The Democrats Try and One-Up the Republicans

Nancy Pelosi has tapped controversial Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA)to replace Charles Rangel as Chair on the House Ways and Means Committee. Though there was some jockeying to get someone else in there, Stark’s seniority will be respected.

The most interesting thing about this article, to me anyway, is the seeming incongruous statements by Rangel and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington Executive Director Melanie Sloan. On one hand, Rangel says he tried to tender his resignation to Pelosi “from the very, very beginning.” Well, maybe she was simply waiting to see if anything would come from the investigation. Then, Ms. Sloan gives full credit to the Democrats for “forcing” Rangel out before they could be accused of being “soft on ethics” by the Republicans. I wonder, would Rangel have been ousted eventually if the Republicans had not threatened to force him out by use of the privileged resolution?