Another Dem Shows Some Spine

Charlie Rangel, whom you may remember introduced a resolution calling for a draft to supply troops for the Iraqi invasion, calls out Dick Cheney:

WASHINGTON - The feud between Vice President Cheney and Rep. Charlie Rangel reignited as the Harlem lawmaker ripped the veep as a draft dodger who found it "easy to fight [a war] with other people's children."
The decorated Korean War veteran took aim at Cheney after the White House put Vietnam War hero Rep. Jack Murtha (D-Pa.) in its cross hairs for recanting his support for the Iraq war and calling for the troops to return home.

"Cheney is like a chess player; he likes to move other people's pieces. In this case, it's sending other people's kids to war," Rangel told the Daily News.

Murtha had made a similar assault on Cheney's toughness, saying, "I like guys who got five deferments and never been there and send people to war."

Republicans howled, with one even suggesting Murtha, a decorated former Marine, was a coward.

But even before Murtha was attacked by the White House, Rangel was miffed over a speech in which Cheneyblasted congressional critics of the war for making "the most dishonest and reprehensible charges." Cheney has been accused of manipulating prewar intelligence that claimed Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.

"The President and I cannot prevent certain politicians from losing their memory or their backbone," Cheney said Wednesday.

"It was as mean a speech as I've ever heard," Rangel said.

Rangel fought for his life on a frozen mountain in North Korea with the 503rd Field Artillery Battalion. He caught shrapnel in his foot on Nov. 30, 1950, and was awarded the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart.

Cheney got five deferments and took a pass on fighting in Vietnam.

GO CHARLIE!