Charles Rangel’s Impassioned Speech From the Well of the Senate

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I do not know the merits or lack thereof of the ethical case been brought against Charles Rangel; but this I know, for an eighty-year-old man, Mr. Rangel is quite an orator. The Teleprompter-in-Chief could take a lesson from the senior Congressman in the art of speaking without the benefit of notes. This is what happened yesterday when Rangel took to the Senate Well and gave a spirited, impassioned defense on why the charges against him should be made public and come to a speedy conclusion. I do not know if Mr. Rangel ever practiced law, but he seemed to be a worthy advocate… especially in light of the fact that he is almost eighty years old.

Mr. Rangel for all intents and purposes threw down the gauntlet and dared his fellow Democrats and Republicans to try to expel him – as the old fighter said in the Well of the Senate, his Harlem constituents are not going to do it. Rangel also told those, and indirectly President Obama, that he will not step aside and that he deserves a full hearing and be made abreast of the specific charges against him. Mr. Rangle’s main beef is that he didn’t gain financially from his alleged ethical breaches and that the use of the government letter head to solicit donations was accidental.

As CNN Wire reports, there are invitations that went out for Mr. Rangel’s up coming birthday and that friends are already running for cover because of Rangel’s ethical troubles. President Clinton, whose office is in Harlem and is in close proximity to that of the Harlem Congressman, has said that he will not be able to attend the birthday bash and the musical guest, Aretha Franklin, scheduled to perform, is also hurting after suffering a fall.

These are the problems that Mr. Rangel are having and the clarion calls are growing louder for him to step down - but as Mr. Rangel said in his impromptu speech in the Senate, he is not going any where. This issue of stepping down is of great importance to the Democrats because of the mid-term elections and the nature of politics is that the Republicans will use Rangel’s ethical troubles for political fodder.

To that end, it is being reported that leader Pelosi begged Rangel not to give the speech he gave yesterday because it would further place the spotlight on the Democratic the supposed ethical lapses, especially since Speaker Pelosi’s promised the most ethical Congress ever and ‘to drain the well’ of corruption.