Washington Post's Eugene Robinson imitates Custer, claims 'Charlie Rangel is no crook'

One need only read the latest op-ed by the sixties retread named Eugene Robinson to comprehend the depths to which the Washington Post has descended. I did not make up the title of his most recent piece. Perhaps the Post, in its efforts to cut costs, outsourced title editing to The Onion.

Charlie Rangel is no crook

Charlie Rangel is no crook. He’s right to insist on the opportunity to clear his name, because the charges against him range from the technical all the way to the trivial...

...Rangel apparently was careless in filling out his required financial disclosure forms; he should have known better than to take that important exercise so lightly. And he’s accused of using a rent-controlled Harlem apartment as a campaign office -- which, I suppose, makes him the first New Yorker to look for loopholes in the city’s Byzantine rent-control laws. But where’s the old-fashioned venality? Where’s the out-and-out graft? Where’s even the hint of avarice?

...What’s missing is any allegation that Rangel bent or broke a single House rule -- or even a New York city ordinance -- for his own gain... ...Rangel was trying to satisfy his ego, not line his pockets. The real crime would be if such a long, distinguished, important public career ended in disgrace.

Eugene Robinson is a very, very disturbed individual. Rangel's dozen-plus charges would have landed any normal citizen in prison for a decade-long stint. The list of House ethics violations include, but are not limited to:

• Rewrote tax law to benefit a company that donated money to his namesake center;
• Used four rent-controlled apartments (violating NYC's rent-control laws) including using one as an office, not a residence (also violating NYC's laws), which also raises the question of an improper in-kind campaign contribution
• Improperly reported his ownership interest in a Dominican Republic condominium and failed to pay income taxes on $75,000 in rental income
• 'Intentionally failed to report' hundreds of thousands -- or millions -- of dollars in mysteriously acquired assets -- including an IRA, mutual fund accounts and equities

The full story will probably never come to light, thanks to the Journolistic practices of DNC PR hacks like Robinson.

Gee, look what I found: a Eugene Robinson op-ed from 2005!

Immoral Majority

...It may be too much to hope that the former House majority leader [Tom Delay] -- and how good it feels to write "former" -- will actually be convicted and do jail time. The indictment for criminal conspiracy returned by a Texas grand jury on Wednesday is for alleged campaign finance violations that are the rough equivalent of money laundering, which is not the easiest crime to prove in court.

But DeLay's problems are bigger than Texas. His golf-buddy relationship with Jack Abramoff, a fat-cat lobbyist under federal indictment, will face months of scrutiny. DeLay's resignation from the House leadership is supposed to be temporary, but Republicans ignored his wishes and picked a strong successor who could serve out the rest of this Congress if necessary. Clearly they believe their former leader will be distracted for some time.

Which makes me feel like it's morning again in America.

It's little wonder that the Washington Post is hemorrhaging readers faster than a door-to-door encyclopedia salesman.

It's the intellectual dishonesty, stupid.