You may want to sit down for this one, but Democrats are protecting their own and applying a nice little (hypocritical) double-standard to Charlie Rangel. You remember Rangel – the tax evading head of the Ways and Means Committee – you know, the one that handles TAX LEGISLATION? Yeah. He’s still around, despite Republicans trying to make him step down yesterday. And also despite that whole Nancy McBotox promise to have an “ethical” Congress and all.
According to people with Actual Brains and this article, Rangel is a complete embarrassment. Well, duh. But not to Pelosi and pals like Maxine Waters, of course. In fact, the fuzzy logic of Congresswoman Waters makes excuses for his blatant criminal activity. In her opinion, “many lawmakers suffer from innocent lapses in judgment when filing mandatory financial disclosure forms.”
Many people rape, pillage, and murder, too. I suppose it becomes O.K. if it’s done in large quantities. Nice logic, Maxine. Really.
Rangel, who has served in the House for nearly 40 years, reportedly failed to report as much as $1.3 million in income from 2002 to 2006. In 2008, the New York Post reported that Rangel failed to disclose $75,000 in rental income. In June 2009, the House Ethics Subcommittee opened a probe of Rangel’s trips to conferences in the Caribbean, and in August Rangel disclosed more than $500,000 in previously unreported assets.
Some of the unreported money was in bank accounts that he conveniently “forgot.” I don’t know about you guys, but if I had anything more than five bucks in a bank account, I would probably remember that I had the damn bank account. And, I’ll go out on a limb here when I say that if I had 250K to 500K in a bank account, I’d definitely remember that I had it. I’m kooky like that, though. I mean, I don’t have access to a method of easily taxing the crap out of hardworking Americans and then using THEIR money for my gain, so the money I do tend to have and am able to keep, I tend not to forget about. Silly, kooky me.
If Rangel was part of the real world, he’d be going to jail. Period. And if he was a REPUBLICAN under Pelosi’s watch – well, the wrath of Botox-induced hell would be thrust upon him. But he’s a loyal member of Pelosi’s “do-as-I-dictate-and-not-as-I-do” playground of hypocrisy and absolute arrogance. So, he gets a free pass. Lovely, isn’t it?
Because, in Pelosi’s world, ethics – and the punishment of those who don’t adhere to ethics – only apply when you’re a Republican.
Glad we have that cleared up.
