top member of the Congressional Black Caucus is denying that lawmakers were told to stay silent on the issue of whether or not the U.S. should intervene in Syria.
“Nobody’s ever suggested to me ... that I should not comment,” Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) said in an interview on MSNBC on Saturday.
He added that he had a “responsibility to speak.”
Rangel’s comments were in response to an email from caucus Chairwoman Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio), which asked lawmakers to “limit public comment on the issue.”
“No, I think that the press is misinterpreting this as it relates to the Black Caucus,” Rangel said.
The Black Caucus has been stuck in a tricky spot on the question of Syria. Many of its members have expressed twin desires to both avoid another military encounter while also supporting President Obama.
Rangel said in the interview that he has a constitutional obligation to listen to the people in his district.
Though he respects previous presidents, "all of them collectively couldn’t add up to the admiration that I have for President Obama. But by the same token, Obama didn’t get me elected. My constituents did."
Rangel has been wary of the country’s involvement in Syria, though he said he would be watching Obama's address to the nation.
“Maybe we’ll see what happens on Tuesday,” he said. “I can’t imagine him saying anything that I don’t believe that he means. The only problem I have with the president is [the assertion] that this is a threat only to our national security and we should go it alone.”
Good to know. I always wait until I hear from a tax cheat before I draw my conclusions.
They weren’t “told to be quiet”. They were told to “shut up”. It’s all semantics with these loser pols.
He says he wasn’t limited in what he could say, but he doesn’t really say anything.
Well, gee, the directive was written, so they definitely were not "told", they were directed to be quiet on Syria.
Liberals don’t have to be told that speaking out against their own party is hazardous to their political careers.
All previous presidents, collectively, he has less admiration for, eh?
Just by that assertion, Rangel is merely another lump of dogcrap, sucking on the government teat.
More admiration than for Lincoln?
Washington? Jefferson? Any of the WHITE presidents?
Baldfaced bigot, you are, Rangel.
No doubt whatsoever.
So aliens abducted the black caucus as well.
You can bet Charlie will back Obama to the hilt.
Its that old black magic, That has Charlie under it’s spell.
Rangel is a”Serial LIAR”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
all of them collectively couldn’t add up to the admiration that I have for President Obama
In a just world these people would be laughed out of town.
So now they’re being told to deny it?
Go ahead, Ed -- get on the train, then get your fat azz into the oven. You don't want to be seen as "anti-Nazi," do ya? Ed -- go ahead and offer up your fat neck to the sword -- you don't want to be seen as "anti-Muslim," do ya??
If the Ed Asners, James Carvilles, and Jon Stewarts want to follow 0buma in a handbasket to hell along with all the other masochistic white liberal kooks, why must ALL of us be sucked into the vortex of insanity?
Humoring anything the Kenyan says or does simply to avoid the hue and cry of "RACIST!!" is as slavishly il-logical as liberalism gets. This is why this so-called "United" States is no longer a "nation."
Ooops! That's right... Can't have one -- that would be "RACIST!"
Of course it was.
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