Rep. Pete Stark to replace Charles Rangel as committee chair

By GottaLaff

"Liberal" is such a pretty word. Let's use it often:

Speaker Nancy Pelosi has picked liberal firebrand Rep. Pete Stark to replace ousted Chairman Charles Rangel on the tax-writing committee, according to a House leadership aide. [...]

In Stark, Pelosi is picking a fellow Californian to head one of the House's most powerful committees. [...]

In a statement, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington Executive Director Melanie Sloan said, "By forcing Rep. Rangel out, Democrats undercut Republican efforts to portray them as soft on ethics, the very strategy that returned Democrats to the majority in the 2006 elections."

Too bad Dems are soft on so many other things.

Charlie Rangel will "temporarily" step down as chair of key House panel

He just announced, wouldn't take questions. Link and more when I get it.

Added-

WASHINGTON – Embattled Rep. Charles Rangel, facing an investigation by the House ethics committee, says he has decided to temporarily step down from his post as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.

Rangel made the announcement to reporters on Capitol Hill Wednesday, saying he would not answer any questions. He said, "I hope you don't mind. I don't take questions."

He said that "from the very, very beginning, I had offered" to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to step down from the post.

He said he leaving "to avoid my colleagues having to defend me" during the campaign season.

Summit Quote-O'-The Moment: Size Doesn't Matter edition

By GottaLaff

For months, we've been hearing the Rushpublics whine and cry about the size of the Democratic health care bill. It's too big, it's too small, it's too heavy, it's too light, it's too thick, it's to thin...

Well said, Charlie Rangel:

"I don't think someone in an emergency room is concerned with the size of a bill."

Democrats defeat GOP attempt to remove Rangel

I love Charlie Rangel, but this shit is just wrong.

WASHINGTON—House Republicans failed Wednesday for a third time to oust Rep. Charles Rangel as chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, but they kept the political spotlight on his ethical problems.

The House voted 246-153 along mostly partisan lines to refer a GOP resolution to remove Rangel to the House ethics committee. The Democratic maneuver rendered the Republican effort meaningless, since Democratic leaders have said they have no intention of removing Rangel while the ethics committee is conducting a long-term investigation of his conduct.

(snip)

Rangel, a New York Democrat, faces allegations of financial improprieties, including failure to pay taxes on investment income and neglecting to report assets and income on his congressional financial disclosure forms.

Not Caroline?

By GottaLaff

A slip? Or a yawner:

Ben Smith thinks Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) might have spilled the beans on Gov. David Paterson's (D) Senate appointment in an interview with a public television station:

RAFAEL PI ROMAN: Lastly, I know you talked to Governor Paterson about the replacement for Senator Clinton, I was wondering if you have any favorites among the candidates that are being discussed?

CONGESSMAN RANGEL: Well the governor has already made up his mind and he shared it with me, and I support that he's going to select the best possible candidate that he can.

RAFAEL PI ROMAN: When are we going to find that out?

CONGESSMAN RANGEL: When he selects him.

Yeahwhateverlet'smoveon.

Quote-O'-The-Hour: Hillary/Rangel edition

By GottaLaff


Charlie Rangel on urging Hillary to step aside, which she will do on Friday. Whether she stays aside is another story:

“We pledged to support her to the end,” said Representative Charles B. Rangel, a New York Democrat who has been a patron of Mrs. Clinton since she first ran for the Senate. “Our problem is not being able to determine when the hell the end is.”

Then there was this:

On a conference call with members of the New York Congressional delegation on Tuesday, Mrs. Clinton was asked whether she would be open to joining a ticket headed by Mr. Obama. She replied, according to some who were on the call, that if he offered the vice presidential nod, she would accept, and would do whatever she could to help Democrats win the White House.

But only if she really, really has to "do whatever it takes" for, you know, the good of the party.