CHARLES RANGEL UPDATE: Rangle Untangle: DC Dems Move to Save Him. “House Democrats are willing to rally around Rep. Charles Rangel in his latest spate of tax missteps — but only as long as no more embarrassing revelations come to light, sources told The Post. The head of the powerful Ways and Means Committee last week amended six years’ worth of financial disclosure forms and revealed he’d earned $1.3 million in previously unreported income. That’s on top of ongoing House Ethics Committee probes into four other areas of Rangel’s financial past — including failure to properly report income taxes on a Caribbean villa he owns. ” Of course, there’s also a risk of criminal prosecution, but I suppose he feels pretty safe with Eric Holder at Justice, who’s already shown considerable willingness to let politics influence decisions on who to prosecute.

Really, this isn’t a bug, but a feature: The more vulnerable he becomes, the easier it is for the Democratic leadership to keep him in line.