Sure Signs of Desperation: Dems Begin Chewing Off Limbs

It's been public knowledge for about a year that Charles Rangel had multiple and serious ethics issues, yet the Democrats in control - most notably Speaker Nancy Pelosi - chose to ignore those allegations. Rangel stepped aside as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, but he continues to serve as a member nonetheless.

Suddenly it has been announced by the House ethics committee that a Congressional investigative committee has decided to charge Rangel with multiple, albeit unspecified, violations. This, on the heels of the shelving of the infamous and unpopular "Cap & Trade" bill, can only mean that Democrats have witnessed their own political mortality and are running scared. Very scared.

So scared, it seems, that the temporary storage of a prized piece of legislation is not enough to placate the rank and file membership. It has left them feeling trapped, and they have taken on the traits of the trapped animal; they are gnawing off expendable appendages in order to survive. The problem is, they are also becoming as dangerous as a wounded animal.

Having already hinted at the possibility of enacting nothing-to-lose laws in a potential lame-duck session, Congress - in the likely event of having the largest class of former members in history - could dust off the Cap & Trade bill just in time for Christmas and ruin the holidays for us all. Don't think they could be so vindictive? Think again, you haven't been paying much attention.

The shelving of that bill is nothing more than a thinly veiled effort to not only curry favor with the majority of the electorate, but a lame attempt to sour the people on the Republicans by blaming them for global warming and the obstruction of the alleged cure. Despite their defiant actions and smug righteousness, the Democrats are well aware of their minority status outside the Chambers.

One must wonder who else is expendable as November rapidly approaches from the horizon, but also how vigorously Congress will pursue these charges. Odds are that this wham-bam Congress will suddenly slow to a deliberative crawl in the Rangel matter claiming that the seriousness of the situation requires care and diligence. Would that they had been so slow on the trigger of Health Care, an infliction on the nation with far greater magnitude than the loss of one corrupt career politician.

The show should be amusing to watch anyway, particular for the kid in us all that enjoyed frying ants with a magnifying glass so many years ago.

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