Well, knock me over with a feather! Ben Stein's commentary on Charlie Rangel

[tpsbmam]

I love "CBS News Sunday Morning" and it starts most of my Sundays. I was late this morning but my DVR had captured it so I rewound to the beginning and was prepared to fast forward when a Ben Stein commentary came up. So glad I didn't! Did my best to get a transcription of it -- Stein surprised and pleased the hell out of me!

Stein's commentary:

By now everyone who follows politics knows that Charlie Rangel, the 20 term Democratic representative to Congress from NY's Harlem district has been found guilty of ethics violations by the House ethics panel. He apparently failed to report rental income from a dwelling in the Caribbean, used his office stationary to raise money for a school named after him, and used a rent-stabilized apartment for a political office. For this, the punishment is public shaming by being censured.

Now just to me, who we all know is a lifelong Republican, Rangel's misdeeds seem like extremely trivial matters. The IRS has not prosecuted him for tax evasion. When you're a busy man, small tax issues can get lost in the shuffle, and he is a very busy man. The other two matters just seem like total and utter nothings.

But what I really want to say about Charlie Rangel is that this man is a genuine American hero. In unbelievably difficult service in the Korean war, his unit was swamped, cut off, overwhelmed by Chinese soldiers crossing into Korea. In the worst cold weather imaginable, under fire, starving, acting Sargent Charles Rangel and a black unit led mostly by white officers took a large group of men, led them by example, lifted their morale and they fought their way out to safety. For this leadership, sacrifice & courage, Mr. Rangel was awarded a bronze star with a "V" for valor. After that he served as a prosecutor and then for 20 distinguished terms as a member of Congress, for a brief time as chair of the powerful Ways & Means Committee.

His erudition and fairness earned him high marks throughout his career. Now he's been humiliated over what to me seems like almost nothing. Just for little me, I hope that history will record that a truly great man, Charlie Rangel, a hero of the first rank was laid low by trivial matters, censured by people who mostly have no clue of what true courage, fighting, blood and frostbite and the hell of Korea mean.

Charlie Rangel does know what those things mean and to me he is still a hero.

(Emphases all Stein's)

[hlthe2b]

1. Good to read a Rethug occasionally acting like a human

and not a partisan ass.

[the redcoat]

2. This took way too long to read because I read it in Ben Stein's voice

but nonetheless, Ben Stein saying something good about a Democrat? Hot Damn.

[tpsbmam]

4. LOL...believe me, transcribing it was a trip! nt

[Jamastiene]

25. Knowing how he talks, you probably didn't

need to rewind very much, lol.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

10. Maybe it was a subtle way to smear him.

"Wow, Ben Stein likes him? Must be no good."

[yurbud]

16. Who knows what an ethics violation is? ...Anyone? ...Anyone?

[Tippy]

3. K&R...Congressman Rangle.....

He will remain one of my heros....To have his distinguished career sullied over trival stuff is not only a shame it should be a crime....

[sabrina 1]

5. Couldn't agree more with Stein. Sad to see that a Republican

would point out the obvious, while our democratic president advised this real American hero to resign. Fortunately for the people, Rangel's constituents felt differently.

I wonder why Obama did not feel the same way about Timothy Geithner, whose failure to pay SS taxes on his employee even after being warned about NOT doing so, meaning he did NOT just overlook it, but deliberately refused to do so. In fact, that would be considered more than an ethics violation for the average citizen.

The absolute hypocrisy of appointing a man who deliberately refused to pay those taxes to such a high position in our government, and on the Economics team, while advising Charlie Rangel to resign, is simply stunning.

Until war criminals and deliberate tax evaders like Geithner are subjected to equal treatment under the law, people should call Congress and object to the singling out of a great Democrat whose violations don't even come close to those this president has chosen to pre-emptively pardon for their deadly crimes.

[underseasurveyor]

6. i know

Color me shocked :wow:

[sensate2000]

7. That's pretty darn rational for someone who thinks Darwin caused the

holocaust.

[bluedigger]

8. That was a very decent thing for Stein to do.

I'll try to temper my own response to him the next time he says something I disagree with. It's only fair.

[The Backlash Cometh]

9. Charlie Rangel should be remembered for both.

His military service does not give him more flexibility to abuse a public service position. That's an old Republican trick. Believe me, I can think of one ex-Air Force officer and ex-Naval officer who were given way too much latitude, using their titles as an excuse for reputation to do dishonorable things in the community.

We must not fall in that same trap.

The only thing I can say about Rangel, is that other people have done far worse than he, why aren't they getting the same treatment?

[Ian David]

11. You know what this means? Ben Stein knows at least six Republicans all did the same thing. n/t

[The Backlash Cometh]

12. Smart man.

Same strategy they used on Kerry, only reverse. They tried to question the medal (was it the medal of honor? or the purple heart?) all with the intention of diminishing Kerry's record. And now he goes in the reverse to show us what we in Repub counties already know. Military service is used as excuse to allow community leaders to keep their reputations intact, even after they do heinous things in the community. It's a deflection ruse.

[surrealAmerican]

14. ... and likely has similar tax issues himself.

It was still a decent thing to say, and more than I would have expected from him.

[tpsbmam]

17. That thought definitely occurred to me, too. And I agree with your opinion --

I was very pleasantly surprised by it.

[saracat]

13. Whatever his reasons for stating this, I agree with Ben Stein 100% . Charlie is a hero both as a MC

and a soldier. What was done to him was a disgrace.

[bluestate10]

15. My take.

The upcoming censor of Charles Rangel shows how even someone that has the right stuff and saw what arrogance could bring can fall into the trap of arrogance. Rangel defeated Adam Clayton Powell, a trail-breaking politician that allowed himself to become corrupt. That Rangel now finds himself having made similar mistakes is sad. Rangel is a brave veteran, but even that should not allow him to skate away from acts that came about because of pure arrogance.

[MadMaddie]

21. Thanks for sharing the historical context

I think if Rangel hadn't come into his position by replacing someone who committed the same type of activities I think he would have been okay.

[progressoid]

18. Did someone take Ben off his crazy pills?

:wow:

[Hamlette]

19. Its a good way to trash Democratic leadership in Congress

I'm such a cynic but I'm sure Ben took pleasure in this only because he could make Nancy et al look evil, and, as someone mentioned up thread, because he knows a bunch of republicans who have done the same thing. I don't watch Fox but it has been pretty silent re: Rangle. I'd expect the right to jump on this and say "dems are corrupt". But no.

And this old war hero shit. Really? Yeah, yeah, I get it. It's a horrible job, someone has to do it and I'm damned glad it isn't me. But to forgive a man all his life because of something he was forced to do early in life doesn't seem right either. I do agree with Ben about Rangle's "crimes" being trivial. I'm more thinking McCain. His crimes (giving us Palin) were not trivial but for so long he got away with everything because of his war record.

[tpsbmam]

20. Man, so many cynics around here!

I wish I could say you're absolutely wrong but who knows.....maybe. That wasn't my reaction and still isn't but I can't say YOU'RE WRONG! Damn it! :P

[Joe Chi Minh]

22. I think Charlie Rangel's Pompadour quiff was like Samson's hair, and like Delilah and the

Philistines, the Republicans sensed their opportunity...

Sounds as if Charlie's: "Come on in fellas... and see how a real man gets his hair cut!", in the intro to The Bonfire of the Vanities, was more than just a quip. You go, Charlie!

[4_TN_TITANS]

23. Yeah, I couldn't believe my ears either...

The wife said that maybe he was finally seeing the light. He might be like one of my conservative friends who has finally realized the Republican party left him in the ditch long ago.

[Jamastiene]

24. Oh, wow.

Normally, I cannot concentrate enough to actually hear what Ben Stein is saying because of the monotone. I just cannot hear what he says after the first few words, because my brain wanders, but reading what he said here, wow, just wow. The man makes perfect sense in that commentary.