You asked for it and will probably get it DU. RE: HHS

[onehandle]

You will get someone more corporate and more DLC.

Way to support Obama getting his team and getting healthcare done.

[Alexander]

1. More corporate and DLC than Tom Daschle?

Unless the pick is Al From himself, how is that possible?

[Muttocracy]

4. Good questions. nt

[TheWraith]

9. Tom Daschle isn't a member of the DLC.

Despite what people who make things up out of thin air may tell you.

[Alexander]

15. But his wife is a lobbyist and they are both shills for the insurance and credit card industries.

Sounds like the worst of the DLC offenders to me.

[Sebastian Doyle]

16. He sure did a passable imitation as Senate Majority Leader

A spineless coward who caved in to whatever Chimpy and the neocons wanted. Good riddance to the piece of shit, and lets hope we never hear from him again.

[wyldwolf]

24. he certainly was when he was Senator Daschle..

[Phx_Dem]

23. Daschle was an Obama man before it was cool.

And I don't believe he is a member of the DLC.

[Muttocracy]

2. You think Daschle and Obama read DU and make decisions based on it?! nt

[onehandle]

13. No.

Are you kidding?

[ProSense]

3. No, you don't have to ask it, just accept it because it's too late now. Daschle was ambushed.

Editorials and Double Standards:

In withdrawing from consideration for secretary of health and human services, former Senate majority leader Tom Daschle had five words of explanation: “I read the New York Times.” The Times this morning published an editorial calling for Daschle to withdraw. So he did. Daschle (indeed everybody) should have read the Washington Post instead. The Post ran an editorial saying that Daschle’s sins were disturbing but not disqualifying and, “if Mr. Obama still wants” him, “he’s entitled to have him.” True, this backhanded endorsement was in some ways more insulting than the Times’s magisterial, “Go, sir.” The Post made Daschle seem like pineapple chunks on your pizza—sure, go ahead, have them if you want them. (But why would you want them?) Nevertheless, the Post did not order him out.

So Timothy Geithner is now treasury secretary, and his success or failure at that job will soon leave his own tax problems as a forgotten footnote. Daschle, meanwhile, knows that for the rest of his life, and in his obituary, the key fact about him will be that he had to withdraw from a big government position because he didn’t pay his taxes. And, if anything, Geithner’s case is more egregious. The amounts involved are similar. But look at the differences. In his new job Geithner is in charge of the Internal Revenue Service. Furthermore, Geithner broke a well-known and uncomplicated rule involving the way employees of the International Monetary Fund pay their Social Security taxes, whereas Daschle’s error was in the murky area of when a perk like a car and driver gets treated like taxable income. So what explains why Daschle had to withdraw and Geithner didn’t?

It could just be that Geithner is a better card player. He knew when to hold’em while Daschle was too quick to fold’em. Or it might be that treasury secretary is a hotter job than secretary of health and human services at the moment. People are scared to death and wouldn’t care if Geithner had chopped his mother’s head off if he is in other respects the best qualified candidate. It might be that Geithner’s indiscretion really was about taxes, which aren’t all that interesting, whereas Daschle’s is actually about being Senate majority leader and then making $5 million over two years as an influence peddler. It’s only about taxes the way they got Al Capone on taxes.

But the main reason that Geithner survived while Daschle didn’t is that Daschle came second. Second is exactly the wrong place to be. The malefactor who comes first gets away with it because the issue is new and we’re not entirely sure how angry we are supposed to be about it. The one who comes fourth or fifth likely gets away with it because we’ve started to get bored with the story line and, anyway, our bloodlust has been satisfied. But the malefactor who comes second feels the full fury of our wrath.

Or maybe it’s that the New York Times editorial page is more influential than the Post’s. No, that can’t be it.

[Muttocracy]

6. Daschle coming after Geitner and the woman earlier today certainly made a difference. nt

[Occam Bandage]

8. Certainly he did. Had he been the first, I would have supported him regardless.

As it stands, I felt enough was enough.

[Occam Bandage]

7. I order my thin-crust pizzas with pineapple and jalapenos.

I resent my pizza choice being compared to Sen. Daschle.

[CTyankee]

21. OH DEAR, pineapple and jalapenos on pizza?

Come to New Haven and I will introduce you to the real thing and it is marvelous. I will take you to the Wooster Square area and we'll go to Sally's (named after a guy) or Pepe's. You will never go back to your p and j "pizza" again.

Here in New Haven, it is called abeetz. Coming here directly from Sicily in the early part of the last century, new immigrants opened up their little "Apizza" places. A long and honored tradition attested to by countless Yalies who mourn leaving New Haven because they leave behind the country's best pizza.

I've had pizza in Sicily and all over Italy and it's no better there --good, even great, but no better! :hi:

[H2O Man]

10. It wasn't the NY Times.

It was DUers fault. Darned them.

[depakid]

25. As usual, the Post is full of shit

as is this editorial.

Daschle's matter was far simpler than Geithner's -so simple in fact, that dman near anyone who read the tax pamhlets would have a clue.

Take something of value (like a car and chaffeur for your personal use) in return for services rendered, and that's gross income.

Period. End of story.

Not that Geithner should have skated either- he shoul have been forced to withdraw as well- and probably would have in "normal" economic circumstances.

[Parker CA]

5. Howard Fineman was just on Countdown with Shuster (Olberman has the day off)

and said somewhat in jest that Clinton, yes, Bill, would be a good choice since the Clinton family as been such advocates for health and since filling the shoes of Daschle regarding his influence in the senate would be a good choice. Shuster asked if he was hearing this in DC, to which Fineman replied, no, but that it would be a good pick.

[Every Man A King]

11. You are delusional if you think DU had any impact on this n/t

[onehandle]

12. Ha ha.

They think they did.

[tavalon]

14. I want Howard Dean

[question everything]

17. Right. DU is behind Daschle withdrawal

Nice try but, no.

And, really it is not about his taxes. He would have been grilled, at least by Republicans, about his "advisory" roles for UnitedHealth which is the poster boy of what is wrong with our current system.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x8163233

[onehandle]

18. DU barely registers in the real world.

What I'm talking about is DU's cheerleading for Obama's candidate to fail.

I suspect that we will end up with a more corporate, less effective HHS person.

[Marrah_G]

20. People are allowed to disagree with his picks.

People had good reason to disagree with the pick.

If Obama picks someone as you are describing then the problem is with Obama.

Daschle is not the only qualified person in America for the job.

[Marrah_G]

19. DU is not behind the Daschle issue

Nor does Obama make his decisions by reading this web page.

Obama fucked up by not vetting him before announcing the pick.

Obama admitted he fucked up.

Why are you not supporting Obama in his admission of fucking up?

:crazy:

[saltpoint]

22. I'm still waiting patiently for my Obama mudflaps.

Ordered them weeks ago and they still haven't come in the mail.

I have no idea in hell what could be more important to the new Obama administration than fulfilling my order.