Why does anyone take Charles Rangel seriously any more? Certainly this comment is sufficiently out of line and not based in reality for the media and his fellow Dems to call him on it.

The dean of New York's congressional delegation suggested in a television interview that Vice President Dick Cheney may not be healthy enough to perform his duties.

Rep. Charles Rangel was being interviewed on NY1, the New York City-based all-news channel, when he was asked Friday night whether he thought President Bush was taking too much vacation time this summer.

"Oh no, it makes the country a lot more safe," the Manhattan Democrat said. "The further Bush is away from Washington, the better it is. And sometimes I don't even think Cheney is awake enough to know what's going on. Rumsfeld is the guy in Washington to watch. He's running the country,"

"Cheney's not awake enough?" reporter Davidson Goldin asked.

"Well, he's a sick man you know," Rangel said. "He's got heart disease, but the disease is not restricted to that part of his body. He grunts a lot, so you never really know what he's thinking."

Asked whether he was suggesting that Cheney was not healthy enough to do his job, Rangel said, "Why do you think people are spending so much time praying for President Bush's health?"

"If he ever leaves and Cheney's in charge, there's not very much to pull together for the rest of our nation," he concluded. "This is a sad state of affair."

The White House declined comment Saturday.

Cheney has had four heart attacks, and a pacemaker was placed in his chest in June 2001.

His most recent annual heart checkup occurred in July and found him in good health.

So Rangel now claims to know more than the Vice PresidentÂ’s cardiologists? And we wonÂ’t get into the fantasy-based notion that the President being outside of Washington DC renders him impotent to run the country.

Hey, Charlie – when are you going to become reality-based?

Posted by: Greg at 10:15 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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