Charlie Rangel is not crazy.  He may be liberal.  He may be corrupt.  He may be a partisan.  But he is not crazy.

The same cannot be said of Pete Stark, the man who will take Charlie Rangel’s place.

This reminds me a little bit of when Tom Foley had to find a replacement for Dan Rostenkowski during critical moment in the Clinton health care push, and put Sam Gibbons in the Chairman’s Chair.  Gibbons was not nearly as crazy at Pete Stark, but he wasn’t nearly as competent as Rosty, and Hillary’s health care died as a result.

Pete Stark is certifiable.  He has a penchant for disparaging just about everybody.

He once told a constituent: “I wouldn’t dignify you by peeing on your leg, it wouldn’t be worth wasting the urine.”  He Called Blue Dog Democrats, the folks he needs to pass his health care bill,  “brain dead.”  He said the Bush Administration sent soldiers “to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the President’s amusement.”   According to Gannet, during the run-up to the Persian Gulf War, he called fellow liberals Tom Lantos and Stephen Solarz ‘hostile militant guys,’ suggesting their votes were ‘as a matter of convenience’ for Israel.”  He claimed that the children of one of his African American colleagues were “all born out of wedlock.”  Read more...