Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and Congressman Charles Rangel have almost nothing in common except this: They still enjoy the enthusiastic support of their most ardent fans and supporters despite their manifestly bad behavior.

The Pittsburgh Steelers star “heard nothing but cheers from the crowd” of about 10,000 people as he made his way to the team’s pre-season practice field in Latrobe, Pa., Saturday, according to the Post Gazette newspaper.

“I didn’t know what to expect,” he told the newspaper of his first face-to-face contact with fans since he narrowly escaped sexual-assault charges last winter.

Big Ben was accused of liquoring up three girls in a Georgia bar and then cornering one of them alone in a women’s restroom for some sort of disputed sexual encounter.

A couple of Pittsburgh cop buddies traveling with him blocked the woman’s friends from entering the restroom, leaving Ben free to do whatever he did.

She said it was rape; he said it wasn’t. The hospital tests were inconclusive and no charges were brought. Still, the circumstances of the incident were sleazy and suspicious.

“Everything that has happened,” he told the paper, “we put behind us because it’s time for football now.”

Out of sight, out of mind, apparently.

Rangel, meanwhile, is polling well in his Harlem congressional district despite two years of ethics revelations and investigations, and is expected to cruise easily to his next election victory.

He is accused of renting four rent-stabilized apartments in a Harlem luxury building and using one as his campaign office, all in apparent violation of New York City and state laws.

Later, the Washington Post reported that he used his office and stationery to solicit donations for his foundation from big companies that had business before his committee.

Then the New York Post reported that he failed to disclose rental income from his Caribbean villa, basically evading state and federal tax on about $75,000 in income, plus not reporting it on his House disclosure forms.

What’s more, he hadn’t paid interest on the villa’s mortgage in 10 years on a loan given him by a campaign donor.

It’s worth noting that Rangel first won this seat in Congress in an upset victory over Adam Clayton Powell, who spent years fighting corruption charges from the Caribbean island of Bimini.

Powell was so popular he was actually re-elected to the seat left vacant by his removal from Congress.

All of which probably proves nothing but the obvious — that high-profile people too often get a free pass from their most ardent supporters, who seem to forgive even the most perverse or unethical behavior.

In fact, a brush with scandal actually intensifies the support these people get from those closest to them.

Perhaps, after supporting and admiring someone for years, it is just too jarring and difficult to accept the ugly truth that these are just unworthy people.

Fortunately, the rest of the world knows better.

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