CBS Commiserates Over 'Painful' Censure of Rangel, Looks for 'Silver Lining'
According to CBS Evening News host Katie Couric on Thursday, the censure of Charles Rangel was "painful" for "everyone watching" and a "fall from grace." Reporter Nancy Cordes also tried to find the "silver lining" in the Congressman's reelection.
Cordes sympathetically recounted, "It was a shaken Speaker Pelosi who read the resolution censuring her longtime ally, 80-year-old Charles Rangel, as he stood in the well of the House." Apparently asserting a universal emotion, Couric proclaimed, "It was painful for him and for everyone watching."
In closing a report on the subject, Cordes seemed to put the best possible spin on the fact that Rangel is only the 23 House member in the history of the United States to be censured: "If there is a silver lining for Mr. Rangel, it's that this two-and-a-half year ordeal is now over. There are no criminal charges against him and he easily won reelection last month."
The two other evening newscasts, NBC's Nightly News and ABC's World News both recounted the story without such drama and hyperbolic language.
This isn't the first time that network journalists have found sadness in the fall of Democratic Congressman. The June 6, 1994 issue of the Media Research Center's Notable Quotables highlighted the "American tragedy" of Dan Rostenkowski, convicted of mail fraud:
"You're a fierce partisan on the other side of the aisle from Dan Rostenkowski, but you're also an admirer of good legislators. How do you feel about this personally? Is this an American tragedy?"
-Good Morning America co-host Charles Gibson to Newt Gingrich, May 26, 1994.
"It's a big loss for the President. It's a big loss for the Congress, and I think it's a big loss for the country."
-- NBC reporter Lisa Myers, Today, May 25, 1994.
A transcript of the December 2 segment, which aired at 6:30pm EST, follows:
6:30PM TEASE
KATIE COURIC: Tonight, fall from grace.
NANCY PELOSI: The House has resolved that Representative Charles Rangel of New York be censured.
6:30PM SEGMENT
COURIC: It was painful for him and for everyone watching. Veteran Congressman Charles Rangel was censured today by the House of Representatives despite his last-minute plea for a lesser punishment for financial misconduct. Censure is a formal condemnation and the New York Democrat is the first House member to be censured since 1983, one of 23 in the history of the nation. Congressional correspondent Nancy Cordes was there.
NANCY PELOSI: The gentleman from New York, Mr. Rangel, kindly appear in the well
CORDES: It was a shaken Speaker Pelosi who read the resolution censuring her longtime ally, 80-year-old Charles Rangel, as he stood in the well of the House.
CHARLES RANGEL: Council and the committee found no evidence at all of corruption, found no evidence of self enrichment.
PETER KING [REP. R-NY]: If expulsion is the equivalent of the death penalty, then censure is life imprisonment-
CORDES: Last month, a House ethics panel found the former Ways and Means chair guilty of 11 violations, including failing to report hundreds of thousands in assets, improperly using rent-controlled apartments in New York, and failing to pay taxes on his villa in the Dominican Republic for 17 years.
ZOE LOFGREN [REP. D-CA]: It brought discredit to the House when this member with great responsibility for tax policy did not fully pay his taxes for many years.
CORDES: Several members, Democrats and Republicans, pleaded that the punishment be downgraded to a reprimand, the kind of slap on the wrist Congressman Joe Wilson received after shouting, 'You lie!,' during a presidential address last year.
G.K. BUTTERFIELD [REP. D-NC]: And I ask you to consider a dozen factors – his age, 80 years of age, combat military service of three year as a volunteer, Bronze Star, Purple Heart.
CORDES: Perhaps seeking sympathy, Rangel also invoked his 60-year-old war record.
RANGEL: I was wounded and had no thoughts that I would be able to survive.
CORDES: The last time a censure was issued was 27 years ago, to Republican Daniel Crane of Illinois and Democrat Jerry Studds of Massachusetts for engaging in sexual relations with teenage congressional pages.
RANGEL: I brought it on myself, but I still believe that this body has to be guided by fairness.
CORDES: If there is a silver lining for Mr. Rangel, it's that this two-and-a-half year ordeal is now over. There are no criminal charges against him and he easily won reelection last month. Katie.
— Scott Whitlock is a news analyst for the Media Research Center. Click here to follow him on Twitter.
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Comments
The silver lining,
Submitted by UpNorth on Fri, 12/03/2010 - 2:01pm.
for people like Rangel is that certain districts will re-elect anyone. Witness John Conyers. And, that it really doesn't matter, for Chuck it'll be bidness as usual, just as soon as the news cycle dies, say, in about 24 hours.
Oh gag
Submitted by jon_torlin on Fri, 12/03/2010 - 2:09pm.
Give me a break, this is pathetic! Getting censured is just a little slap on the wrist and sure as hell won't stop that sorry SOB from doing whatever he wants. After all, the "average american" doesn't mean anything to him.
-Jon
Not "slap on the wrist"
Submitted by Anon150 on Fri, 12/03/2010 - 4:32pm.
UpChuck Rangel has had his "legacy" forever tarnished.
The first thing that will be written in the description of his political career will be "One of the very few Congresscritters to be Formally Censured, the oily Charles Rangel..."
The rest will be a recap of his shady deals, sordid past and unethical behavior.
He's not only scum. He's Congressionally-recognized Scum!
He should have been expelled
Submitted by c5then on Fri, 12/03/2010 - 2:10pm.
Impeached, and tried on tax evasion charges just as Wessley Snipes was. And just as any "regular" american would be.
Madison and Jefferson and Franklin built a Republic - Roberts killed it!
kitty try to use a brain (borrow one if necessary)
Submitted by hbnolikeee on Fri, 12/03/2010 - 2:12pm.
What charlie boy did would win anyone else jail time. He is a thief. He has been robbing this country for decades while writing tax laws.
You or I would be breaking rocks and his being censured (==scolded) is over the top? I guess depending on who you are, laws don't apply.
So, the "silver lining" is
Submitted by Bruzilla on Fri, 12/03/2010 - 2:14pm.
So, the "silver lining" is that a Congressman, who's supposed to be worthy of the trust of the public and his peers, breaks a dozen or so rules, cheats on his taxes, hides income, etc., isn't receiving any criminal charges and is re-elected??? The bright spot is that a guy who broke the rules is back in power? How warped is that thinking?
Look at his constituants.
Submitted by johnsonl on Fri, 12/03/2010 - 3:07pm.
Look at his constituants.
Couric/Cordes simpaticos... gag!
Submitted by Iron Tigers Vet on Fri, 12/03/2010 - 2:16pm.
"painful" for "everyone watching" and a "fall from grace." - "It was a shaken Speaker Pelosi who read the resolution censuring her longtime ally, 80-year-old Charles Rangel, as he stood in the well of the House." -
Are you frikin kidding me? I wish I could have been in the "well of the House" and gave a whoop and standing ovation to seeing this POS expelled like he and quite a few others should have been a LONG time ago.
Bias is explicit in this case
Submitted by MaximusBraveheart on Fri, 12/03/2010 - 2:29pm.
It really is just unreal how they will bend over backwards to put the best spin on a leftist, lying liberal. Then be gleeful when Delay gets convicted in criminal court by a bunch of Dems. Rangel deserves criminal indictment. Why did they go after Snipes so hard & not Rangel?? WHY was Martha actual put in jail vs. the CRIME done by Wall Street, or the Admin with stealing GM from LEGAL stake holders? What about the scam with Ethanol & Global Warming? Things need to change and the media needs to be cut-off and the new-media start to present real facts & history. M-B
-- Maximusbraveheart -- Is TRUTH knowable? Moral Relativism is the abandonment of Truth. Truth is knowable. Truth conforms to Reality. Reality is observable by evidence & witness in this day & from history. Relativism is Sesame Street play land.
Throw his ass in jail
Submitted by Six String Spiff on Fri, 12/03/2010 - 2:47pm.
Painful to watch? Yeah only if you're a Dem loving media outlet watching your empire get smashed and replaced.
Oh and Katie, Hunny? Please lay off the eye shadow. You're sporting binoculars.
Will the attendees be helping
Submitted by johnsonl on Fri, 12/03/2010 - 3:06pm.
Will the attendees be helping out by holding up Able targets at 200 meters?
If a Conservative had been in
Submitted by Six String Spiff on Fri, 12/03/2010 - 2:52pm.
If a Conservative had been in trouble with "Ethics Misconduct" they would have been crucified.
I almost laughed when I heard on NPR this morning (It's not my choice to listen to, it's forced upon me..) claim Ranel was "Caught up in Ethics Misconduct" as if it were some boogey man out to get him.
bAstards
This is like bringing a
Submitted by Guttermouth's Return on Fri, 12/03/2010 - 2:53pm.
This is like bringing a sparkler to a fireworks show - you expected so much more, but in the end it all went out in a fizzle.
Guided by fairness?
Submitted by tampamom25 on Fri, 12/03/2010 - 2:57pm.
What a hypocrite. He expects to be treated with fairness while he's out breaking the tax laws that he helped write and pass? I can't feel sorry for someone who takes advantage of his powerful office, and when caught, tries to garner sympathy by saying he didn't do it for personal gain (really, who didn't pay those taxes and kept the money for himself???), served in the military and was wounded in service (so your behavior has also disgraced the uniform that you wore), and says he is old and doesn't know how much longer he has to live (go home if you're that old), and shows up after the reprimand, smiling and waving, saying that he doesn't know anything about who 'average American's' are. A few minutes of embarrassment, a lot of pats on his back afterwards, with whispers of things like "well, now it's over" and "you made it Charlie", and he's back in office like nothing happened. The people who continually re-elect this man have mental deficiencies of some sort. I loathe him and the rest of the wannabe rulers in DC. They are beneath contempt.
It's supposed to hurt,
Submitted by johnsonl on Fri, 12/03/2010 - 3:03pm.
It's supposed to hurt, dingbat. Look up the word "censure". Save the drama for your mama, dingbat.
Rangel: Found Guilty on
Submitted by jdhawk on Fri, 12/03/2010 - 3:13pm.
Rangel:
Found Guilty on the following charges: guilty of 11 violations, including failing to report hundreds of thousands in assets, improperly using rent-controlled apartments in New York, and failing to pay taxes on his villa in the Dominican Republic for 17 years .
Verdict: No criminal charges against him and he easily won reelection last month ..
You and Me:
Found Guilty on the above charges . . .
Verdict: Fired from job, bankruptcy, loss of family and hard jail time in a federal prison.
This is an outrageous miscarriage of justice. He should be tried, found guilty, and jailed.
Someone list the Republicans that defended this POS.
Silver lining
Submitted by needle on Fri, 12/03/2010 - 3:16pm.
“There are no criminal charges against him and he easily won reelection last month.”
One of the key people responsible for our tax code avoided and failed to pay his own taxes for 17 years and there were no criminal charges. What is this guy anyway? A congressman?!? Oh, I see.
THAT is the silver lining for Mr. Rangel.
- Looking forward to the self-annihilation of the Manipulated Stories Machine.
Beltway sympathy for a crook
Submitted by Galvanic on Fri, 12/03/2010 - 3:29pm.
COURIC: It was painful for him and for everyone watching.
Really, Katie? This guy had his hands in the crafting of our tax code, and yet he defrauded the IRS for years. He's lucky he isn't in jail.
CHARLES RANGEL: Council and the committee found no evidence at all of corruption, found no evidence of self enrichment.
Not paying your taxes, unauthorized use of rent-controlled property -- I'd say that saved Rangel a pretty penny. That's self-enrichment.
PETER KING [REP. R-NY]: If expulsion is the equivalent of the death penalty, then censure is life imprisonment-
How absurd, Congressman! There are no equivalents to the death penalty or life imprisonment. Stop the nonsense.
ZOE LOFGREN [REP. D-CA]: It brought discredit to the House when this member with great responsibility for tax policy did not fully pay his taxes for many years.
Exactly.
G.K. BUTTERFIELD [REP. D-NC]: And I ask you to consider a dozen factors – his age, 80 years of age, combat military service of three year as a volunteer, Bronze Star, Purple Heart.
I'm tired of age being used as a mitigating factor. The fact is, he should've paid interest and penalties to the IRS, and he should gone to jail. But he didn't.
And leave his combat record out of it. He's a disgrace to everyone who has worn this nation's uniform and lived up to the oath.
Besides, Rangel is unpatriotic; Biden essentially said so when he declared that "It's patriotic to pay your taxes."
RANGEL: I was wounded and had no thoughts that I would be able to survive.
Stop it, Rangel. You're whining now. You got off way to easy.
RANGEL: I brought it on myself, but I still believe that this body has to be guided by fairness.
Play the Race Card, Charlie. It's all you got left.
Sublime post, Galv
Submitted by Blonde on Fri, 12/03/2010 - 3:34pm.
Up to your usual standard of excellence.
Nothing else to be said.
Handy Reference Guide to Obama's Gaffes and Goofs ~ Currently Numbering 200 (and Counting)
Nan spoke maybe 12 words with
Submitted by Barack_must_go..... on Fri, 12/03/2010 - 3:52pm.
Nan spoke maybe 12 words with a small blurb about pay the taxes if you havn't already. That's it?
I'd like to know if he has given up those 3 apartments he has been stealing from those same families that just keep reelecting him time and time again.
Him stating " I have not personally prospered from my actions makes me want criminal charges brought against this unrepentant crook.
Barack_Must_Go.....
The very fact that Charlie Rangel is still in congress...
Submitted by Dave. on Fri, 12/03/2010 - 4:26pm.
...and not sitting in a jail cell awaiting criminal prosecution (as you and I would now be had we done what Rangel did) is proof positive that we are a two-tiered nation, made up of the ruling class and us mere peons.
That has to change.
Vote for the American in November
This is rich
Submitted by stan25 on Fri, 12/03/2010 - 4:31pm.
This is rich, the state controlled media standing up for a common criminal that is a member of the United States House of Represenatives. Then they are are Dems and anything a Dem does is ok short of committing murder on tv. Wilbur Mills got caught with a stripper in a Washington D C park and it took a major act of Congress to remove him.
Speaking of fairness, how about Duke Cunningham? He is doing time for some of the same things that Charlie Rangel did. Only Cunningham paid his taxes, which Rangel did not do. Oh yeah, Cunningham was a Republican and therefore, suspect from day one.
Silver Lining
Submitted by Jerry Mack on Fri, 12/03/2010 - 4:40pm.
The real silver lining is that we were not subjected to the cries of racism by Jesse , Rev. Al and the boys and girls at Msdnc. But maybe I should give it a few days to see if the stories of Republican Racism being the real culprits in this case begin to appear.
"shaken Speaker Pelosi" She
Submitted by Beukeboom on Fri, 12/03/2010 - 4:56pm.
"shaken Speaker Pelosi"
She didn't sound too shaken in the sound byte I heard. Methinks liberal exaggeration is in play.
Punishment? What punishment?
They've (meaning liberal congresscritters and their allies) have already laughed this off and moved on (pun intended).
This was all for show. Nothing substantive came from it.
And the libs in the federal government still don't get it.
Fall
Submitted by Joe W. on Fri, 12/03/2010 - 4:57pm.
"Fall From Grace"????? He didn't have any "grace" to fall from now, did he??
Only if Grace was one of the
Submitted by Beukeboom on Fri, 12/03/2010 - 5:10pm.
Only if Grace was one of the hookers Spitzer recommended.
This race baiting tax cheat
Submitted by asaracen on Fri, 12/03/2010 - 5:19pm.
This race baiting tax cheat puts on his victim threads and goes back 60 years to his
military service to envoke sympathy. He needs to be stripped of all committee work, as well
as any chairmanships. The chair of the Republican Party, should refuse to recognize him on the senate floor. If we had a functional Attorney Generals Office, this piece of crap would be in jail.
Charlie, your a reflection on the whole state of New York.
Charlie......
Submitted by almostacowboy on Fri, 12/03/2010 - 5:26pm.
...is proof that, at 80 years old, some people just don't know when to quit. He is so arrogant that he believed he could write rules and make us subject to them, and by default to him, while he didn't have to follow them himself.
The House proved him right.
Pop the Cork!!
Submitted by BBallleaper on Fri, 12/03/2010 - 5:43pm.
That's odd! I've never equated drinking champagne and dancing a jig to being "painful!" I'm elated! The only thing that could brighten my mood even further would be if he did a perp walk and 10 years!
Gag ME!
Submitted by MissM on Fri, 12/03/2010 - 9:18pm.
The only thing painful was that the crook wasn't brought up on charges. This is just more corruption in an unrepentant culture of corruption.
Do you want to know what some
Submitted by Van Halen on Sat, 12/04/2010 - 12:38am.
Do you want to know what some of the happiest days of the year are? When the numbers come out telling how much money and how many viewers the JournOList media lost that quarter.
A lot of them would be gone now if Bernake hadn't secretly funded them with 5 trillion of our tax dollars. May he rot in hell.
"It was painful for him and
Submitted by jkwtrading on Sat, 12/04/2010 - 2:49am.
"It was painful for him and for everyone watching." AT my house we had a party..Laughed so hard our sides hurt when the crook got some of his due.Well, if muslims and sharia were in charge....................
Submitted by Patriot II on Sat, 12/04/2010 - 11:30am.
like the idiot in the white house wants......they would have cut the thief rangels hands off! Expulsion my ass.....they censured the thief....which means they slapped the po' boys hands! whoopee! big deal!!! imo