Mark Udall Was For Tax Cheat Rangel Stepping Down Before He Was Against It

It appears Mark Udall is having second - or is it third? - thoughts about Congressional colleague and admitted tax cheat Charlie Rangel. Even after the revelations of Rangel's dirty dealings, Udall refused to return the $12,000 in campaign contributions from Rangel's PAC.

Then during last Sunday's Meet The Press debate, Mark Udall suggested that Charlie Rangel should step down from his committee chairmanship - even if Udall wasn't willing to return the campaign funds.

But by Friday Mark Udall decided to clarify his remarks:

“My quotes were misreported,” Udall said in a brief interview outside the Capitol Friday morning, where he was to cast his vote on the financial rescue package coming before the House. “I said, in effect, that if I were in Mr. Rangel’s shoes I might step aside. But it’s up to Mr. Rangel. He’s an American hero, he’s an enormous asset to the Congress...” ...

Contrary to media reports, Udall said Friday, it was a mistake to read his comments as a call for Rangel to step aside.

“The headlines suggesting I called on him to resign couldn’t have been more wrong. I was saying if I were in his shoes I might step aside as chair of the committee and let the ethics process play out," Udall said. “But we need him. We need him." [emphases added]

So Charlie Rangel is a "hero" and "an enormous asset to the Congress" who is needed in his post, despite tax fraud. But Mark Udall said if he were the one who committed tax fraud, he would have stepped down. Why the distinction? Because Udall indeed is anything but "an enormous asset to the Congress," and no one else there would say they "need him"? Sounds like a campaign commercial I can believe in.

Either Mark Udall is chronically unable to make up his mind about important ethical issues, or he is working hard to obscure the truth from voters. Whichever it is, do Colorado voters need such (lack of) leadership in the U.S. Senate?

Another Nice Thing to Say About Mark Udall

Some complain that this blog is completely one-sided in its praise of candidates in Colorado's U.S. Senate race. Yet while we tilt heavily to one side, it is simply untrue that we never give Mark Udall credit. (Here's a recent example.) So here goes the latest:

One of Mark Udall's positive traits - his personal financial integrity - is highlighted in contrast with the exploits of his Minnesota counterpart. Yes, to the best of our knowledge, Mark Udall is NOT a Democratic candidate who owes thousands of dollars in income taxes and penalties.

Scott Johnson, one of Power Line's uberbloggers, puts it best:

Since the expiration of the Al Franken decade in 1990, the only kind of humor for which Franken has been responsible is unintentional. Assuming Franken's tax delinquencies are the result of negligence, they would run true to his post-Franken decade form.

By contrast, Mark Udall has not been responsible for much in the way of humor (outside of sponsoring the Department of Peace proposal) and for nothing in the way of tax delinquency.

Colorado at least can be thankful that Mark Udall is no Al Franken.