RBP
08-03-2013, 01:58 PM
Full article: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/08/02/charlie-rangel-on-immigration-pope-francis-his-successor.html
House Republicans? Have done more damage to American competitiveness than al Qaeda ever could. “What is happening is sabotage. Terrorists couldn’t do a better job than the Republicans are doing.”
The Tea Party? Defeat them the same way segregation was beaten. “It is the same group we faced in the South with those white crackers and the dogs and the police. They didn’t care about how they looked. It was just fierce indifference to human life that caused America to say enough is enough. ‘I don’t want to see it and I am not a part of it.’ What the hell! If you have to bomb little kids and send dogs out against human beings, give me a break.”
He sees in some of the reluctance to move forward on immigration reform a fear, one that white people have of non-whites.
“Every white son of a gun from Europe has found a way to get here, and these barriers I think have a lot to do with color and the awkwardness or the uncomfortableness that a lot of whites feel about people of color,” Rangel said.
Asked, though, why black congressmen, who have traditionally resisted liberalized immigration laws, are now supportive of them, Rangel rejected the premise. “You are not going to go back to Abe Lincoln now and that bullshit are you? Blacks were tied to Abe, who freed the slaves, and so we followed the Republicans”—and called on all segments of society, including the Democratic Party, including religious institutions, to do more to help the downtrodden.
“It has to do with whether or not in God we trust. I don’t know how much God played a role in the country, but it is everywhere ... And I used to be an altar boy so that I can say, if you are talking about Jews and Christians and probably Muslims and Mormons, [there’s] the whole idea that... we are supposed to help the aged and provide health care and give kids a break and do all of these good things. What are we Democrats fighting for? We are not fighting for salvation and going to heaven. But we are fighting for Medicaid, Medicare, health care, education, jobs, helping old folks. And I’ll be damned, besides same-sex marriage, I don’t hear the voice of the church. As a matter of fact, the pope is talking he can’t judge gays. Well, damn it to hell, ask for another message from God. Here we were born. I mean, why is there a silence on old folks and a silence on poverty and a silence on kids?”
And because of this, Rangel sees a superpower on decline.
“We have been a powerless giant for a long time. It is just that there is no one there, and so therefore we dominate center stage,” he said. “But the dysfunction of the Congress and the inability of the president to make any changes has caused a lot of Europeans who admire and respect us to take another look.”
“Let’s face it,” he added. “The Republican presidential candidates didn’t make any damn sense. If it wasn’t for the presidency, it would be embarrassing as hell for me to get calls from people overseas and ask what the hell was going on.”
House Republicans? Have done more damage to American competitiveness than al Qaeda ever could. “What is happening is sabotage. Terrorists couldn’t do a better job than the Republicans are doing.”
The Tea Party? Defeat them the same way segregation was beaten. “It is the same group we faced in the South with those white crackers and the dogs and the police. They didn’t care about how they looked. It was just fierce indifference to human life that caused America to say enough is enough. ‘I don’t want to see it and I am not a part of it.’ What the hell! If you have to bomb little kids and send dogs out against human beings, give me a break.”
He sees in some of the reluctance to move forward on immigration reform a fear, one that white people have of non-whites.
“Every white son of a gun from Europe has found a way to get here, and these barriers I think have a lot to do with color and the awkwardness or the uncomfortableness that a lot of whites feel about people of color,” Rangel said.
Asked, though, why black congressmen, who have traditionally resisted liberalized immigration laws, are now supportive of them, Rangel rejected the premise. “You are not going to go back to Abe Lincoln now and that bullshit are you? Blacks were tied to Abe, who freed the slaves, and so we followed the Republicans”—and called on all segments of society, including the Democratic Party, including religious institutions, to do more to help the downtrodden.
“It has to do with whether or not in God we trust. I don’t know how much God played a role in the country, but it is everywhere ... And I used to be an altar boy so that I can say, if you are talking about Jews and Christians and probably Muslims and Mormons, [there’s] the whole idea that... we are supposed to help the aged and provide health care and give kids a break and do all of these good things. What are we Democrats fighting for? We are not fighting for salvation and going to heaven. But we are fighting for Medicaid, Medicare, health care, education, jobs, helping old folks. And I’ll be damned, besides same-sex marriage, I don’t hear the voice of the church. As a matter of fact, the pope is talking he can’t judge gays. Well, damn it to hell, ask for another message from God. Here we were born. I mean, why is there a silence on old folks and a silence on poverty and a silence on kids?”
And because of this, Rangel sees a superpower on decline.
“We have been a powerless giant for a long time. It is just that there is no one there, and so therefore we dominate center stage,” he said. “But the dysfunction of the Congress and the inability of the president to make any changes has caused a lot of Europeans who admire and respect us to take another look.”
“Let’s face it,” he added. “The Republican presidential candidates didn’t make any damn sense. If it wasn’t for the presidency, it would be embarrassing as hell for me to get calls from people overseas and ask what the hell was going on.”