The NY Times Suggests Daschle Should Step Down
By Susie Madrak Tuesday Feb 03, 2009 10:00amThe Times thinks Tom Daschle should step down, and I have to say, for these reasons and others, it wouldn't break my heart. (Although I also have to note, the Times only seems to get quite this picky about Democrats):
Mr. Daschle’s financial ties to major players in the health care industry may prove to be even more troublesome as health reform efforts proceed. Like many former power players in Washington, Mr. Daschle cashed in on his political savvy and influence to earn $5 million in recent years, including more than $2 million from Alston & Bird, a law and lobbying firm; more than $2 million from the private equity firm, InterMedia Advisors, which provided the car and driver; and hundreds of thousands of dollars for speeches to interest groups, including those representing health insurance plans, medical equipment distributors and pharmacy boards.
Although Mr. Daschle was not a registered lobbyist, he offered policy advice to the UnitedHealth Group, a huge insurance conglomerate. He was also a trustee of the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, on whose behalf he voiced opposition to a federal loan for a freight rail line near the clinic’s headquarters in Rochester, Minn. The loan was subsequently denied by the Federal Railroad Administration.
Mr. Daschle is another in a long line of politicians who move cozily between government and industry. We don’t know that his industry ties would influence his judgments on health issues, but they could potentially throw a cloud over health care reform. Mr. Daschle could clear the atmosphere by withdrawing his name.
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taxing.
The same New York Times that thought the Iraq War: The Sequel was a good idea?
Howard Dean for the Secretary of Health & Human Services!!!!!
Maybe now they can suggest that Limbaugh get arrest in the Dominican for child rape.
Howard Dean needs to be our Health & Human Services Secretary.
Make it happen. Spread the Word. Contact the Obama team.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
Thanks guys. Its a never ending thankless job. But we can succeed.
Over and out.
.
Dean is a good choice (but let's check his tax returns, first).
I sent the email to Barry, in the meantime.
Daschle submitted his request for withdrawl. Obama accepted.
But not because he's a tool of the health insurance industry. Only because of his stupid tax violations.
Well, a win is a win.
Obama cannot buck the corporations. They bankrolled his election.
it should send a chill down everyone's spine that he was even offered the HHS sec'y position...
the daschle's are like the carville's: DC whores, up to their hooves in the corporate trough.
If allowed to remain and confirmed, the 'thugs will pound at Daschle's tax problems to the point that nothing else matters. I feel for the former Senator, that it's happened to him again; but when will those who have been, are in, or perhaps will be in power get their (tax) affairs in order? Unfair that a 'thug could not pay taxes for years and still be elevated? Yes. A fact that if you're a Democrat and fail to pay even a cent you'll be hung out to dry? Sadly, yes. But until the Democrats wake up and realise that this meme will dominate our political discourse -- regardless of hope for a post-partisan Washington -- this is what to expect.
Howard Dean for Health & Human Services Secretary.
Put forth your ideas on who to contact to best make this happen.
Eleanor Roosevelt. She buttonholed FDR on a few things and got some stuff done that he wouldn't have otherwise.
Obama's paying off the national debt...one nominee at a time.
By getting all of his appointees to pay back taxes, he seems to have hit on a good means of increasing tax revenue to the treasury.
I think the next step is to require all lobbyists to submit their taxes to public review.
I hope Daschle mailed his check BEFORE he decided to withdraw his name!!
thats now 3 nominees with tax issues, two have stepped down
and yes, dean should be the nominee....he always should have
i dont care who he pissed off...he is the best qualified for the position
what does their failure to pay their taxes have to do with the need to change the tax code?
As long as we have a tax system this obtuse, we will always have high levels of non-compliance.
and even he didnt know that one had to pay taxes on a loaned car
now maybe i need a new accountant, but this was the first time i had ever heard of that
.
The bulk of his troubles stem for the fact that he seems to have "omitted" a few months of his $1 million a year salary.
I don't need an accountant to figure out that I have to pay income tax on all my paychecks, especially when each paychek is over $80K per month.
To be fair, his position by his employer seemed to be purely symbolic. So it makes sense that Daschle felt he did not have to pay taxes for doing nothing.
That is, I guess, the kind of person we need heralding our Health Services office: A corporate lackey in the pockets of a private company with total disconnection from the woes and tribulations of real people. Married to one of DC's biggest lobbyist to boot.
...As he should. I don't care how great he would be at this. We have a semi-good thing (the best in a long-ass time) going on here and we don't want to F it up. He's one man. There is absolutely no way to argue that he is the only one on the planet who can handle it just as well, if not mayhap better. He should step aside quietly and throw someone in who will do things identically to him. Again, there is a vast sea of billions of people on this planet. It's not worth the fight. Obama needs to vet people better. He's (us as well) friggin' lucky to be there himself in the first place. We need him and we need his policies to get through to start working towards better yet policies in the future. We need progression and if it takes a different person to get the same job done then so be it. Get him out and move on. It gives 'em less to yap about. Goals, people. Think of the goals, not silly pride about fairness along the way.
"We don’t know that his industry ties would influence his judgments on health issues"...
really?
you don't know?
really???? do you need someone to draw a picture for you?
jaw-gapingly dumb....
the cheerleader of the Iraq Occupation?
Daschle, along with Reid, Pelosi, Conyers & Leahy, represent spineless Democrats of the Past. We need some young, fresh, aggressive people in there, fully balled and ready to fight.
Obama picked at least one outsider/progressive?? I know, it's too much to hope for.
then this would become the most inclusive cabinet ever
think of it, real disussions like grownups...not monolythic thought
Though they often speak volumes! Thanks
Good riddance. Although I'm not holding out any hope that any true Liberal will get the job. Obama continues to disappoint.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RV_0eKNBZPo
Both Daschles can go back to making millions as lobbyists.
they need to shut the fuck up on what President Obama's appointees should do.
These are the same fuckfaces that cheer led the for the Bush Admin, in the run up to the unprovoked attack and subsequent occupation of Iraq.
You might say they were culpable in the act, as Hearst was in the Spanish-American War. Total yellow Journalism.
the American people as soon as I learned that he sat on the Board of Directors of British Petroleum and has been paid over 5 million dollars in the last 2 years. This sum is what the majority of Americans will never earn in their entire lives.
$400,000,000 - Discretionary Funds, Secretary of HHS (Tom Daschle won't have to pay taxes on this) :-)
2 B continued...
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