Rangel Told that He, Not Republicans, Bears Blame for his Woes

Charles Rangel has a GOP-drawn target on his back – “I’m now a Republican talking point,” he complains. But it was acting like a bulletproof powerbroker that seems to have put him in the jam he’s in.

“The reason why the sharks are after him is that there’s blood in the water – and it’s his blood and he did it himself,” said Doug Muzzio of the Baruch College School of Public Affairs.

Rangel is a poster child for liberal Democrats gone wrong in GOP ads after a series of highly publicized snafus, including failing to pay taxes on a Caribbean vacation condo. The Manhattan Democrat is chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, which writes tax law.

Read more: (James Gordon Meek, Kenneth R. Bazinet, and Celeste Katz, “Charlie Rangel Told That He, Not Republicans, Bears Blame for His Woes,” Daily News, 9/22/08)