Jefferson stripped of seat on House Ways and Means Committee, cries racism

One can’t help but experience a wave of schadenfreude at watching Dems accusing other Dems of racisim:

WASHINGTON β€” House Democrats, determined to make an election-year point about ethics, voted 99-58 Thursday night to strip Rep. William Jefferson of his committee assignment while a federal bribery investigation runs its course.

The rank and file acted despite a last-minute plea by the embattled Louisiana lawmaker and persistent complaints from the Congressional Black Caucus that there was neither rule or precedent for the action.

[…]

The chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, Rep. Melvin Watt, said after the vote that by taking the action they did, fellow Democrats chose “political expediency” or some other unacceptable factor over precedent. “Even at the end of the meeting we don’t know what the standard has been,” he said.

Watt said that constituents of some lawmakers will adopt the view that race was a factor in the decision. “I think there are people who will say that’s the basis,” he said. Blacks are among the Democrats’ most loyal voters.

*Chuckle* Haven’t we learned from how you guys have demagogued the issue of race with regards to Republicans, Rep. Watt, that perception = reality in the eyes of race-baiting Democrats in the Democratic party?

More via CNN:

Asked if he thought race was a factor in Pelosi’s decision, Jefferson replied before the vote, “It’s not happened before. The first time it’s happening, it’s happening to an African-American.”

The assertion that race is a factor has already been floated by members of the Congressional Black Caucus, including Watt, who question why Rep. Alan Mollohan of West Virginia, a white Democrat who also is under investigation, was allowed to keep his seat on the equally powerful Appropriations Committee.

Mollohan, whose personal finances are being investigated after a complaint filed by a conservative group, stepped down voluntarily from his post on the Ethics Committee, pending resolution of the inquiry.

Watt warned last week that singling out Jefferson would not be received well by black voters.

Thursday, he said, “Our constituents will import their own interpretation into this, and a number of them will import that there’s a different standard in our caucus based on race.”

Jefferson also raised race in his letter to Pelosi.

“When an African American member of an exclusive committee is asked to resign his committee because of news reports or allegations of wrongdoing, it gives the appearance of unfairness and even racial discrimination if another member continues serving on an exclusive committee under Justice Department investigation as well, particularly if the other member is white, and is not subject to the same treatment,” he wrote.

Call the wahmbulance!

Dems insinuating other Dems are racist. Delicious.

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