The American Spectator

Print Email

Text Size

Washington Prowler

(Page 2 of 2)

(As always Democrats completely misjudged the eagerness of Republicans to help them out -- yesterday Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner [R-Wisc.], the wealthiest man in Congress, became the first to call for Traficant's ouster.)

After Traficant's conviction on bribery and racketeering charges last Thursday, Gephardt moved quickly to demand that Traficant resign from the House. When reporters in Cleveland passed along Gephardt's suggestion, Traficant went ballistic. "Gephardt has no balls. He can go f--- himself," Traficant sputtered.

On Friday, Traficant hadn't changed his mind. In a written statement he said, "I meant it when I told him to go f--- himself. I didn't ask for him to resign as a result of him being an impotent Minority Leader and for having screwed up the party."

"I'm sure Mr. Traficant enjoys doing this kind of thing, but it's Mr. Gephardt who is getting the last laugh," says a staffer in Gephardt's leadership office.

topics:
Business