Incredibly Stupid Statement File: Charlie Rangel Edition

By Jennifer J. Foster

Published: September 19, 2008

You know, it’s been a while since we’ve had an entry in the Incredibly Stupid Statements File. It certainly isn’t because there’s been a dearth of suitable material. I just haven’t posted to it in a while.

Well, sometimes something happens that screams for attention. Such is the case today with Charlie Rangel.

Rangel, you probably know, is the Democratic congressman from Harlem, N.Y. Rangel is one of the three most powerful lawmakers in Congress by virtue of his chairmanship of the House Ways and Means Committee.

SIDEBAR: Quick timeout for civics review: You already know that Ways and Means is Congress-speak for budget. You also remember from studying Article I, Section 7 of the U.S. Constitution in Mr. Andrews’ 6th grade class that “All bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives.“ So Charlie Rangel chairs the committee where the entire federal budget is born. END SIDEBAR

It seems worth mentioning here that Rangel is an embattled congressman. Just yesterday, he escaped an attempt by collegues to remove him from his chairmanship of the budget committee for ethical clouds that have formed above him. From the Washington Post:

Rangel acknowledged last week that he failed to disclose and pay taxes on at least $75,000 in rental income from a villa in the Dominican Republic that he has owned for 20 years—a house financed, in part, with a no-interest loan. He has said he would amend his returns and pay back taxes of more than $10,000.

The ethics panel is investigating the villa deal, as well as Rangel’s rental of several New York apartments at below-market rates and his fundraising entreaties on congressional stationery on behalf of the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service at the City College of New York.

In other words, Rangel writes tax bills for us, but he doesn’t pay them himself.

But that’s all background! We’re just now getting to the incredibly stupid statement part.

In an interview with New York’s CBS 2, Rangel was asked about Sarah Palin and the role her vice presidential selection has played in galvanizing the Republican Party for John McCain.

Rangel’s answer ... well, see for yourself:

Now, let me ask you: What was your first thought when Rangel said, “disabled?“

Was it, by any chance, about Palin’s son, Trig?

As you saw, Rangel stood by his characterization of Palin as “disabled” even when a reporter pressed him about it: “There’s no question about it politically,“ Rangel said. “It’s a nightmare to think that a person’s foreign policy is based on their ability to look at Russia from where they live.“

Rangel apparently didn’t realize that the reference to Palin being able to “look at Russia from where they live” was actually written by Saturday Night Live comedians for last week’s skit featuring Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.

I knew Fey did a great job playing the Alaska governor, but I didn’t realize she would be able to dupe federal lawmakers into confusing her with the real Palin.

Rangel later said backtracked and said that “disadvantaged,“ not “disabled,“ was the word he meant to use. Note that he clarified, but did not apologize for, his “poor choice of words.“ From Newsday:

“Governor Palin is an obviously healthy person who in no way fits the description of disabled. I meant to say then, and I am saying now, that she entered the campaign with a disadvantage in the area of foreign policy,“ Rangel said in a statement.

“Any inference that my words were in any connected to her son, Trig, who was born with Down Syndrome, is a real stretch—and, I would have to think—a way to make political points out of my poor choice of words,“ he added.

Yes, Congressman Rangel. We don’t know WHAT would cause people to connect your comment with the governor’s family.

Actually, now that I think about it, Rangel makes the ISS file twice tonight: Once for the original statement, and once for his clarification.