Stephen Colbert's Best Moments on Empire State Politics

Most people forget about li'l ol' New York State, with its shrinking violet politicians and its Aw Shucksy down-home folkiness. But Rep. Charlie Rangel's recent improprieties have sort of dragged New York kicking and screaming back into the limelight. And, since it's already here, we might as well use this opportunity to examine it through a Colbert-approved politiscope. 'Cause who knows when we'll be hearing from it again…

Eliot Spitzer: Spitzer Sandwich

The Colbert Report airs Monday through Thursday at 11:30pm / 10:30c.

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Tags: Caroline Kennedy, Carolyn Maloney, Charlie Rangel, Dan Maffei, David Paterson, Eliot Spitzer, Hillary Clinton, House of Representatives, John Hall, Kirsten Gillibrand, Maurice Hinchley, New York, Senate, Stephen Colbert, The Colbert Report, Video

Indecision 2008 Presents: When Congressmen Attack

Representative Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) is going to get his day in court to defend himself against charges of second-degree harassment stemming from a July 19th altercation with a gun salesman. The upstate New York Congressman was allegedly attending a street fair when he smacked NRA representative Paul Lendvay on the head.

… The conversation quickly became heated.

"I was laying it down on the line," Lendvay said. "I was telling Maurice in spades what I thought of him as a congressman. I told him, 'I don't consider you my congressman.'"

Lendvay, 46, said he told Hinchey that in November he and others would get the congressman out of office, to which Hinchey replied it wouldn't happen. He claimed Hinchey then firmly swatted him on the head with an open palm above his hat brim.

Hinchey maintains his innocence, insisting that there was no physical contact between him and Lendvay. This whole story is very strange, however, because Hinchey is well-known as an opponent of gun control, often putting him at odds with his Democratic colleagues. Presumably, he and the NRA shouldn't have had a problem.

In fact, Hinchey is so much of a gun supporter that he proudly exercised his Second Amendment rights back in 1994 by going through security at Washington National Airport with a loaded handgun in his bag.

I can only hope that when this mess is over, Hinchey and Lendvay will patch up their difference and head down to the local shooting range with fellow New Yorker and gun enthusiast Sen. Chuck Schumer!

Tags: Chuck Schumer, Maurice Hinchley