Rangel Ousted: 'The Dam Broke Today'; Update: Still Clinging On?

Well that only took a couple of years for the Most Ethical Congress Ever, no thanks to Nancy Pelosi. Feel no pity for this corrupt, arrogant hack. NBC News on Twitter and now Fox News is reporting Charles Rangel has been stripped of his chairmanship of the House Ways and Means Committee.

Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel was on the verge of losing his gavel Tuesday night as a trickle of Democratic defections turned into a flood.

“The dam broke today,” said a senior Democratic aide.

Rangel suffered a significant blow Tuesday afternoon when Rep. Artur Davis – a member of both the Ways and Means Committee and the Congressional Black Caucus who’s running for governor back home in Alabama – issued a statement in which he said the chairman “should do the right thing and step aside.”

Another Democratic member told POLITICO Tuesday night: "I think Charlie should do the right thing and step down. We expected that out of Tom DeLay. He should do the honorable thing ... There's no double standard. “

A third, Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick (D-Ariz.), said Rangel “ needs to resign" from his chairmanship

For a few days, the New York Democrat’s grip on power seemed steady even after the House ethics committee found him in violation of House gift rules last week. Speaker and Rangel ally Nancy Pelosi (DCal.) vowed to wait to see if ethics acts on more of the allegations that have been lodged against him.

But Republicans are planning to bring a resolution to the House floor calling for his removal as chairman, and Democratic aides said Tuesday that the party’s most vulnerable incumbents are not willing to risk the electoral fallout that would come from standing by the 39-year House veteran.

Electoral fallout? But the Queen just told us the other day the Democrats would be retaining their majority.

More here.

Harlem Democrat Charles Rangel now says he will step down as chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, NBC News has learned.
He may make the move as early as tonight and Michigan Democratic Rep Sander Levin will temporarily take over the committee.

Some details still need to be ironed out, but sources said Rangel has been pushed to step down before the House voted on a bill to forcefully strip him of the coveted chairmanship.

Update: It appears they may have to drag his worthless carcass out kicking and screaming. That or give him a bribe.

Charlie Rangel emerged from a closed-door meeting in Nancy Pelosi’s office Tuesday night to declare that he’s still the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee and hasn’t agreed to give up his gavel – even as some media outlets were reporting that he’d done just that.

But asked whether he’d still be the chairman tomorrow and in the coming days, Rangel said: “I can’t make all those promises at my age.”

And when Pelosi was asked whether Rangel was resigning, she said “no comment.”

Thanks to Ace for the link.