Monday, August 02, 2010

Are Rangel and Waters victims of racism?

Like a drunk turning to the bottle as his first and final answer to any of life's complications, it seems as if the Democratic party has as well. Or at least the Congressional Black Caucus, who are claiming the ethics probes against Charlie Rangel and Maxine Waters are based on....well, you know:

The politically charged decisions by veteran Democratic Reps. Charles Rangel of New York and Maxine Waters of California to force public trials by the House ethics committee are raising questions about race and whether black lawmakers face more scrutiny over allegations of ethical or criminal wrongdoing than their white colleagues.

The question of whether black lawmakers are now being singled out for scrutiny has been simmering throughout the 111th Congress, with the Office of Congressional Ethics a focal point of the concerns....

There’s a “dual standard, one for most members and one for African-Americans,” said one member of the Congressional Black Caucus, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Another black lawmaker, Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) — a close Rangel confidant — has been caught up in an ongoing Justice Department criminal probe involving some of Queens’s most powerful politicians. Meeks has denied any wrongdoing, and, like Rangel, blamed his problems on the National Legal and Policy Center, a conservative watchdog group.

Hmmm. Like blaming the cops, I suppose, when you get caught red-handed in a criminal act...

But there is a racial element here, one that is likely to go unspoken. And I may be wrong, but...

Is it possible that there have been ethical problems for many years within the membership of the CBC, problems that have been ignored precisely because the offenders were black? Were the Republicans, when empowered, so concerned about accusations of racism that they figured it was easier to let Maxine and Charlie continue lining their pockets, especially as the media would be the last ones to highlight minority Democratic malfeasance? And was the Democratic majority so desperate to keep their coalition together since 2006 - and especially since 2008 - in order to pass their radical agenda that they too turned a blind eye towards the ongoing bad behavior of the CBC's membership in order to guarantee their votes?

And why now, the rush to actually investigate these wrongdoers? Politics, politics - the last thing a Democratic party, desperate to hold on to its power against an angry electorate, needs is to be seen as aiding and abetting criminal activity and illicit earnings by its representatives. So they move now, with less than 100 days to go before elections, in order to create the perception they are properly policing their members.

And the final result will still have a racial element, one that will inevitably please the CBC - Charlie and Maxine will get off with slaps on the wrist for activity that would have netted them serious jail time were they "ordinary citizens". They will likely be spared the harsher condemnation that would be allotted them were they white, or Republican, as well. So they still win.

It's all just a theory, but let's give it a name - maybe "The Race Card Coming Home to Roost" theory....?

(Why are there less "whites" before the Ethics Committee at the current time? Maybe because those most recently accused, unlike the "untouchables" of the CBC, resigned rather than attempting to continue to milk the cash cow of the public teet...)

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