Rangel the Reaganaut

When George Will writes that Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) is a tax hating Democrat, either his researchers haven’t done their homework or Mr. Will has been duped by Washington’s premier mountebank.

According to Congressman Rangel circa 2008, “Ronald Reagan opposed using the tax code as a means of achieving changes in our social structure.  I don’t think the tax code should be a substitute for the appropriations process in making social change.  As chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, he may be obliged to be more responsible than he was in the past.  It may also be the case — excuse my cynicism — that Mr. Rangel is more wealthy than he used to be, putting him in the highest tax paying bracket.

If one were to parse his former claim of tax decreases as racism, you would find that his presumption is African-Americans need government hand-outs and any diminution in this government role is unfair.  That this stance is pandering at its worst did not phase the shameless Mr. Rangel. He knew where his electoral bread is buttered.

When I challenged him on this point during a television talk show, he accused me of racism for supporting Reagan’s tax cuts.  How then can anyone take Mr. Rangel’s present claims seriously?

That a cut in tax rates might generate additional tax revenue is a concept outside of Mr. Rangel’s ken.  For him, all issues were to be seen in racial terms.  Before his newly discovered respectability, Mr. Rangel was a racial hustler who shot from the hip for the delectation of his constituents.

Mr. Will now claims Rangel is a new man. Well, I don’t buy it.  First, I would like to know which lobbyists are paying for his trips to the Caribbean?  Second, I would like to know if his advisers told him a form of triangulation might be good for a Senate run?  And third, if his tax proposals are to be “revenue neutral,