Rangel, at Debate, Wields a Phone to Mock His Opponents



Representative Charles B. Rangel deployed an unusual weapon against his two Democratic primary opponents in a debate on Wednesday night: his iPhone.

Moments into his opening statement, Mr. Rangel, a 22-term congressman, pretended to get a call. He told the imaginary caller that he was in a debate and did not have much time to talk — then started into a monologue, delivered in a chatty tone, mocking each of his opponents in turn.

“No, he’s been there 18 years, but he didn’t say he passed any bills at all,” he said of State Senator Adriano D. Espaillat.

Of his other opponent, the Rev. Michael A. Walrond, a close associate of the Rev. Al Sharpton, Mr. Rangel noted that Mr. Sharpton had not endorsed him and said: “Listen, how can he register to vote in New York when he lives in Jersey?”

Finally, the moderator at St. Luke A.M.E. Church in Harlem told Mr. Rangel that his three minutes were up and he had to get off the phone.

It was a suitably bizarre opening moment for a raucous debate in which Mr. Rangel shouted himself hoarse in his effort to discredit his rivals.

Mr. Rangel is facing perhaps the toughest election of his career. New York’s 13th Congressional District, which he represents, is no longer a stronghold of African-American political power. It now stretches into the Bronx and the population is majority Latino, giving a potential boost to Mr. Espaillat, who is Dominican-American. The primary is on June 24.

Mr. Espaillat and Mr. Walrond, who looked on stonily during Mr. Rangel’s opening, wasted little time in hitting back.

Mr. Espaillat described himself as an “organizer at heart” and promised to “organize this community so we can go to Washington and show our strength.” He ridiculed Mr. Rangel as part of the “Washington elite.”

Mr. Walrond reeled off statistics about the district and said that while he lacked experience as a politician, he had fed the hungry as the minister of First Corinthian Baptist Church in Harlem.

“You do not feed people with bills, you feed them with food,” he said.

Mr. Rangel dismissed his opponents as full of passionate talk but lacking the connections in Congress to achieve their goals.

“We’re not praying, we’re not just talking, we want to legislate,” he shouted, with his hand slicing through the air.

He repeatedly suggested that Mr. Espaillat had not passed any bills during his 18-year tenure in Albany. In fact, Mr. Espaillat has passed at least three bills that became law during three sessions in a Republican-controlled Senate.

Mr. Walrond’s spokesman, Peter Brown, said that Mr. Walrond had moved into the district from New Jersey in January and conceded that his voting record was spotty.

The audience frequently made itself heard, too. Although audience members had laughed throughout Mr. Rangel’s opening monologue, when he said in his closing statement that he wanted to have his “two-year contract extended,” some in the audience responded with shouts of “No!” and “For what?”

Considered the MOST corrupt politico in DC, at the top of a very long list, it just goes to show how idiotic and stupid the liberal demoncrap voter actually is!

How many years has he held THAT notable position of "Most Corrupt" now? And they wonder why congress has such a poor rating in the eyes of the public! How many scandals and accusations does it take for liberals to quit electing these criminal idiots?!

Political extortion and graft have served him well.....

He is a prime example of what idiotic and stupid voters get.
He will be re-elected.

one sick puppy-- a good example of voting party and racial lines--''stupid is stupid does''

elders can be a riot,,

reminds me of clint eastwood talking to an empty chair,,,

maybe its generational humor

Rangel?
He is about as straight as a Barrel of Fish-Hooks!

If Rangel is re-elected, then his constituents deserve him.

Cept, Eastwood was not elected to represent anyone.

well, he did have a political career for a while in California,,,

The key word being "did" in Clint's case.... BUT.... Rangle IS the MOST corrupt currently sitting senator..... and the topic of the thread

interesting statement

considering all the 'corruption' , and how immeasurable it is,,, its interesting to be able to pinpoint so precisely who is MOST corrupt....


but its still funny what some elders do for comedy,, the subject of the thread being a SPECIFIC comedic choice from a SPECIFIC elder,,,

Ain't Rangel another one of them white Mexicans?

Fairycan could possibly be the most bigoted negro preacher.

He has, in fact, been preaching hate longer than J. Jackson .

Yes, levels of corruption can be measured.

Rangel is a black puerto rican

Farrakhan most undoubtedly is the most racist preacher YOU have heard about, but doubtful that he is the actual most racist preacher out there,,


Most preachers have breached hate longer than Jesse Jackson who mostly made news because the few statements he made were so UNCHARACTERISTIC and controversial,,,

how do we measure 'levels of corruption'? is taking illegal donations MORE corrupt than evading taxes? is making back room deals for positions MORE corrupt than making back room deal with lobbyists to pass bills ? Is getting a blow job from an intern MORE corrupt than sleeping with a subordinate or soliciting sex in a public bathroom?


how is it measured?

"all the corruption" is immeasurable, when used in general terms.
In Rangel's case, his corruption has been precisely pinpointed and documented over his long and corrupt career.
The problem is, the voters, who call it comedy,laugh and stupidly vote for him again and again.

It was the GAO who put Rangle on that list

Of course then there is the Business Insider.....

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-14-most-corrupt-members-of-congress-who-arent-charles-rangel-2010-7?op=1

Or Politico....

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1208/16398.html

yes, there are Lists compiled, even themselves mentioning politicians who are 'comparatively' corrupt

but still no explanation on how the ranking itself is determined to find the 'most' corrupt,,,,

Communist-affiliated congresscritter Charlie Rangel (D-NY), who is so conspicuously corrupt he was censured even by fellow Democrats, does not seem to have been chastened:

State taxpayers were stiffed out of at least $87,000 when Rep. Charles Rangel stopped paying for the district office he rents in Harlem’s Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building [in NYC], records ­obtained by The Post show. …

Rangel paid $7,253 in monthly rent on the 125th Street office he has rented since 2000, expense reports from 2012 show. But the payments stopped for all of 2013.

Incredibly, instead of demanding payment of the back rent and late fees from its deadbeat legislative tenant, the state cut him a huge rent break.

The state says it allowed Rangel in March 2013 to enter into a new sweetheart deal in which he could postpone paying six months of rent. That “abatement” money has still not been paid, nor has the other six months of missed rent from 2013, [an Office of General Services] official said.

The state comptroller approved a $101,000 lease between Rangel and OGS on Dec. 26, 2013, retroactively covering the period back to April 2013 and future months through December 2014, records show. The 21-month deal resulted in a deeply reduced rent of $4,809 a month.

But Rangel has not one but two good excuses for not paying his rent: it was the fault of the Republican sequester, no wait, it was because he lost the lease. At least he didn’t say his dog ate the lease.

Rangel is no stranger to real-estate problems. Congress censured the 22-term legislator in 2010 after the Ethics Committee found him guilty of 11 violations — including dodging taxes on the rental of his Dominican Republic villa.

The then-chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee — he lost the powerful post due to his censure — was also forced to request an ethics probe into himself for his campaign’s use of one of four rent-controlled Harlem apartments that Rangel rented. Financial-disclosure forms show Rangel was worth between $566,000 and $1.2 million at the time.

People get the government they deserve — or at least, the government they are willing to tolerate.

" People get the government they deserve or at least, the government they are willing to tolerate."

In this case, the above statement is not totally true. Rep Rangel is not a local politician. The damage he and his crooked buddies cause affects the whole of the US, most of which did NOT vote for him.

It would be the case for Barack Obama.

Rangel is a bigoted egotistical blowhard. That said, he has been reelected 10 times. Who is stupid now. I am ashamed to say that I am a native New Yorker but proud to say I had the smarts to get out.