Anything You Can Do from Annie, Get Your Gun (1950)

It's the closest approximation of the Sunday shows I can think of right now: Annie Oakley and Frank Butler trying to one-up each other, screaming face to face and fighting about nothing of substance. Although I can't complain this week that the Democrats are non-existent or out-numbered (and hooray! the Obama administration has figured out they need to be out there too), my feeling is that the discussion will not be any more substantive than Annie and Frank's. WH Spokesperson Robert Gibbs will be on This Week, Senior Adviser David Axelrod will be on Meet the Press and Education Secretary Arne Duncan will be on Face the Nation, presumably to discuss the latest GOP hissy fit du jour of Obama's planned speech to students. But we'll also get lots of health care jabs as well, with Dr. Thomas Frieden of CDC on State of the Union and Howard Dean and Newt Gingrich on Fox News Sunday.

ABC's "This Week" - White House press secretary Robert Gibbs; former Sens. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., and Bob Dole, R-Kan.; Reps. Mike Pence, R-Ind., and Maxine Waters, D-Calif.

CBS' "Face the Nation" - Education Secretary Arne Duncan.

NBC's "Meet the Press" - David Axelrod, White House senior adviser; Rudy Giuliani, former New York City mayor; Harold Ford Jr., Democratic Leadership Council chairman.

NBC's "The Chris Matthews Show" - Panel: Eugene Robinson, Katty Kay, Gloria Borger and Michael Duffy. Topics: How does President Obama need to reset the health care debate? Should Ted Kennedy have shown more public penance for Chappaquiddick? Meter Questions: Will outspoken fringe players dominate GOP for the rest of Obama's term? YES: 9 NO: 3;
If unemployment is still high next year, will Obama revise his tax proposals? YES: 11 No: 1.

CNN's "State of the Union" - Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Gov. Tim Pawlenty, R-Minn.; Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Ben Nelson, D-Neb.

CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS" - Some of our greatest hits: First, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates on the limits of American power. Then former New York State governor Elliot Spitzer's unique perspective on the financial crisis and the Dalai Lama's perspective on the world.

"Fox News Sunday" - Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn.; Howard Dean, former national Democratic Party chairman; John Podesta, head of the Center for American Progress; former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga.

So, what's catching your eye this morning?

Newt advises Sarah (h/t Blue Gal. Click here for larger.)

Can you believe it? I'm actually looking forward to this morning's shows. No, not George Snufflupagus on This Week or William the Bloody on Fox News Sunday, but our very own Rachel Maddow is subbing for David Gregory is on the panel opposite Dick Armey on Meet the Press. Rachel has been relentless in the last couple of weeks on the astroturfing of FreedomWorks, so this promises to be a lot of fun. Around the dial, it's all about the health care reform bill, with HHS Sec. Kathleen Sebelius on This Week and State of the Union, Robert Gibbs on Face the Nation and executives from the AMA and AARP on Fox News Sunday. Arlen Specter will be on This Week, to share his take on the recent Town Hall shout fests. Fareed Zakaria will continue his interview Sec of State Hillary Clinton and you can bet her defensive responses in Africa will definitely be brought up.

ABC's "This Week" - Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius; Sens. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., and Orrin Hatch, R-Utah.

CBS' "Face the Nation" - White House press secretary Robert Gibbs; former Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb.; former Rep. Lee Hamilton, D-Ind.

NBC's "Meet the Press" - FreedomWorks chairman and former Rep. Dick Armey, R-Texas; Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla.; former Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D.; R. Bruce Josten, executive vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y.; Gov. Bill Ritter, D-Colo.

NBC's "The Chris Matthews Show" - Panel: Rick Stengel, Trish Regan, John Heilemann, Kathleen Parker. Topics: Has the domestic "change" President Obama promised stalled? How has Woodstock in 1969 impacted the politics of the past forty years? Meter Questions: Will outspoken fringe players dominate GOP for the rest of Obama's term? YES: 9 NO: 3; If unemployment is still high next year, will Obama revise his tax proposals? YES: 11 NO: 1.

CNN's "State of the Union" - Sebelius; Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo.; Reps. Mike Ross, D-Ark., Tom Price, R-Ga., and Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas.

CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS" - The first television interview with Michael Oren as Israel's new Ambassador to the United States. Plus, the Prime Minister of Kenya and an unusual event in Nairobi featuring Hillary Clinton and Fareed.

"Fox News Sunday" - Sens. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., and Richard Shelby, R-Ala.; J. James Rohack, president of the American Medical Association; John Rother, executive vice president for policy and strategy at AARP.

So, what's catching your eye this morning?

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It's so refreshing to have a President that is man enough to admit when he's wrong and take responsibility for it.

"I'm here on television saying I screwed up, and that's part of the era of responsibility. It's not never making mistakes; it's owning up to them and trying to make sure you never repeat them and that's what we intend to do."

You can watch the entire interview here.

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Not a good day for the Obama administration:

Former Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle on Tuesday withdrew his nomination to oversee the Health and Human Services Department, just a few hours after another Obama nominee also withdrew.

Both had controversies with taxes and cited distractions over that as their reasons for withdrawing.

In a White House statement, President Barack Obama said he accepted Daschle's withdrawal "with sadness and regret."

I gather that Daschle woke up, read the NYT editorial, realized he was going to be a major distraction for Obama, and opted out.

It's unfortunate, but probably the right decision.

The 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.

Hey, I know I always forget to report my free car and driver - I just got used to it as a well-known blogger!

Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, President Barack Obama's nominee for the secretary of Health and Human Services, paid around $100,000 in back taxes after his nomination to pay for a car and driver he was supplied but did not report as income, according to documents being prepared by the Senate Finance Committee.

Mr. Daschle also took two vacation trips aboard a $30 million corporate jet belonging to non-profit lender EduCap, which faces a separate probe by the Finance Committee into its tax status.

The issues will dominate a closed-door meeting of the committee called for Monday afternoon, according to committee aides. His confirmation has been held up for weeks as committee staff pours over tax records and business ties of the former Senate majority leader.

A Daschle spokeswoman didn't respond immediately to requests for comment.

On the back-tax issue, Mr. Daschle was supplied a luxury car and driver by InterMedia Advisors, LLP, an investment firm specializing in buyouts and industry consolidation. Mr. Daschle served as chairman of the firm's executive advisory board. He told committee staff he had grown used to having a car and driver as majority leader and did not think to report the perk on his taxes, according to staff members.

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So Tom Daschle is going to be Health and Human Services Secretary. Even the Republicans agree that it's a brilliant choice, since it will take someone with real knowledge of how to get things done in Congress to be an effective secretary here.

It's a key position because it means Daschle is going to be the point man on Obama's plans for health-care reform. Daschle already has laid out where he's going, and it's a decidedly progressive direction -- though, notably, it still falls short of a single-payer system.

  Heather writes:

Tom Daschle manages to get in a dig after George Stephanopoulos mis-speaks and confuses Poland for Czechoslovakia and gets in a shot at McCain for not remembering that the country does not exist any more in response to Romney touting McCain's worldly experience with his response to the Russia/Georgia conflict.

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It really is a shame that Mitt's $35 million investment for President didn't pan out; it's pretty obvious that he would have been the weakest candidate of the bunch. And his "experience = judgment" argument re: McCain is laughable. Just as is true with Rumsfeld and Cheney, so-called "experience" is worthless when 30+ years of it leads you to believe that, say, a war with Iraq will be a cakewalk with no negative repercussions. For all his naivete and "inexperience," Barack Obama predicted rather accurately what an invasion would entail.