Rangel, Boehner exchange words on House floor

[babylonsister]

Rangel, Boehner exchange words on House floor
By Susan Crabtree
Posted: 09/10/08 08:28 PM


Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) and Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) locked horns on the House floor Wednesday evening over a series of ethics allegations Rangel has been trying to fend off in recent days and months.

For the first time since responding to three separate ethics charges, Rangel reminded Boehner about the time back in the mid-1990s when the minority leader violated House ethics rules by handing out campaign checks from the tobacco industry to lawmakers on the House floor during a Congressional debate over eliminating a tobacco subsidy. He said the two had been real friends and that friendship and the last shreds of bipartisanship that exist in the House shouldn’t be ruined by threatening each other for the purpose of scoring political points before an important election.

Rangel referred to an interview Boehner had with Tim Russert years ago in which the now-deceased host of NBC’s Meet the Press “beat up on Mr. Boehner” over the tobacco-check issue.

“{Boehner said at the time} it was a big mistake and I regret it. It was an old practice in the House. If you made a mistake, I made a mistake,” Rangel said, warning all House members of the destructive nature of threatening each other for partisan reasons.

Boehner took to the floor to respond to Rangel’s counter punches. He acknowledged the longstanding friendship between himself and Rangel, and said he regretted having to call on Rangel to give up his gavel while the ethics committee investigated the charges.

The top House Republican leader did not, however, back down from his calls for Rangel to leave the top post on the Ways and Means panel.

more...

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/rangel-boehner-exchange-words-on-house-floor-2008-09-10.html

[AndyA]

1. This pretty much tells the story about Boehner:

For the first time since responding to three separate ethics charges, Rangel reminded Boehner about the time back in the mid-1990s when the minority leader violated House ethics rules by handing out campaign checks from the tobacco industry to lawmakers on the House floor during a Congressional debate over eliminating a tobacco subsidy.

I don't know how that man can hold his head up in the chamber. What a tool.

[Viking12]

2. You said Boner