He's Got a Plan to Stick it to The Man

This New York Daily News article is a blessing. It eases my pain:

Harlem's newly powerful Rep. Charles Rangel wants to stick it to his White House nemesis Vice President Cheney - by taking over his spacious House office.

At the same time, the veteran congressman offered a limp olive branch to the vice president yesterday, saying he regretted publicly calling him an SOB last week.

"I take back saying that publicly. I should have reserved that for him when we were together privately," said Rangel. "Believe me, he would have understood."

Ba-zing!

Rangel (D-Harlem), poised to become the next chairman of the important House Ways and Means Committee, spoke of the need for bipartisanship with the Republicans, even as he continued his feud with Cheney.

"Mr. Cheney enjoys an office on the second floor on the House of Representatives that historically has been designated as the Ways and Means chairman," Rangel mused. "And, I've talked with [future Speaker of the House] Nancy Pelosi ... and I'm trying to find some way to be gentle as I restore the dignity of that office to the chair."

The White House declined to comment.

Brilliant.

Rep. Rangel demonstrates here a principle I've been discussing for literally years on this blog - the use of ridicule and humiliation in illuminating the den of villainy that is the modern Republican party. John Stewart and Stephen Colbert demonstrate this principle every night: a well-observed and cutting remark can shut down right-wing propaganda with greater clarity and vitality than angry rhetoric or cataloging facts. Compare the number of people e-mailing one another shrill (if well-written) rants from partisan blogs vs. the number of people e-mailing one another You Tubed deleted scenes from Borat.

Rangel here mocks the entire ridiculous Cheney mystique - the carefully-guarded, mysterious "shadow President" - by depicting him as just a sad old man who has to give up his office. (Notice that he and Nancy Pelosi have to go about the task of kicking Cheney's ass out gently, so as not to hurt the poor guy's feelings. You can't make sudden moves around DC. He's sickly! The guy could drop at any minute!) It's great stuff.

[Jane at Firedoglake draws the obvious cinematic parallel.]