Rep. Charlie Rangel's first order of business as incoming Ways & Means Committee chairman (he won't be the official chairman until noon today) was to kick Dick Cheney out of the Capitol Hill office loaned him by Republicans when he was first elected vice president.
Rangel was giddy at the prospect of giving Cheney the boot the day after Democrats delivered Republicans a crushing defeat on Election Day.
"Mr. Cheney enjoys an office on the second floor of the House of Representatives that historically has been designated for the Ways and Means Committee chairman," Rangel said after the election.
Republicans gave the historic room to Cheney after he captured the vice presidency, but got him to sign a letter saying the gift wasn't permanent.
"I'm trying to find some way to be gentle as I restore the dignity of that office," Rangel chuckled at the time. "You gotta go, you gotta go."
Rangel was so eager to bounce Cheney from the office, he phoned new House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) less than 12 hours after the polls closed to get her approval.
Rangel's lack of class should come as no surprise considering his past comments to the Post that he considers the vice president a "son of a b****."
