This week, a day after Democrats voted down an attempt to remove scandal-plagued Ways and Means Committee chairman Charlie Rangel from his post, the House Ethics Committee voted unanimously to expand its investigation of him. Nancy Pelosi, who promised to "drain the swamp" and create "the most honest, most open, and most ethical Congress in history," is, instead, sticking by Rangel. Talk about tone deaf. The Democrats have to make it clear to America's beleaguered middle class that they don't believe there are two sets of rules: one for the power players of Wall Street and Washington, and one for everybody else. Congress' approval rating is at 21 percent, a 10-point drop over the last month. If the Democrats want to see it hit single digits, by all means, keep Charlie Rangel as chairman.
***UPDATE*** During the Roundtable on ABC's This Week, Arianna called for Rangel to step down on Monday. Watch the Roundtable
Follow Arianna Huffington on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ariannahuff
Get the hell out
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It doesn't work that way. They run around making deals with each other to stay out of trouble.
I am a fan of critical thought, so let’s put it into practice for a moment. Speaker Pelosi didn’t indicate she would stand by Representative Rangel in the event he was found guilty. The fact that they have expanded the investigation indicates that she is keeping her promise of ‘draining the swamp’. If she had softened the efforts of the investigation she would be blameworthy of ‘ tone deafness’. She is acting in the appropriate legal and moral manner. Any other action would be a concession to the efforts of many to split the Democratic Party, & that would be a shame. A wise man once said ‘friends are the people who walk in the door when everybody else is walking out.’
It would be nice if the American people read Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible once a decade. We need reminding of the dangers of listening to voices that are trying to tear us apart. Unity for unity sake is wrong, but let’s not burn people at the stake of public opinion. We may find that Representative Rangel acted without criminal intent, making an honest mistake or he may be guilty of trying to defraud the Government and the people of the United States. Instead of conjecture let us wait for the Ethics Committee findings & have the Government take all appropriate legal action.
We are a society of laws. Mr. Rangel is currently under the protection of those laws. We don't know all the facts.
This is no time to play politics, Pelosi. The time has come to act,...and act wisely. Rangel is no angel. Too long in Congress has not made this guy wise but wealthy. That's not why he was sent to Congress in the first place.
There are no mitigating factors in favor of Rangel.
Pelosi is given a golden opportunity to live up to her words. Clean up the House. Get rid of the rotten Rangel. It's good for you. Good for the Democrats. Good for America.
Democrat/Liberal - one side of the coin. Republican/Conservative - the other side of the coin.
Nothing is going to work until the real people who work, live and die in this country take the country back.
That's not going to happen until we get together and do it. I know it sounds unbelievable, but none of us are getting what we want, and those in Washinton and Wall Street are taking whatever they want from us, and leaving us with nothing. I'm not smart or educated enough to understand how this could ever happen. But this is the country that can do anything. If we don't change, nothing else will change.
That's what "advanced representative democracy" is ultimately bringing to people everywhere around the World.
Let's anyone tell what "representative democracy" means today, in time of Internet when everyone can "represent" him/her-self in a blink of an eye by pressing browser's button?
Do I only think this way because I'm a baby-boomer? I hope not.
The government has gotten away from the people, it has become a fantasy government, an extension of the fantasy casino run by the fiscal sector of our economy.
No, the major reason that recent polls show a decline in approval for our Congress more than likely has to do with its miserable shenanigans on health care reform. We are seeing our Congress at its very WORST on health care reform.
And unless President Obama and the Democrats can come up with a strong, comprehensive health care reform measure that includes a robust public option, it is they who will suffer the most in the polls and in the 2010 elections and even beyond.
And don't think for one moment that the wool can be pulled over the people's eyes in this matter. The people will know if they're getting weak, watered down "reform" or the real deal.
The cost of health care in this nation is the final nail in the coffin of the middle class. Don't you figure they'll know at last when they're finished for good?
The question: Do President Obama and the Democrats in the Congress really want to be the ones to provide that last nail?
That is why he needs to resign. Keeping him as Ways and Means Committee Chairman is just nuts. We have to get him out of there.
Sooner or later, he'll need to be put on trial and punished for his misdeeds. But we have bigger fish to fry right now. So he waits.
But we still have to enforce the law for EVERYONE.
I had a very scary over the fence conversation with my neighbor yesterday. An average guy. A small business owner. A genuinely nice neighbor (will let the dog out, help with a project or loan a tool, etc.).
His comments started with statement like "With all the corruption and hand outs to wall street is that if there are no consequences for the rich, then what's the point of the law?" And moved on to "Until one of these guys is strung up on a rope, they are just going to continue to rob us blind."
Now, I tried to point out that we don't lynch people - we have the rule of law. But he points out that the rich and powerful don't have to obey the law. Or, worse, they write the law to suit themselves. What do you say to that? It is true.
Men like my neighbor should be the voice of reason but they are angry that there are two sets of rules. One for the rich and the powerful, the other for average americans.
The right incites violence on talk radio all day long. Do I think he will act on his anger? No. But if someone else does, I think he and others will stand by silently.
The Dems need to do what they said they would do - clean house, make reforms and help us take back our country. That's why we elected them.