In House Ethics Battles, a Partywide Threat

NYT ^ | DAVID M. HERSZENHORN and CARL HULSE

[lbryce]

WASHINGTON — By defiantly pushing for full-fledged ethics trials, Representatives Charles B. Rangel and Maxine Waters are raising the prospect of a spectacle focusing on Congressional corruption this fall, just as Democrats are fighting to hold on to their majority in an election already defined by distrust of Washington.

Neither lawmaker, both Democrats, faces electoral jeopardy. Mr. Rangel, who was charged on Thursday by the House ethics committee with 13 violations, including failing to pay taxes on rental income from his Dominican villa, represents a safe district in Harlem. Ms. Waters, who is accused of using her office to help a bank in which her husband owned stock request bailout money, has a similarly secure seat in Los Angeles.

But the tenacity of Mr. Rangel, a 20-term veteran, and Ms. Waters, in her 10th term, in fighting the accusations, puts the interests of these two veteran members of the Congressional Black Caucus at odds with those of their party leaders, particularly the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, who famously promised to “drain the swamp” and run “the most ethical Congress in history.” The trials threaten to tarnish Democrats as they try to turn the midterm elections into a choice between keeping them in power or returning to Bush-era policies.

The trials would also stand to remind voters that Democrats, who in recent years extended their reach into the traditionally Republican turf of the rural West and South, are still anchored by an urban, liberal base and led by entrenched veteran lawmakers from big cities.

And the cases could feed racial strains both inside the Democratic caucus, where black members are asking why so many investigations seem to be aimed at them, and out among voters, especially in rural and white districts where many conservative Democrats face tight races.

[lbryce]

The trials threaten to tarnish Democrats as they try to turn the midterm elections into a choice between keeping them in power or returning to Bush-era policies.
Bush-era policies. Bush-era policies, is that supposed to imply circumstances worse than what we have going on today?

President Obama also seemed to be ushering Mr. Rangel out the door when he expressed a hope this weekend that Mr. Rangel, the dean of the New York delegation, be allowed “to end his career with dignity.”
As far as ending his career in dignity, Mr. President, I'm afraid it's too late for that.

I'm just waiting for some MSM perspective referring to Rangel, Waters as the "Lion", "Lioness" of the black caucus.

They don't give a rat's behind about their party, the people they serve. it's all about their narcisstic egos they trying to salvage. And in the end when found guilty there's always the race card.

[fightinJAG]

They don't give a rat's behind about their party, the people they serve. it's all about their narcisstic egos they trying to salvage. And in the end when found guilty there's always the race card.

So far, regardless of the merits of the charges against them, the reaction of Mr. Rangel and Ms. Waters has belied this fact: they are so deeply entrenched in the victim mentality that they actually cannot conceive of there EVER, under any circumstances, being the possibility that the charges against them are LEGITIMATE.

IOW, they skip that little matter of self-examination ("is it possible I really have done something wrong here?"), they skip the really grown-up step of putting themselves in the place of the investigators and viewing the facts from their perspective ("I don't think I've done anything wrong, but I can see how the facts raise the question"), and they go directly to the race card:

"I'm black, therefore I'm a victim, therefore no charges that could ever, ever be raised against me could be legitimate and have a non-racist basis."

IOW, they are poster children for how a racialist mentality makes people stupid -- and utterly unable to engage their inner dialogue in objective, fact-based reality.

But not only them. What about the stupid MSM? Two congresscritters get charged with ethics violations. So what. Two black congresscritters get charged with ethics violations and Journolisters start wailing that it's a racist witchhunt.

Who is it here that is constantly fixated on the mere color of people's skin?

[dan on the right]

Don't kid yourselves. They just want to get this “trial” done with a friendly Democratic Congress (I know the Ethics Committee is evenly split; but the whole House will ultimately vote)- get a reprimand; claim their innocence and they will both be reelected.

Come January, assuming a GOP takeover of the house, probably not the same outcome. They probably wanted to push this into next year, but once all the polls showed that the GOP might take the house, they picked up the pace to get this done now. They miscalculated and should have done this 8 months ago - but then they couldn't believe that the House was really at risk. Should be fun anyways.

[Candor7]

MANY do not seem to know what his is about. Let me speak here to you about it:

Obama wants both Maxine and Rangel gone. Why? ASK YOURSELF!!!!

Its because they will not relinquish control of their constituencies for the Obama radical agenda.They want to keep and preserve their carefully constructed systems of black patronage in their constituencies.They are entrenched. Obama wants these constituencies radicalized the way Chicago is, he wants them to rise up against the white establishment, he wants firebrands to take their places. So far the purge of moderate democrats who want the old system left in tact has gone on quietly,many refusing to re offer for election in November.These two will NOT go quietly.

And they are fighting the evolution of fascism to preserve their carefully built hand out systems and pay offs.Harry Reid is as bad as either Rangel or Waters, yet he goes along with the Obama plan.Maxine and Rangel do not.They have become problems, because Obama wants something that they are willing to prevent at all costs, the totalitarian evolution of the Obama plan inside their constituencies at the destruction of their own native political systems.

They are giving Obama gas. And I like it. I hope they both fight Obama fascism tooth and nail.Eventually he be gettin’ around to you and me.Maybe if we pay attention, we will learn a thing or two about how to fight Obama when he comes for our personal money through taxation, or conversion of 401 (K) accounts into government owed and administerd social security “ supplements”.

And Obama is a fascist. No doubt about that. No doubt at all:

http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/05/barack_obama_the_quintessentia_1.html

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

"...including failing to pay taxes on rental income from his Dominican villa..."

In my book, all voters (the ones with a brain) need to ask is, "Did Mr. Rangel own a Dominican villa before he was elected to his first term in Congress?"

Obviously the answer will be 'no'. That alone should ignite a goodly amount of outrage in any normal person's mind. Who exactly do these pukes think they are? Of royal blood?