Democrat Culture of Corruption

“In order to avoid my colleagues having to defend me during their elections, I have this morning sent a letter to Speaker Pelosi asking her to grant me a leave of absence until such time as the ethics committee completes its work.”

~ Self-serving congressman Charlie Rangel (D-NY) on the deep ethical doodoo he is in.

Rangel Steps Aside from Post During Ethics Inquiry

By CARL HULSE and DAVID M. HERSZENHORN

WASHINGTON — Representative Charles B. Rangel of New York announced on Wednesday that he would temporarily step down from his powerful post as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee in an attempt to avert a politically bruising fight over permanently stripping the gavel from his hands.

But Republicans on Wednesday afternoon said they had received a ruling from the presiding officer of the House that Mr. Rangel’s decision had indeed permanently removed him from the helm of the committee, which exerts enormous legislative influence in the House as it controls legislation involving taxes and revenues.

The events set in motion intense jockeying for advantage just as the House and Senate Democrats try to accelerate action on health care legislation.

“In order to avoid my colleagues having to defend me during their elections, I have this morning sent a letter to Speaker Pelosi asking her to grant me a leave of absence until such time as the ethics committee completes its work” on a number of accusations against him, the congressman said in a hurriedly scheduled meeting with reporters.

The ethics committee admonished Mr. Rangel last week for violating Congressional gift rules by accepting corporate-sponsored trips to the Caribbean in 2007 and 2008.[More]

Ironically, later in the NY Times piece, we read the following:

"Mr. Rangel’s announcement came as Republicans were pressing for a vote calling for his ouster, while several Democrats had already made clear that they would no longer support Mr. Rangel."

Democrats were not going to defend Mr. Rangel during the next election. They would rather throw him under the proverbial bus sooner rather than later, i.e. during the thick of the midterm elections. And don't even get me going on the sham of "temporarily stepping down" from the powerful chairmanship of the Ways and Means Committee," the tax writing arm of Congress. Rangel is a crook and a cheat.

Wasn't Pelosi going to deal with the "culture of corruption" in Congress? Instead, she's become an enabler.

Mourning Mary Jo

I choose to mourn Mary Jo Kopechne instead.

Mary Jo Kopechne (July 26, 1940 – July 18, 1969)

Chappaquiddick: No Profile in Kennedy Courage

By SUSAN DONALDSON JAMES
Aug. 26, 2009

In the summer of 1969, consiglieres of the former John F. Kennedy administration -- Robert McNamara, Arthur Schlesinger and Ted Sorensen, among others -- convened in Hyannis Port, Mass., to write the apology that would save the young Sen. Ted Kennedy from himself.

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Only days before, Kennedy had left the scene of a fatal car crash on the small island of Chappaquiddick on Martha's Vineyard, taking the life of 28-year-old Mary Jo Kopechne.

The second-term senator waited nearly 10 hours to report the accident and offered virtually no explanation other than he "panicked." [More]

President Hussein Obama "Owns Up" to Daschle "Mistake"

Daschle Ends Bid for Post; Obama Concedes Mistake

By Jeff Zeleny

Published: February 3, 2009

WASHINGTON — Tom Daschle withdrew his nomination as secretary of health and human services on Tuesday after weathering four days of scrutiny over unpaid taxes, prompting President Obama to concede having “screwed up” in undermining his own ethical standards by pushing the appointment.

Tom Daschle on Monday called his failure to pay taxes "completely inadvertent." He also said, "But that's no excuse."

“I’ve got to own up to my mistake, which is that ultimately it’s important for this administration to send a message that there aren’t two sets of rules,” Mr. Obama said in an interview with NBC News. “You know, one for prominent people and one for ordinary folks who have to pay their taxes.”

Mr. Daschle, a closer confidant to Mr. Obama than any other cabinet nominee, had offered to step down over the weekend, but officials close to both men said Mr. Obama had urged him to fight for confirmation.

Mr. Daschle went to Capitol Hill on Monday to keep his confirmation on track, but by Tuesday morning, with the pressure showing no signs of easing, he told the president that he believed he had become a distraction and too wounded to be effective.

It was the rockiest day yet for the new White House. Two hours before Mr. Daschle withdrew, Mr. Obama’s nominee to be the chief White House performance officer, Nancy Killefer, pulled her name from consideration because of unpaid payroll taxes for a household employee.

Is this the "change you can believe in?" Obama's hypocrisy is blatant here.

Saying it was a "mistake" to send a message that there are two sets of rules, one for those who pay taxes and another for those who don't is beyond shameless. That's exactly the message he sent because it was the conduct he exhibited. The truth is, it didn't matter to President Hussein Obama that Daschle, Killefer and now Treasury Secretary (TREASURY Secretary!) Geithner are tax cheats before he nominated them to cabinet positions.

But then again, what kind of conduct is to be expected from a politician who crawled out of the Chigago primordial cesspool?