What censure? Charles Rangel’s back

[FarCenter]

Nearly a year after Rep. Charles Rangel was censured on the House floor, his political rehabilitation is almost complete.

The dean of the New York delegation will probably never return to his glory days of wielding the gavel on the powerful Ways and Means Committee. And he will never be the fundraising draw that he once was for House Democrats, raising and dispensing hundreds of thousands of dollars to his colleagues.

But in the clearest sign yet of his return from political wastelands, several members of the House Democratic leadership, including Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), headlined a Rangel fundraiser at the Washington restaurant Bistro Bis Wednesday evening.

The strong show of support among Democratic leadership is a first for Rangel since he was publicly shamed last December. In addition to Pelosi, leaders who attended the fundraiser included House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland, Assistant Leader Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Steve Israel of New York and Ways and Means ranking member Sander Levin and the Judiciary Committee ranking member John Conyers — both of Michigan. Hoyer and Israel supported censuring Rangel, while Levin, Conyers and Clyburn opposed it. Pelosi, who had to preside over the reading of the censure resolution while Rangel stood disgraced in the well of the House, did not vote.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1111/68549.html

[aquart]

1. Politico, let me know when your boys impeach Scalia, Thomas ...

Then we'll talk.