Charlie Rangel and Sarah Palin

Charlie Rangel was elected to represent the people of New York's 15th Congressional District on November 3, 1970. He still holds that seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Question for the people of New York's 15th Congressional District:

Why?

Rangel has been downright unpatriotic, at least according to Joe Biden's definition of patriotism (paying taxes).

Rangel has been ripping off the American people for years. He has evaded his patriotic duty to pay his taxes.

Remember Rangel is the guy behind the "mother" of all tax reforms.

About a year ago, "House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel gave American voters a chilling glimpse of what U.S. tax policy will look like if a Democrat wins the White House in 2008. In terms of revenue, Rangel's reform would be the biggest tax increase in history."

Does Rangel's tax reform have a provision that allows him to be exempt?

There's a problem when the guy picking the pockets of Americans isn't willing to pony up.

From the New York Times:

Representative Charles B. Rangel has delivered six checks, totaling $10,800, to New York State and to the I.R.S. to pay the back taxes he owes from rental income on his Dominican villa, his legal team announced on Friday

Mr. Rangel acknowledged this month that he had failed to declare $75,000 in rental income from his beachfront villa on both his tax returns and financial disclosure forms. Mr. Rangel’s lawyers said he owed back taxes for at least three years and had hired a forensic accounting firm to review his records dating back 20 years to search for additional omissions.

...Mr. Rangel, a Harlem Democrat, has come under fire in recent months for his fund-raising and personal finances, and is also the subject of two other ethics investigations: one into his use of his Congressional stationery to raise money for a City University of New York center that will bear his name, the other involving the four rent-stabilized apartments that a landlord allowed him to lease at prices far below the market rate.

...Because Mr. Rangel is the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, which writes the nation’s tax code, his failure to pay taxes has proved an embarrassment. Republicans, and several newspaper editorial boards, have called for him to give up the chairmanship. But after Mr. Rangel met with the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, this week, he announced that he would remain as chairman. A resolution to remove him as Ways and Means chairman was defeated on Friday, largely along party lines.

Mr. Rangel and his staff did not return repeated calls requesting comment on Friday. But in an open letter to New York residents, the congressman said he was the target of a “guerrilla war” being carried out by Republicans. “The campaign season has begun, and to no great surprise, I’m now a Republican talking point,” he wrote. “But I assure you, I’ve brought no dishonor to my family, the Congress, my constituents, or my country.”

Apparently, Rangel is so corrupt that he has no sense of shame.

He's trying to frame his own misdeeds as a Republican attack.

He says he's brought "no dishonor" to his family, his constituents, the Congress or the Country.

That's not true.

Rangel is corrupt. He's not fit to serve.

He needs to be held accountable for what he has done, what he has failed to do, and what he has said.

NEW YORK (CBS) -- Already under fire for his tax troubles, Manhattan Congressman Charles Rangel really put his foot in his mouth on Friday.

In a CBS 2 HD exclusive interview, Rep. Rangel called Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin "disabled."

The question was simple: Why are the Democrats so afraid of Palin and her popularity?

The answer was astonishing.

"You got to be kind to the disabled," Rangel said.

That's right. The chairman of the powerful House Ways & Means Committee called Palin disabled -- even when CBS 2 HD called him on it.

CBS 2 HD: "You got to be kind to the disabled?"

Rangel: "Yes."

CBS 2 HD: "She's disabled?"

Rangel: "There's no question about it politically. It's a nightmare to think that a person's foreign policy is based on their ability to look at Russia from where they live."

Later Friday, Rangel issued a statement saying "disabled" wasn't the word he meant to use.

"Governor Palin is an obviously healthy person who in no way fits the description of disabled. I meant to say then, and I am saying now, that she entered the campaign with a disadvantage in the area of foreign policy," Rangel said in a statement.

"Any inference that my words were in any connected to her son, Trig, who was born with Down syndrome, is a real stretch -- and, I would have to think -- a way to make political points out of my poor choice of words," he added.

Calling Sarah Palin disabled is absolutely inexcusable.

Either Rangel is losing it and he doesn't know which word is appropriate to use or he's a liar.

The corrupt Rangel doesn't seem to understand that he's responsible for what he says.

Instead of sincerely apologizing to Palin for his positively despicable comments, he makes up excuses.

And just as he did in the case of his failure to pay taxes, Rangel uses his very real screw-ups to paint himself as a victim of supposedly baseless attacks launched by his opponents. He's the one looking to score political points rather than show some character.

He won't take responsibility for what he's done. Worse yet, his Democrat colleagues don't hold him accountable. They're willing to look the other way.

Very dishonorable of Rangel and very dishonorable of his fellow Democrats.