Lawmaker News

Demagoguery, whether it is Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) childishly making faces on the Senate floor at Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Tina Fey mocking a vice presidential candidate or David Letterman calling her a slut, or a coordinated school of ground-feeders in South Carolina claiming to have had affairs with candidate Nikki Haley or the most absurd, anonymous claims today that Rand Paul kidnapped and drugged a college student or the legion of winged monkeys recently released and given imprimatur by the Obama staff to decry legitimate voices as racist — is a primary instinct to totalitarianism. It hopes to win the day by lying, libel, cheating or, as Malcolm X said, “by any means necessary.”

You know that old saying: “You don’t send a boy to do a man’s job.” Well, it’s obvious now that’s just what the people of Massachusetts did.

We knew he could never measure up to Teddy Kennedy. But, initially, there were high hopes that Scott Brown would continue the tradition of courageous, independent New England Republicans like Edward Brooke, Nelson Rockefeller, Prescott Bush and even George H.W. Bush.

What a huge disappointment. With Elena Kagan, Brown had an opportunity to prove his potential as a real leader — and blew it.

Pundits Bloggers John Feehery and Chris Kofinis join A.B. to discuss the ethics controversies swirling around Reps. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) and Maxine Waters (D-Calif.).

Four years ago, Charlie Rangel endorsed Hillary Clinton for president, and he stuck with that endorsement until the last possible moment, until it became clear to just about everybody that Barack Obama, and not Hillary Clinton, was going to be the Democratic nominee for president.

Rangel endorsed Clinton for a variety of reasons. Clinton was his home-state senator. Rangel didn’t think Obama was going to win. Rangel was a good friend of Clinton, urging her to run for senator in the first place.

Heading into the midterm elections, this is the last thing Democrats needed. On top of a public trial for Rep. Charles Rangel (N.Y.), it now looks like there’ll be a second ethics trial for California Rep. Maxine Waters — on charges that, among other minority banks she sought federal help for, was a bank of which her husband was a shareholder and former board member.

Like Rangel, Waters has apparently decided to take her chances in a public trial, rather than accept a one-sided verdict from the House ethics committee.

For most of this week, and then most of yesterday, Democrats held out hope that Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) would make a deal. But after much back-and-forth between the ethics committee and his lawyers, it became clear that Rangel doesn't want a deal that would no doubt expose him to more legal liability — Democrats do.

(This post is being published before the charges against Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) have been published by the House ethics committee subpanel. I will try to update this post after the charges have been published.)

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Have we learned nothing from the recent rush-to-judgment travesty of Shirley Sherrod?

Charles Rangel stands accused by a House ethics subcommittee, composed of both Democratic and GOP House members, of violating House rules — and of course that should be taken far more seriously than the original tape clip that led everyone to jump to a premature conclusion before taking the time to view the entire tape or even to talk to Sherrod.

I ran into Congressman Jimmy Duncan in the hall of the Capitol and we had a little chat.

Duncan is one of the nicest guys you will ever meet, a savvy politician who is completely honest and, to the untrained eye, just an aw-shucks, country-lawyer type of person.

Duncan has taken some tough votes in his career. He votes against pretty much all spending bills and he voted against the Iraq war, votes that in hindsight look pretty smart. He is an old-time conservative, but he isn’t one to beat his own chest or pontificate too much.

“They’re standing in front of a burning house,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) this morning while admonishing Senate Republicans for their campaign to deny unemployment assistance to millions of Americans out of work and suffering through the ongoing recession.

Reid’s metaphor is apt. America’s house is burning and Senate Republicans are keeping the emergency responders from acting. Record unemployment is dragging the economy down. By most accounts, the most efficient way for government to affect economic activity is through the delivery of unemployment assistance that goes to people who immediately spend it, returning it to the economy in quick fashion. Those dollars support small businesses and jobs through the purchase of goods and services. They prevent additional taxpayer strain by helping people keep their homes and their financial commitments while they look for work.