[Peace-discuss] Rudeness?

[C. G. Estabrook]

   New York Daily News - August 27, 2005
   No holds barred as Rangel bashes veep
   By MICHAEL SAUL
   DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU

Rep. Charles Rangel, dean of the city's congressional
delegation, blasted Vice President Cheney yesterday as a "sick
man" who "grunts a lot."

"Sometimes I don't even think Cheney is awake enough to know
what's going on," Rangel (D-Harlem) said during an interview
on New York 1 last night.

"[Defense Secretary Donald] Rumsfeld is the guy in Washington
to watch. He's running the country," Rangel added.

"He's a sick man, you know," Rangel said of Cheney, prompting
host Davidson Golden to point out that the vice president
suffers from heart disease.

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

Asked whether he thinks Cheney is healthy enough to do the
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 said.
"This is a sad state of affairs."

Rangel, who was on a roll last night, also took a potshot at
the President, who has spent the last month at his ranch in
Texas. When asked if Bush takes too much vacation time, Rangel
replied, "Oh, no, it makes the country a lot more safe - the
further Bush is away from Washington the better it is."

A spokeswoman for the vice president declined to comment.
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