What’s The Big Deal? Everyone’s Doing It!
By Rabble Rouser Reverend Amy on October 8, 2009 at 10:00 PM in Congress (House & Senate), Crime, Current Affairs, Democrats, Sarah Palin, Tim Geithner, U.S. Treasury, treasury department
That is basically the excuse Rep. Maxine Waters (of ACORN-loving fame) uses for why Rep. Rangel is not going to have any comeuppance for his tax fraud in this article, “Rep. Waters: ‘Many Members’ Suffer From Disclosure Problems Like Rep. Rangel.” Holy smokes.
BONUS look back at Rep. Charlie Rangel. Remember when he called VP candidate Sara Palin “Disabled”? Nice, huh?
Back to the article. I am so disgusted, words fail me. “DISCLOSURE PROBLEMS”?? That’s how our Congress refers to powerful members cheating on their taxes?? Now I know how Timmy Geithner, the tax cheat, was confirmed to head up the Treasury Department, and thus the IRS. Check this out:
Many members” of Congress suffer from the same disclosure issues as Rep. Charles Rangel (D.N.Y.), one of his allies said Wednesday.Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) downplayed the seriousness of allegations against Rangel that he failed to disclose sources of income and pay taxes on some properties, saying that many lawmakers suffer from innocent lapses in judgment when filing mandatory financial disclosure forms.
“I want to tell you, there are many members who, if you go back over all of their records, over all of the years, you’re going to find that there were disclosures that were not made,” Waters said during an appearance on MSNBC Wednesday morning.
Republicans are seeking to force Rangel from his position as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee by offering a privileged resolution from Rep. John Carter (R-Texas) to mandate Rangel step aside.
If it is truly only Republicans, that does not speak well for Democrats, in my opinion. Why wouldn’t they be concerned that the most powerful member of the House Ways and Means Committee, the very committee that set tax law, did not pay his taxes?? Is it just me? At least as far as Rep. Waters is concerned, it appears so:
Waters defended Rangel, saying the Harlem congressman is making an effort to correct the records and pay his debts.
“What happens is, unfortunately with the requirements for disclosure that we all have, mistakes are made,” she said. “And you do get a chance to correct them. And so it looks as if he is correcting those mistakes.”
Waters said that Rangel should not step down from his chairmanship, but should continue working until ethics investigations into his finances have concluded.
Only after he was CAUGHT. It isn’t like he just failed to adequately report taxes one time. No, it was under-reporting some years, and failure to report at all other years. It is behavior that, if perpetrated by someone NOT in Congress (or the Secretary of the Treasury) would land them with a ton of fines at the LEAST. But when it’s the person actually writing the tax laws, the message is clear: “These laws apply to thee, not to me.” Evidently. And, with the perk of getting backup from the very people who SHOULD be holding them accountable. All I can say is, there oughta be a law. Oh, wait…
And what is this BS about “the rules for disclosure”?? How about having a CPA do your taxes, or use TurboTax or something! It isn’t like Rangel, and most of these Congresspeople can’t afford to have someone do their taxes for them. Sheesh.
Can you imagine using that excuse with the IRS? Yeah, they’d be laughing at you all the way to your jail cell.
Have the Democrats always this corrupt, or have they ratcheted that up recently? Maybe they always were, and they are just being more blatant about it now? I don’t see how anyone could listen to Rep. Waters “everybody’s doing it!” defense as anything else but corrupt when talking about the most powerful person setting tax law repeatedly cheating on his taxes. But that could just be me…
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Yeah, I think anytime you hear from the IRS, you should just respond with “What Charlie Rangel said.”
Waters shows how deeply into the corruption she is herself to even have these thoughts and feel free enough to verbalize them in public. BTW, didn’t she have some shady dealings with a bank on behalf of her husband? Funny how quickly these things rise to the surface only to disappear into the void again.
The entire Black Caucus is a national disgrace.
Yes., Maxine Waters’ husband has been accused of some, um, improprieties…It is amazing how brazen she is abt this, as is everyone else involved, it seems. They act like it is all not big deal that Rangel has cheated on his taxes for years. And that isn’t all he has done. But hey - so what, right??
Why should Waters not be Brazen? She, like so many others, has gotten away with “feathering her own nest” for years. Their blind, bought, and in so many cases, ignorant constituancies make them bullet-proof.
The longer they remain in office, the more adept they become at playing American voters abd taxpayers against each other, using any and all “cards” available, no matter how low in the deck yhey have to go.
If the issue does not involve sex, the liklihood of any true repercussions are small. No matter how egregious the corruption, theft, or malfeasance may be, someone, or some group, is going to defend them, because, “they may be a crook, but they are our crook”.
I am old, I am an idealist, I am a liberal, and up until last year, I was a Democrat. I despise corruption, malfeasance, and incompetence from any source. I have no “pet” crooks. Never have had. I would like to see all rooted out, and gone.
In my opinion, no true liberal would defend corruption in any form, regardless of the perpetrator. Such is totally contrary to the liberal mantle.
I see the same dictates for true conservatives. If they are committed to their professed values, anyone involved in corruption, or malfeasance, that steals from the treasury/public funds, or perpetrates any act that impacts the fiscal health of the country, should be their enemy, regardless whether the actor is supposedly “one of them”, or not.
Sadly however, for the most part, both factions continue to “make exceptions”, and the thievery, lies, deception, and incompetence continue unabated.
Thanks for the post Rev.Amy, and the chance to vent. sorry for my verbosity.
Maxine Waters has her own corruption to deal with, her husbands bank recieved money in the bank bail out at her request, she has been on the the corruption list with CREW an awful lot lately.
Hey RRRAmy Great post.
Some where, some watch dog group must have a list of all the congress members under investigation. That would be shocking.
I’m surprised they didn’t make the call for Rangel to step down as a racism charge. What happened?
If they could get away with it, they would.
Yep. What went wrong?
You don’t think every single Rethug is on the take? Rangel’s oversight is small potatoes compared to Rethug standard practice. This is nothing more than an orchestrated rethug lynch mob going after an influential and respected member of the Congressional African American Caucus.
Oh, come now. You can do better than that. (Come to think about it, judging from your recent posts, maybe you can’t do any better.)
So it’s OK to be a crook if you ae black?
“Every single??”
Really????
Wow. I had no idea the world was so cut and dry. Black and white. Good and Bad.
I’ll have to remember the lesson you have taught me, FF. *ALL Republicans are thieves.* And *ALL Democrats are saints* (that sometimes make eeensy weensy mistakes.)
Interestingly… I could have grasped that kind of “morality” in sixth grade. As most sixth graders could….
Lucky for me, my educators were a bit beyond the broad brush by the time the taught me how to determine what is wrong or right….
Barack Obama earns an A so far.
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1894223_1894232,00.html
ewwwwwww!
OK.
Can I laugh now?
Bwahahahahhhaaahhhhaaaaa…..
Where do they get this stuff? Oh yeah…. from the pen of John “the groper” Favreau….
You missed one description of Obama. ELITISM!
You missed one description of Obama. ELITIST!
I’m surprised they didn’t make the call for Rangel to step down as a racism charge. What happene
The Black Caucus is a national disgrace.
So congressman Rangel is “suffering from disclosure problems” and many in congress seem to be afflicted with the same problem. It’s another disorder that apparently only affects a select group of people - namely some democrats in congress and the current president’s administration. For the rest of we peons, we’re responsible for paying our taxes accurately and in a timely fashion or we “suffer the consequences”.
Thank you for posting this. It’s disgraceful. And it stinks from the top. We just don’t have real democracy any more. And until money is taken out of politics we won’t have decent government.
These excuses are pathetic. Just imagine if it were any Joe Blow–off to the Big House.
I used to think my Midwestern in-laws were so cynical when they said politicians were all crooks but they were right!
Nader is, after all, right, too. I was so mad in 2000 when he said there was no difference between the 2 parties but it’s true.
This ridiculous “health care reform” is more proof. I have been hearing reports on NPR (big cheerleaders for OZero) that this so-called reform will not help any of the middle class uninsured; will harm seniors and not really do much good for most Americans. And it’s all because of money.
Totally OT, but Obama wins the Nobel Peace Prize. What a joke. What has he accomplished?
I just heard this and thought it was a joke. Nominations closed February 1, less than two weeks after he took office. This is a disgrace.
I say we should boycott Norway. (What do we get from Norway anyway?)
lutefisk? now we get two things from Norway that taste like shit.
I don’t know what we get from Norway aside from the Nobel prizes. When will people stop giving this guy a pass on having to actually do something before he wins an award, or a political office?
April fool?
Go here to vote in a poll asking: should he win the prize?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
currently 69% no / 31% yes.
Better not use turbo tax, that did’nt work out too well for Timmy. Seriously, this BS infuriates me. As a small business owner, I wonder what would happen to me if I did’nt pay my taxes.My accountant sends me a reminder every quarter so I don’t forget, so I vote for the CPA.
Email sent for ADMINISTRATION there is a severe racist remark posted to a past thread, my post was lost regarding this. I have e-mailed, but that remark needs to be removed ASAP. It is:
TeriMaKaBosda on Jeremiah Wright Was a Muslim: Why That Matters
This big mouthed congresswoman has gotten far too big for her far too big britches. She is the first one to condemn anyone who questions any black in any fashion whatsoever and she’ll do whatever she can to protect Rangel.
I’m totally sick of these black public figures who forget that they are a very small minority in this country, and yet they would like to take hostage all of the front row seats to the exclusion of the rest of us. If true representation were to take place, they would be represented 12-13% in the political arena, on television, in music, and in any number of other areas. Instead, they have television shows which the white community would be castigated for daring to show. This is discrimination.
Putting anyone front and center for any reason than true accomplishment is a farce and negates the accomplishments of those who have earned recognition, and this does include some blacks who have demonstrated those capabilities.
While it may be correct that Congressional members may have minor infractions related to confusion over travel expenses, small gifts, or dinners,
it is ridiculous to characterize Rangel in that catagory.
Good grief, he omitted nearly half his income and holdings!
I guess “everyone’s doing it” applies to Madoff as well!
Hey, if Geitner is our Secretary of the Treasury what exactly did Charlie do wrong?
I back CR.