Posted on 03/08/2010 7:06:20 AM PST by opentalk
In an interesting turn of events this week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was forced by her caucus to pry Rep. Charlie Rangel’s (D-NY) Ways and Means gavel out of his hands and throw Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA) under the bus. Then, she cut Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY) loose late Friday afternoon, pressuring Massa to set down just days after allegations surfaced against the one-term Congressman. Rep. Massa will resign his House seat effective Monday, March 9 at 5pm.
Through all of the months of drama of Rangel's ethics violations, tax evasion, and abuses, Pelosi has stood by Rangel--up to the very end--even being quoted as saying:
After huddling with Rangel for 45 minutes, Pelosi initially said, "No comment" when asked if Rangel remains panel chairman.She later added, "I guess he is still chair of Ways and Means..."
Although Rep. Rangel has been forced to “temporarily” step down as chair, there have been just about no calls for him to resign his seat. So, what triggered Peolsi’s intolerance to Massa? It appears that she was capitalizing on an event to banish Massa from the House. Could it be that Massa had the audacity to actually represent his constituents and vote Nay on the House healthcare takeover bill?
Keep in mind, Rangel has actually been found to have violated House rules by the House Ethics Committee. The charges surrounding Rangel have the whiff of serious public corruption. And there are even more serious allegations against Rangel still under investigation. It’s interesting to note Pelosi’s silence on these and other ethics charges against other members, to name a few. We don’t even fully know what Massa is alleged to have done and there’s been no announcement of any formal investigation into Massa, much less any findings of fact. According to her own statements, Pelosi only heard about the allegations this week, so why the urgency to force Massa out of office immediately? After all, Maxine Waters and Laura Richardson and so many others for much more serious ethics violations.
Of course, the other members under ethics clouds are reliable “yes” votes on whatever iteration of ObamaCare Pelosi brings to the floor. Massa was a reliable “no”. But, pushing Massa, obviously, reduces the number of Representatives in the House. Massa’s constituents may no longer have a voice or a say on one of the more sweeping legislative proposals in decades, but, with Massa out, the magic number of votes needed to ram healthcare through and get a bill to Obama’s desk is 216.
We knew Pelosi would ‘pull out all the stops’ to pass health care. It seems she’ll pull out her own members too.
UPDATE: Massa says he was railroaded because of his no vote on healthcare.
Can Massa stay until after the vote?
Pelosi doesn’t give a damn that the American people don’t want Zero’s DeathCare. She has the gall to profess to “care” about your health NOT!
They must all go home from work every day via carpool in a clown car that Nancy drives.
This is ridiculous.
Monday march 9th????
Good catch, from his press release
--Therefore, effective at 5 PM on Monday the 8th of March I will resign my position as the Federal Representative of New York's 29th Congressional District in the 111th Congress--
WOW, Beck is all over this on his radio show, may cover on his TV program. This may backfire on Pelosi.
I wonder if what happened to Massa was intended as a ‘lesson’ to other wavering Dems.
The more the story comes out, sounds like middle-school Bullying tactics by adults. This bill must really be awful if this is the only way to pass it ,even with Democrats.
This was from another article regarding a radio interview.
--Massa said in a response to a caller who suggested he not resign. “It means that a group of lawyers are going to try to rip me and my family limb from limb. And you’ve already seen it in the newspapers. … It’s a piranha feeding frenzy.” --
If he thinks he’s RIGHT,
He should prepare to FIGHT!
I know, I know, sounds like Johnny Cochran a little.
In an interesting turn of events this week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was forced by her caucus to pry Rep. Charlie Rangel's (D-NY) Ways and Means gavel out of his hands and throw Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA) under the bus... Through all of the months of drama of Rangel's ethics violations, tax evasion, and abuses, Pelosi has stood by Rangel--up to the very end... Although Rep. Rangel has been forced to "temporarily" step down as chair, there have been just about no calls for him to resign his seat... Keep in mind, Rangel has actually been found to have violated House rules by the House Ethics Committee. The charges surrounding Rangel have the whiff of serious public corruption. And there are even more serious allegations against Rangel still under investigation. It's interesting to note Pelosi's silence on these and other ethics charges against other members, to name a few.Thanks opentalk.
http://www.breitbart.tv/rep-massa-blast-dems-he-was-set-up-hoyer-lied-may-rescind-resignation
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