Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) on Tuesday compared the small faction of Tea Party Republicans in the House to Civil War Confederates while discussing the government shutdown.
“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 on CNN. “And the same way they fought as Confederates, they want to bring down the government and reform it.”
Rangel claimed that the group of Republicans blocking a budget compromise represent Southern states.
“I can tell you this, if you take a look at the states that they control, take a look and see how they went over to the Republican party,” Rangel said, clarifying his comparison of Republicans to Confederates.
When asked by anchor Ashleigh Banfield whether or not Democrats should accept that these Republicans were elected and negotiate with them, Rangel said that certain members were too unwilling to compromise.
“First of all, I don’t think I’m going to like what the Senate comes up with. But in an effort to make certain that it re-opens government, I’m prepared to do it. And as far as my ilk is concerned, the ilk is not with me and the people that support my position,” Rangel said. “It’s a small number of people in the Republican party that really is against anything that comes out of these negotiations.”
