Here is the exact footage from YouTube:
Rangel, who is presently embattled over tax problems, didn’t just commit a gaffe. Asked about it in a follow-up question, he doubled down and repeated it.
(Read more after the leap)
I don’t care much for the McCain camp’s habit of dwelling heavily on the verbal arrows (”lipstick on a pig”, etc) of various comments hurled in Sarah Palin’s direction. Aside from being highlighted to show the arrogance, chauvinism, and the levels to which the Obama campaign and Democrats are willing to descend, extensive pursuit of such charges (like what the campaign engaged in after the pig gaffe by Obama) distracts from the fundamental message of the campaign.
Governor Palin is no shrinking violet. She has shown that she can more than handle the rough-and-tumble environment of modern American politics. Call the other side on their wrongheadedness and move on.
All of that being said, chivalry is not dead and allegations of mental disability should certainly not be leveled at anyone (let alone a mother to a child with Downs Syndrome). Just words? Well, Obama himself tells us repeatedly (while repeating someone else, but I digress) that “words matter.”
Further, a certain level of decorum–particularly the avoidance of pure ad hominem attacks–should be expected in basic political discourse. This sort of talk would not be acceptable if it were reversed, and it has not been accepted. Remember when a Geoff Davis, a Republican Congressman from Kentucky dared to call Barack Obama a “boy”?
The remarks by Congressman Davis were denounced at the time.
The remarks by Congressman Rangel should be similarly decried.
Geoff Davis apologized.
Will Charlie Rangel?
