Observer » Charlie Rangels

Rangel: Excited by Clinton-Obama

Azi Paybarah — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 21:55:45 -0400

Charlie Rangel, the guy who said he helped talk Barack Obama into the presidential race, told Gabe Pressman this morning that he now thinks Obama should be Hillary Clinton's running mate.

In fact, said Rangel -- who supports Hillary -- a Clinton-Obama ticket would be "very exciting."

Here's the WNBC transcript of the interview, which will air on Sunday:

PRESSMAN: Would a Clinton-Obama ticket be very strong?

Rep. RANGEL: Wow. Well, I'm saying that.

PRESSMAN: You said wow.

Rep. RANGEL: Because I would find it very exciting. But I think that the
Republican bench is so weak that we could get by with more this time than if it was a very close election.

PRESSMAN: Would you lobby Obama to take the number two spot?

Rep. RANGEL: I don't do that. And besides, you know, as I do, that people running for president, they never say they're interested in the number two spot. I mean, they have to let you know that they're running for president and that's all they will consider.

PRESSMAN: Yeah, but all you're doing is sucking your thumb and sort of
thinking about the future. You're not he.

Rep. RANGEL: All I know is that I'm supporting Hillary and once we're over the hill, I'll be glad to get involved and see who would be the best candidate for us to win.

New York’s Pot of Gold in DC

Fri, 10 Nov 2006 16:01:23 -0400

For years, the city's congressional delegation repeated like Buddhist mantra the fact that New York sends more money to Washington than it gets back in federal aid.

Now, New York's congressional delegation is in the majority, and presumably, a flood of money will be heading to New York to right this wrong.

Not so says Steven Malanga of City Journal.

"The city, in particular, already gets a huge premium from this spending. Several years ago I broke down federal spending on a host of social programs and found that the city received nearly four times the national per capita average of welfare expenditures, three times the average in Medicaid, and twice the average in subsidized housing spending. The city even received far more per capita than other major cities like Los Angeles and Chicago.

"Consequently, there is no major pot of gold waiting for New York, only perhaps a few more scraps of pork sent our way. At most, an old Lefty like Rangel may be able to use his chairmanship to block GOP legislation, but that isn't the same as promoting an agenda that actually benefits New York. But after waiting so long to get back into power, the Charlie Rangels of the world no doubt need to beat their chests a little for effect."

-- Azi Paybarah