The subject line of the e-mail said, "Heard anything about Rangel?" And the text of the message delivered: "Rumor is that he steps down as w&m chair tonight. It's been floating around K St today."
That one came from a lobbyist at a prominent Washington firm -- about a week before a Republican financial lobbyist called POLITICO to report that Charlie Rangel was "toast" as House Ways and Means Committee chairman, to be replaced at any minute by a more junior Democrat on the panel.
A month later, Rangel still has his gavel, and Democratic insiders say that the lobbyist's rumors -- and a new Republican resolution aimed at ousting the chairman -- will remain wishful thinking until House Speaker Nancy Pelosi decides that it's time for Rangel to lose his chairmanship.
And that's not going to happen, they say, unless the House ethics committee, which has been investigating Rangel for more than a year, comes down hard against him.
In the meantime, the 79-year-old Harlem Democrat, in his 20th term, is as visible as ever in the Capitol's power corridors. According to a source familiar with his schedule, Rangel has participated in at least 21 meetings with House Democratic leaders in the past month. And insiders say his role -- and his demeanor -- in those meetings are pretty much the same as they have ever been.
"He weighs in," says a Democratic leadership aide who asked not be identified discussing private meetings. "He speaks for the little guy."
Democratic Rep. Eliot Engel, who represents a New York district that borders Rangel's, said he's not surprised to see Rangel active despite an ethics committee investigation hanging over his head.
"He's got a role to play," said Engel, a member of the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health. "Charlie is not one to not get into the fray."
And Pelosi is not one to keep him out.
The speaker and the chairman are longtime friends, but she has plenty of other reasons to protect him. There's been no legal or ethical judgment against him; dislodging him would touch off a contentious scramble for his gavel. And Pelosi has to worry about her standing with the Congressional Black Caucus, a group Rangel helped found.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/07/2009 00:00 ||
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ACORN's Bertha Lewis charged Tuesday that accusations about the embattled community organizing group are racist, alleging that a coordinated political effort started by former Bush adviser Karl Rove sought to stop the group from registering minority voters.
"For many years, there've been folks who've disagreed with our ideology or methodology that [have] gone after us," Mrs. Lewis, ACORN's chief executive officer, said in a speech at the National Press Club in Washington.
"I mean we, [going back] to 2004, we now see through e-mails from Karl Rove from the previous administration that ACORN itself was targeted, targeted to go after us so that we would stop doing voter registration because it was said that we were moving too many minorities to vote, changing the power dynamics on the local election and that we needed to be stopped."
She also labeled as racist the infamous videos that show ACORN workers advising a man and young woman posing as pimp and prostitute how to circumvent the law. "These new filmmakers, [James] O'Keefe himself, told The Washington Post, 'They're registering too many minorities; they usually vote Democratic; somebody's got to stop them,'" Mrs. Lewis said.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/07/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Ahh, the good ol' days of subversive, racial Rovian plots!
nazi, n. adj. Late 20th Century pejorative that totally debased the original National Soci@list Workers Party name into slang used by leftists as a descriptive to demean, stereotype, and demonize anyone that disagreed with them.
#6
When all else fails, use the race card. She doesn't have anything else to defend her position. Ask her how screwing the IRS, underage prostition, etc. are racial things. In other words, put her on the defensive defending her claims of raceism. Just keep asking why exposing criminal behavior is racist.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
10/07/2009 11:33 Comments ||
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#7
I know, I know - you coulda knocked me over with a feather...
The former head of New York's Liberal Party and a founding partner of Aldus Equity have pleaded guilty to taking part in a kickback scheme that corrupted how the state pension fund chose investment managers, state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said on Tuesday.
The two-year probe, joined by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and federal prosecutors, has cast a spotlight on how pension funds in New York and other states may have favored fund managers that hired politically-connected middlemen, called placement agents.
Cuomo told reporters that he has so far collected $70 million from firms that wished to end their involvement in his investigation, a list that includes The Carlyle Group, one of the world's biggest private equity funds. Four of the six individuals charged have now pleaded guilty.
Raymond Harding, a lawyer whose leadership of the Liberal Party made him an influential figure in state politics, admitted to scheming with Hank Morris, the former comptroller's political advisor, and David Loglisci, who was the top investment officer, Cuomo said in a statement.
Both Morris and Loglisci have been indicted and their lawyers say their clients are innocent. Morris was charged with collecting millions of dollars in kickbacks; Loglisci's only tie was a stake in his brother's movie, Chooch, which he disclosed. Some investment mangers invested in the movie.
Morris "rewarded" Harding for political favors by helping him collect $800,000 in fees for serving as a "sham" placement agent, Cuomo said.
New York's $116 billion pension fund is run solely by the state comptroller. Cuomo's probe focused on the former state comptroller's tenure though he told reporters on a conference call that the corruption of the system dates back 30 years.
The favors Harding did for Morris included helping to create a vacant seat in the state Assembly so that Daniel Hevesi, the son of the former state comptroller, could run for that office, Cuomo said. Neither Assemblyman Hevesi nor former Comptroller Alan Hevesi, a Democrat, have been charged; their lawyers have denied any wrongdoing.
Loglisci's lawyers, Irving Seidman and Kevin Keating, in a statement said: "David Loglisci never even met Ray Harding and was not the chief investment officer of the Common Retirement Fund with respect to what Mr. Harding said in his plea."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/07/2009 00:00 ||
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According to AMAÂ’s National Health Insurance Report Card, Medicare denies 6.85 percent of its claims, higher than any private insurer (Aetna was second, denying 6.80 percent of its claims), and more than double any private insurerÂ’s average.
What’s fascinating is that The American Medical Association (AMA) has endorsed a public option, despite the fact that “some member physicians at the group’s annual meeting [in June] likened the notion to communism.”
The Obama administration repeats ad nauseum that we need a government option to “keep insurance companies honest” and to make sure they don’t deny anyone coverage. Well what does one say about the fact that Medicare denies more claims than private insurers?
President Obama has promised that if we like our health insurance we can keep it. But will those who are forced into the public option–which has been estimated to be minimum of tens of millions of currently insured Americans in addition to those “46 million” currently uninsured–be satisfied with their care given that the government program Medicare’s denial of claims outranks any private insurer’s?
AMA is effectively endorsing a public plan that is the largest denier of claims. How the public option would provide health care to patients is hard to understand.
#1
Nearly $1 million in Homeland Security funding typically earmarked for fire departments has been awarded to ACORN, despite a clear signal from Congress that it intends to cut off federal funding to the embattled group.
Politics before safety. I cannot stress how far this amount of money would have gone to update our basic equipment in this area, or as the article states to distribute smoke detecters. Disgusting.
In some ways, Obama's fealty to the big gay lobby rather than to the real gay community is testimony to why Democratic party politics remain repulsive to me. HRC has achieved nothing substantive for gay equality on a federal level in the twenty years I've been observing them. But they sure know how to milk donors at swanky black tie affairs. They are the Rotary Club for affluent gays, and their prime job is to explain to the gay community why it is never in the Democratic party's interest to do anything for gay people that might actually resemble equality. Oh, yes, we'll get a lovely Obama speech. Like that costs him anything or proves anything.
There is nothing Obama can say at this self-satisfied, well-heeled Rotary Club dinner that he hasn't said before. And the idea that simply showing up is something we should all be ecstatic over and grateful for is another sign of the low self-esteem and lack of self-respect among the leaders of that organization who did all they could to defeat Obama in the primaries last spring. I won't be there and haven't been there for more than a decade. It is not a forum to advance gay rights; it is a fundraising session designed to make people feel better for backing an organization incapable of passing laws supported by overwhelming majorities of the American people. Oh, and fawning over B-list Hollywood celebrities.
If Obama wants to support gay equality, he knows what to do. If Pelosi and Reid want to support gay equality, they know what to do. If HRC believes in gay equality, they also know what to do.
So spare us the schmoozing and the sweet-talking and do it. Until then, Mr president, why don't you have a nice steaming cup of shut-the-fuck-up?
#1
the sick demented ramblings of Raw Muscle Glutes Andrew Sullivan do more to damage gay rights than anything the Zero might do. Perhaps the disease or drug cocktails cause them, I don't care. Andy should be ejected from this country. Let him blog bitch and whine about America from his homeland
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/07/2009 19:03 Comments ||
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#1
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Noobama going to make government transparent? Seems to me this health care bill would be a good place to start seeing as it's so controversial and all. If you have nothing to hide, that is . . . .
#2
The article notes the Trunks didn't like the idea, when they were in power.
Disliked by both Parties? I can't think of a better reason to support posting bills online.
Contact your Congress and President by your zip code, and let them know what you think. Lately, The One requires a validation code (the squirmy letters bots can't read) to send it to his screeners. So I'm probably on the list of the "Unpatriotic". So be it.
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/07/2009 6:02 Comments ||
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#3
all bills should be posted online a week prior to passing. These jackasses really have no right to govern us anymore. Their ignorance, insular, and arrogance has outdone even the communists in Russia.
I have no faith and have an obligation to abolish this government.
Fall fast and fall insolvent as soon as possible so we can go about living our lives again.
Government should be only 5% of life.
#5
Disliked by both Parties? I can't think of a better reason to support posting bills online.
Exactly right! These $hits do everything they can to obscure everything they do in Washington. It's not going to change until a large number of them are taken off the public dole and tossed. Let them deal with what the rest of us deal with day-to-day. Washington is not the United States. If a viable third party arose that made sense, represented the people, and wasn't corrupt I'd vote for them. If they got corrupt I'd want to throw them out too.
If the people of Maine want a dysfunctional health care system, that's their business. But why must their senator insist that the rest of us have the same?
Now that Rhode Island's Lincoln Chafee is gone and Pennsylvania's Arlen Specter has defected, Maine's senior senator, Olympia Snowe, may be the least reliable Republican in the U.S. Senate. She may have been all along.
Which is why Democrats hope she'll vote against her party once again on health care reform. Snowe is the lone Republican on the Senate Finance Committee that's open to the Democrat-backed bill expected to move to the Senate floor.
Officially, Snowe is undecided. And even if she votes for the measure in committee, that doesn't mean she'll back it in the full Senate. Or so she says. But her name keeps popping up when Democrats count the noses they'll need for a filibuster-proof 60 votes.
If Snowe goes along with the Democrats, it won't be the first time. She has voted against the GOP on issues including tax cuts, Social Security, free trade, the war in Iraq, missile defense, cap and trade, illegal immigration, and abortion.
The National Journal had her voting more with liberals than conservatives in 2008, and Americans for Democratic Action gave her an 80 rating, higher than some Democrats, including Max Baucus, chairman of the Finance Committee. The American Conservative Union, on the other hand, rated her a lowly 12.
The senator, of course, is free to vote as she pleases. But when it comes to overhauling America's health care system, we would think she'd be a little more circumspect.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/07/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Maine's senior senator, Olympia Snowe
Is that a real name (you know what it sounds like)?
The top Senate Democrat says lawmakers of both parties assured President Barack Obama on Tuesday that they will rally behind whatever decision he makes on Afghanistan. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said that both Democrats and Republicans told the president, basically, "Whatever decision you make, we'll support it."
The comment came after Senate and House leaders of both parties met with Obama at the White House to discuss his war review.
Top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell put it differently. In his words: "I think Republicans will be able to make the decisions for themselves." But he did say a significant number of Republicans would back Obama's next move if U.S. military commanders from the region are truly on board.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/07/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
ION BHARAT RAKSHAK > OBAMA TELLS THE TROOPS: IRAQ COMBAT MISSION TO END IN AUGUST 2010 [90,000 US Troops in Iraq = approxi 40,000 from same to AFGHANIS/AFPAK].
#4
I didn't hear any of this talk from this mealy- mouthed double-dealing, talking out of both sides of his mouth turd when George W. was fighting the war. What an jerk. Come on Nevada dump this poor excuse for a Congressman. Do the rest of us a huge favor come election time. It's the patriotic thing to do. Do it for the country.
In a chance meeting with conservative blogger Anne Leary, Bill Ayers makes a stunning claim that he wrote--not just edited--President Barack Obama's autobiography, Dreams from my Father." Wow. He makes this claim to a stranger who approaches him in Reagan National Airport. Can you believe anything this man says? Or, should I say, either man?
Posted by: Fred ||
10/07/2009 00:00 ||
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#3
How can it be that a man so renowned for his mastery of language is utterly tongue-tied without his trusty TelePrompter?
His political speeches, examined closely, pile on fibs, fairytales and fatuousness. "A united world defeated communism." "No one nation can or should try to dominate another nation." "I can no more disown Rev Wright than I can disown my own grandmother"-- who, lemme tell ya, is a nasty old racist b*tch.
I have no idea how intelligent or graceful a writer is Bill Ayers, but I've known since his absurd "awesome God" speech of 2004 that this man is an absurd little charlatan. Nice to see that millions of others are figuring it out as well.
Obama = America's Gorbachev, a bumbling fool way out of his depth, leading his country down from superpower to second-tier status, cheered at every step by his nation's enemies who neither respect nor fear him.
#5
Did anyone catch Barak Insein Obama at the National Counter Terrorism Center on SPAN yesterday? Virtually no extemporaneousness...rather reading from notes. He looked like Mao in a class taught by Adam Smith.
#7
Eh, it might have been sarcastic. He can't have not noticed Cashill's claim last year, I don't think. What else does Bill Ayers have to do with his time but google himself?
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
10/07/2009 10:50 Comments ||
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#8
Google himself? That sounds nasty. Wouldn't be surprised at all if this self-styled terrorist authored Obama's book.
#9
Shouldn't be hard to tell for an expert. There are plenty of Bill's words out there to compare with the style in Obama's bio.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
10/07/2009 11:23 Comments ||
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#10
The book "Dreams...father" was written in about Obama's life before his entry into Harvard. It is chock full of detailed bio stuff. Anecdotes about things that happened to him in elementary school, etc. These could not have been done by anyone unless Obama made them audiotapes to use as background. There are also some political musings which could have been written by any leftist of the era.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
The subject line of the e-mail said, "Heard anything about Rangel?" And the text of the message delivered: "Rumor is that he steps down as w&m chair tonight. It's been floating around K St today."
ACORN's Bertha Lewis charged Tuesday that accusations about the embattled community organizing group are racist, alleging that a coordinated political effort started by former Bush adviser Karl Rove sought to stop the group from registering minority voters.
The former head of New York's Liberal Party and a founding partner of Aldus Equity have pleaded guilty to taking part in a kickback scheme that corrupted how the state pension fund chose investment managers, state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said on Tuesday.
The top Senate Democrat says lawmakers of both parties assured President Barack Obama on Tuesday that they will rally behind whatever decision he makes on Afghanistan. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said that both Democrats and Republicans told the president, basically, "Whatever decision you make, we'll support it."
In a chance meeting with conservative blogger Anne Leary, Bill Ayers makes a stunning claim that he wrote--not just edited--President Barack Obama's autobiography, Dreams from my Father." Wow. He makes this claim to a stranger who approaches him in Reagan National Airport. Can you believe anything this man says? Or, should I say, either man?
