Daschle Withdraws as HHS Nominee
In this Feb. 2, 2009 file photo, former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. Daschle has withdrawn his nomination to be secretary of Health and Human Services (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)
And another one bites the dust:
Tom Daschle has withdrawn his nomination to be Health and Human Services secretary. That’s according to a joint White House statement from President Barack Obama and his former nominee.
Obama said Tuesday he accepted the withdrawal “with sadness and regret.” Daschle has been battling for his nomination since it was disclosed he failed to pay more than $120,000 in taxes.
He said he’s withdrawing because he’s not a leader who has the full faith of Congress and will be a distraction.
Wow. I gotta say: I didn’t see this coming.
The irony here is that he’s now out $120,000 in money he paid to the IRS that, rather clearly, the IRS wasn’t interested in collecting. His contribution to the stimulus, I guess.
And, frankly, if you’re making so much money in the private sector (even its rent-seeking subsector) that you can get away with not paying six figures in taxes, why would you even consider giving it up to run a second-tier Cabinet department?
About James Joyner
Good.
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Yeah, but is Tommy still going to be in that White House (non-confimation) position, Hussein created?
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Better late than never. And I do enjoy the fact that he already paid the taxes. :)
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Good, the S.O.B.
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Before the election:
“Change you can believe in.”
“A new way of politics.”
“We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.”
After the election:
“Dammit, Rahm, another retread hack bites the dust? Hey, Rezko’s not singin’ too loud is he; you got Blago under control yet??…….ahem, I mean ‘..and it is with with sadness and regret..’”
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss……
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Heh, think Geithner puts a tab on Tom’s future earnings?…just to keep him in line?.
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Because visions of the fees his wife could make as a lobbyist once health care was nationalized danced through his head as he fell asleep each night?
Yeah, it’s cynical, but he’s earned the cynicism, don’t you think?
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Spare change you can believe in!
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“The irony here is that he’s now out $120,000 in money he paid to the IRS that, rather clearly, the IRS wasn’t interested in collecting. His contribution to the stimulus, I guess.”
Between this and the fact that Obama was “absolutely” standing by him yesterday, I’ve got a feeling that there’s more here that hasn’t come out yet.
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Very lively presser on the matter.
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For some (many?) power is far more addictive than money. Also more attractive to (some/many) women!
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Word is that he withdrew from that position too. He’s all out.
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fact that Obama was “absolutely” standing by him yesterday
Isn’t that always the kiss of death?
I’d assumed Daschle would weather the storm, until I saw that Obama was absolutely standing by him. I think that’s D.C. code for “withdraw your own ass so I don’t have to pop a cap in it.”
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Hello? What’s this? Is this a tacit admission–finally–by the rightwing nutties that lurk on OTB that GWB was as, apparently, corrupt and criminal as Obama? I mean, if the new boss is the same as the old boss, and the new boss is corrupt… (Sorry, but I feel compelled to spell out the obvious analogy because the nutties will surely attempt to deny that it is, er, analagous.)
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I took the “old boss/new boss” meme to mean Clinton/Obama. After all, the same old names from the Clinton years keep popping up in the news.
P.S. — I mentioned this months ago, but to no avail. Can’t somebody inform your dumb spell check software that “obama” is a word?
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Well, then, that would be a nonstandard understanding of the “new boss/old boss” analogy. Isn’t the “new boss” supposed to be as bad as the “old boss,” no matter who that boss is? Is there stanza in the song exempting Republicans that I missed?
But I suppose this kind of selective memory is hardly surprising coming from the Area 51 right. These are the same guys who think a few tax cheats are a clear sign of rampant criminality in the Obama Admin., but actual, bona fide, convictions of Republicans (e.g., Scooter Libby, Duke Cunningham) are examples of the rampant honor and integrity of Republicans.
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William is more perceptive than Eric.
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Why not just upgrade to a browser that has it’s own spell checker?
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Michael don’t you know by know that the Bushies are totally confused by all the tubes on the internets and the Googles?
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[...] Daschle Withdraws as HHS Nominee (outsidethebeltway.com) [...]
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