Rep. Charles Rangel Compares Tea Party in House to 'Confederates'

15 October 2013

 

Washington (CNN) - Rep. Charles Rangel on Tuesday compared what he considers the most intransigent members of the House Republican caucus with the Confederates of the American Civil War.

 

The last-minute holdups on a deal over funding the government and raising the debt ceiling, the longtime Democrat from New York City told CNN's Ashleigh Banfield, are not coming from conflict between Republicans and Democrats.

Rather, "this is all about a handful of people who got elected as Republicans that want to bring down our government. You can see it in the streets. You can see where they're coming from," Rangel said.

"The same way they fought as Confederates, they want to bring down the government and reform it."

Rangel was asked to confirm that he was referring to the Confederates of the Civil War. He told Banfield, "If you take a look at the states that they control, take a look at the Dixiecrats, see how they went over the Republican Party…"

To that Banfield pointed out that Michelle Bachmann, a major voice against Obamacare, is not a Dixiecrat but a Republican from Minnesota.