Posted on 11/29/2010 6:02:11 PM PST by Red in Blue PA
Ben Stein, an actor and former White House official, on Monday became one of the few Republicans to defend convicted Rep. Charles Rangel.
Stein wrote in an op-ed that Rangel (D-N.Y.), who was convicted of violating 11 counts of House ethics rules, built a heroic record of service during his four decades and Congress and Army service in the Korean War.
"Just for me, I hope that history will record that a truly great man, Charlie Rangel, a hero of the first rank, was laid low by trivial, no-account matters, censured by people who mostly have no clue of what true courage, fighting, blood and frostbite mean," Stein wrote on CBSNews.com. "Charlie Rangel does know, and to me, he is still a hero."
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
Dear Ben Stein, Your recent support of Charlie Rangel is nauseating.
Bueller? Bueller? ... Earth to Ben ... You are now proven to be as brain dead as the character you played.
Charlie Rangel was once an American hero. He earned a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star for his service in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, where he led a group of soldiers out of a deadly Chinese Army encirclement during the Battle of Kunu-ri in 1950.
He became a traitor to American ideals, hence to America, with his ultra liberal and race based politics.
Benedict Arnold was also an American war hero. He distinguished himself through acts of cunning and bravery.
His actions included the Capture of Fort Ticonderoga in 1775, successful defensive and delaying tactics despite losing the Battle of Valcour Island on Lake Champlain in 1776, the Battle of Ridgefield, Connecticut (after which he was promoted to major general), operations in relief of the Siege of Fort Stanwix, and key actions during the pivotal Battles of Saratoga in 1777, in which he suffered leg injuries that ended his combat career for several years.
But then for reasons of personal bitterness and self enrichment he became a traitor. He lied about his beliefs, continued to wear an American uniform but to work for the British.
A person can be a hero at one point in their life and a traitor at a later time. Charlie Rangel is a traitor to American ideals and Ben Stein is his acolyte.
What makes it even more disgusting and abhorrent is his position for years on the Ways and Means Committee.
As you said, if YOU or I did what he did, the IRS (that operates under the guidelines set by HIS committee!) would (AND ARE) after us with MEATHOOKS.
What a scumbag. Screw him, he can rot in hell for his greed and hypocrisy.
LOL!
I finally gave up on Stein when he was wishy-washy on Yale. recruiting that Taliban guy.
Is laughing at the one who thinks '96 was 18 years ago ;)
You are a true prophet!
Duke Cunningham is a hero too, but he is where he deserves to be, in a federal penitentiary. Maybe Charlie can be his cellmate, Ben.
Ben Stein....really?? Ick with an ewwww on top.
How do you know it was 96? I guess I am mixing up my dates, however. I remember the argument came to a head on the day the Supreme Court announced that Clinton’s SS agents WOULD have to testify under oath — no “protective function immunity” for them.
Stein sin here is failing to see the whole picture.Yes,Rangel served honorably in Korea.So did many men and women.But since then it appears for all the world as if he's committed at least several pretty serious crimes.So,after "conviction",perhaps the military service can be used as a mitigating factor so he'd get a somewhat lesser punishment.
FUBS!!!
Excellent. You should send him that.
I knew it wasn’t ‘92, so I looked it up. I was just kiddin’ around.
I can’t remember the last time I heard Ben say anything remotely conservative yet he still is labeled as that.
Ben Stein is a bailout/stimulus pushing liberal who has been wrong on everything. Cavuto needs to fire him.
He makes believe he was against the stimulus now that it’s unpopular but at the time he said it was critical. He was wrong about subprime loans in 2007 claiming they were a great investment.
This should surprise no one.
Military service, no matter how heroic, does not confer a permanent condition of praiseworthiness.
A tale of two veterans:
One, a very senior officer, was a wounded, decorated hero, who died alone, unloved, in exile.
The other, a young soldier decorated for his service in a very short, spectacularly successful (at its objectives, whatever you or I think they should have been and weren’t) conflict, died in the company of professionals— at the end of a poisoned IV.
Benedict Arnold, and Timothy McVeigh.
Proof that one “oh crap” can wipe out a whole lot of “attaboys”.
stein is a liberal who played a conservative for money... like colon powell and peggy noonan... and others.
LLS
My eldest brother, a Korean War vet, wounded in action, will be very disappointed that the V.A. never fully informed him of his entitlements...such as not having to pay taxes/fully declare income; receiving 4X the allowed amounts of rent-control subsidies; free vacations to the Bahamas, and several other emoluments.
In fact, I do believe that had my brother attempted to collect any such, let alone all such, benefits that it would not have been a simple finger shaking 'shaming' censuring he'd have been facing.
OTOH, my brother, like all of our family...and unlike the Rangels of the world...HAVE a sense of shame, rather than a sense of entitlement.
FU BS.
Mega Kudos to you for mentioning the Battle of Ridgefield(1777). That is a very obscure battle which is rarely mentioned in most history books about the American Revolution. Also, there is a tree in Ridgefield with a plaque nailed to it commemorating where Benedict Arnold had a horse shot out from under him. There are also a bunch of ‘redcoats’ who are buried in the cemetary in Danbury.
I really enjoyed Ridgefield, Connecticut when I spent a week there in November of 2003, but it’s too cold in the Winter for this California boy.
Again...KUDOS!!!
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