Daschle should withdraw

[Onlooker]

He seems to be a dishonest man, with too many tax mistakes to believe they were all honest mistakes, and a post Senator record that really stinks. He skirted lobbying laws, so that he could work with Bob Dole, earn $2 million, and help out the companies that made a mess of our health care system.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Daschle#Post-Senate_career

Following his election defeat, Daschle took a position with the lobbying arm of the K Street law firm Alston & Bird. Because he was prohibited by law from lobbying for one year after leaving the Senate, he instead worked as a "special policy adviser" for the firm.

Alston & Bird's health care lobbying clients include CVS Caremark, the National Association for Home Care and Hospice, Abbott Laboratories and HealthSouth.<5> The firm was paid $5.8 million between January and September 2008 to represent companies and associations before Congress and the executive branch, with 60 percent of that money coming from the health industry.<6> Daschle was recruited by the former Republican Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole.<21> Daschle's salary from Alston & Bird for the year 2008 was reportedly $2 million.<22>

[mucifer]

1. But then who would go to bat for the medical insurance corporations?

:shrug:

[Tesha]

4. Why, whomever Obama next nominates, of course!

Probably a *REAL* Republican this time.

Tesha

[Autumn]

2. He should but I'm not holding

my breath.

[Dawgs]

3. Well, you can be sure that Obama won't dump him.

Looking out for your friends is not the kind of "change" we need.

[mod mom]

5. Daschle has as much integrity as Newt Gingrich (how he dumped his 1st wife that got him elected)

Not only is he the consummate corporate special interest whore, but look how he treated his 1st wife who helped get him elected in the 1st place:

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/02/01/daschle/index.html


UPDATE: I also can't help but contrasting this passage detailing how Tom and Linda ended up married, from The Washington Monthly article . . . :
Yes, it's true: Before Mrs. Daschle was Mrs. Daschle, she was Miss Kansas, 1976.
Petite and blond, with perfect, straight white teeth, Daschle is still strikingly beautiful at 46. But she has a vise-like handshake you wouldn't expect from a beauty queen that suggests the steely interior necessary to survive in Washington power circles. . . .
She met Tom Daschle on a work trip to South Dakota. At the time, Tom Daschle was a freshman congressman, married to the woman who in 1978 had helped him ring 40,000 doorbells and go on to unseat an incumbent by 14 votes. By 1984, Tom had divorced his first wife, with whom he had three children, and married Linda . . .
. . . . with this 2003 clip of Tom Daschle, explaining to Jon Stewart that gay marriage must not be allowed because "a man and a woman have a sacred and a traditional cultural bond within this country. . . it's a statement of fact: society is embracing the marriage of a man and a woman, and by and large, that's the way it should be . . . DOMA is the statute and I don't think it's unconstitutional":

YOU CAN TELL A LOT ABOUT A PERSON BY HIS ACTIONS! NO TO DASCHLE-IT GIVES AMMO TO THE GOP! (AREN'T WE BETTER THAN THEM?)

[bullwinkle428]

9. Yeccch! Thom Hartmann was really trying to push the positive spin

on Daschle, on his show yesterday, by saying what a "nice guy" he is. Sorry, Thom...this is the final nail in the coffin of that "nice guy" image!

[mod mom]

13. Greenwald covered that tidbit as an update. but I have not seen it published in MSM.

I thought only Republicans did such sleazy things. I wish we could hear from his 1st wife.

[biopowertoday]

6. Todays NYTimes Editoral AGREES with you:.............

and so do I.
He will always be a big blemish on Obama's Administration!!



http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/03/opinion/03tue1.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

February 3, 2009
Editorial
The Travails of Tom Daschle

When President Obama nominated former Senator Tom Daschle to be his secretary of health and human services, it seemed to be a good choice. Mr. Daschle, as the co-author of a book on health care reform, knew a lot about one of the president’s signature issues. As a former Senate majority leader, he also knew a lot about guiding controversial bills through Congress, where he remains liked and respected by former colleagues.
...............

Now we are confronted with an even larger lapse by Mr. Daschle, who failed to pay $128,000 in taxes, primarily for personal use of a car and driver provided to him by a private equity firm for which he consulted. Although the firm — headed by a major Democratic donor — had not issued a form 1099 for the value of the car service, Mr. Daschle said he became concerned last June that he might owe taxes on it and instructed his accountant to investigate. Neither was concerned enough to actually pay the taxes.

Only after the Obama transition team flagged unrelated tax issues that would require filing amended returns did Mr. Daschle and his accountant address the need to report the personal use value of the car service — more than $255,000 over three years — as income. Only after he had been chosen to be the health secretary did Mr. Daschle tell the transition team about the unpaid taxes. He paid some $140,000 in back taxes and interest on Jan. 2 to settle several tax problems — and he acknowledges owing more................


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.



:drinks: to the NYTimes

[MADem]

7. He's the guy who urged Obama to run NOW, and not later, when he had more experience.

He told Obama that if he didn't have a record, people couldn't play "gotcha" with it. It was Daschle who convinced Obama to make his move NOW.

Obama and Daschle are TIGHT. He's going to try to make it work.

IMO.

[global1]

10. Well Daschle Is Not Obama - Daschle Has A Record And It Ain't Good.......

Daschle is old Washington - he is not 'change we can believe in'. Daschle should do the right thing and withdraw his name from nomination. If Obama still wants to use him - use him as a consultant - but not a Secretary/Cabinet person.

I can remember when both Daschle and Gephardt pulled out of D.C. Neither of these guys were effective and it was good to see them go.

I was just thinking if this were a Repug president and they were bringing on either Frist or Lott to fill the same position and either of them had the tax problems and ties to the insurance/healthcare lobby - the Dems would make a big deal over it.

Daschle needs to step down.

[MADem]

16. He's out now, anyway. But I wouldn't be surprised if someone with the same skillset replaces him.

The whole cabinet isn't "change we can believe in." That was just a slogan. Anyone who listened to Obama, really listened to him, knew he wasn't a "real" change candidate--he's a centrist and a triangulator, just like the very successful forty second president was. Yes, that's "change" compared to BUSH, but it's the Bill Clinton playbook he's using, AND a Bill Clinton cabinet backing him up. He's Bill Clinton, just slightly younger and more "hip" to appeal to the younger generation.

[hay rick]

17. fair assessment. nt

[Thrill]

8. His ego won't allow it

[Bobbie Jo]

11. I have never been a Daschle fan, I have to agree

he should step aside. It might be different if he was "that" good, but he has not impressed me as one worthy of the fight.

[Phx_Dem]

12. Disagree. Health Care is more important that Daschle's

tax error -- which has been paid. I love Howard Dean, but Daschle has the clout to get HC through Congress, Dean does not. It's that simple. Who gives a crap what the NY Times thinks? They're hardly a pillar of ethics, after their Iraq war reporting scam.

[flpoljunkie]

14. Perhaps, but what kind of health care reform? And, who will it most benefit?

[biopowertoday]

15. well, I do not think those two are the only 2 that would do the reforms.