Conservatives often complain that when liberals talk about "diversity," they refer only to skin color and ethnicity and are actually hostile to diversity of ideas.

So we ought to welcome signs of true political diversity in Congress, to wit, as the Washington Times reports: "Congressional Black Caucus members no longer vote lock step with each other and the Democratic Party, reflecting a significant change in the economic status and demographics of their cons uents and their own political aspirations."

The CBC is entirely Democratic, but significant numbers of its members voted with Republicans on such matters as estate tax repeal and bankruptcy reform. But Charles Rangel of New York, the caucus's second most senior member (after Michigan's John Conyers) isn't happy:

Quote Originally Posted by Congressman Charles Rangel
"Why any member would be voting for the bankruptcy bill or estate-tax repeal or for making the tax cuts permanent or any of those things is just stupid, but it doesn't tear us apart because whether it is a speaker or a member, we only have one vote."

"We have to be very, very tolerant of a person that votes stupid, because they may think they have a good reason and they are the ones who come down here, so you may think the vote is stupid but they know what they are doing."
Maybe Rangel should start wearing one of those I'M WITH STUPID T-shirts on the House floor--though these point to the wearer's left.