Tom Daschle Withdraws: Another Ethics Casualty for Obama
How quickly they fall. Tom Daschle, who just yesterday had the full backing of President Barack Obama, has announced he is withdrawing his name from consideration as Health and Human Services secretary. For both Daschle and Obama, it has been a rough ride, calling into question the latter’s judgment and skill as a chief executive.
President Barack Obama rode into Washington on a veritable cloud of goodwill and sky-high expectations. The mainstream media had swooned over his transition with some justification. They had swooned over his inaugural speech with far less. But hopes, even among conservatives, were high for a break from business as usual, a degree of bipartisan pragmatism and a can-do approach to solving the nation’s economic problems. But in a mere two weeks, the thrill is gone and nagging questions have begun.
Most glaringly, we have been treated to a raft of embarrassing personnel issues. Tim Geithner made it through the confirmation hearing but Bill Richardson did not; nor did the “chief performance officer” who could not perform the task of paying all her own taxes. Then Tom Daschle, who just yesterday garnered the support of President Obama and Democrats in the Senate, has now announced he is backing out. This followed a storm of criticism from not just conservatives who are aghast at the tax cheats and revolving-door-ism. Marie Cocco summed up:
No need to fumble for words that sum up the stew of hypocrisy, arrogance, and insiderism that is the unfolding saga of Tom Daschle. This is the audacity of audacity. … The rationale for confirming Geithner was that he is a financial wizard — one of a handful of people, it was argued, with the experience and intellect necessary to manage the worst banking crisis since the Great Depression. But surely there is more than one Democrat capable of managing the Department of Health and Human Services. And undoubtedly there is more than one — there are perhaps, hundreds — as committed to the cause of revamping the health care system. Daschle isn’t indispensable. But he is indefensible.
And Richard Cohen was no less critical:
Taken individually, the tax problems of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and the health and human services secretary-designate, Tom Daschle, don’t amount to much. Together, though, they amount to a message: If you are beloved by this administration, you don’t necessarily have to play by the rules. Both Geithner and Daschle are good men, but their appointments send the message that Washington’s new broom sweeps a bit like the old one.
The Daschle debacle is not the only problem bedeviling the Obama team. This follows a slew of ethics waivers which has made the so-called ethics rules (prohibiting ex-lobbyists from working on issues for which they previously lobbied) into Swiss cheese. The good-government types are fuming. And even the MSM has noticed the pattern, which includes an ethics waiver for William Lynn, a former lobbyist for defense contractor Raytheon who has been nominated for the Pentagon’s number two job.
TIME magazine explains:
But the controversy over the waivers, which have been criticized by both Democratic and Republican senators, is just one of the perception problems dogging Obama’s new ethics policy. Another issue stems from the people nominated to the administration who have worked in the lobbying business but are not technically lobbyists — people, in other words, like Tom Daschle, or former Senator George Mitchell, the new Middle East peace envoy who had previously served as the chairman of a law firm that has done lobbying and legal work for many clients in the region, including the leader of Dubai.
In short, we are back to the very same Washington, D.C., brew of sleaze, double standards, ethical lapses, and hypocrisy. That it comes from an administration which ran on such a sanctimonious platform only makes it that much more disappointing and indeed infuriating.
Best part of this has been reading the comments columns in the SF Chronicle. Funny stuff.
Sanctimonious and deceptive. Most overrated politician in history. Yes, I have ODS. It’s a needed antidote to Obama Arrangement Syndrome.
..man, if we can weather the economic and foreign policy disasters coming our way, this is going to be a fun four years..
It’s going to be a long 4 years.
Who says the new president is failing about his campaign rhetoric vis a vis ‘change’?
President Obama DOES change all right.
It is exactly the kind of CHANGE I know it’s coming.
sheesh…wheels on the bus go thump thump thump…does this chap know any normal law abiding people……more popcorn please..this is a great movie…the ending is going to be real bad though….i have radiation detectors for gifts while they last.
And ol’ Tom was announced shortly after Obama won the election. Is any vetting done at all with this guy? Apparently, there’s no backup nominee for HHS. I wonder what hack or tax cheat is next up for the post.
Welcome to Chicago, everybody!
I really thought this Chicago bunch would be better at the corruption game than they are turning out to be. Well, I’m sure they’ll keep trying.
Ha, good one, JJKRN! And to think: some of us thought it was getting crowded under the bus after Wright and Pfleger!
4 more years of this? *gag* I fear for America
Well, I’m not too disappointed, because my daddy always told me to be cautious of good looking men who sweet talk you and tell you what you want to hear. So, I was skeptical of Obama from the start. But, there’s a part of me that was hoping he’d be different. Watching how easily he overlooked the “innocent mistakes” of Daschle and Geithner made me realize he’s just not that guy. Above all else, you want to be able to respect your leaders and believe that they believe in the rule of law, or at least I do.
Obama’s only previous executive experience was chairing the Annenberg Challenge, which disbursed over $100 million in grant money for educational research for improving the Chicago school system. A total waste of money, as the Annenberg-selected schools performed the same as the non-Annenberg schools in academic achievement.
IOW, Obama’s performance thus far as chief executive is no surprise, given his past performance.
http://ccsr.uchicago.edu/downloads/p62.pdf Annenberg Challenge rpt. ( p 15)
What did you expect from a corrupt Chicago politician. One of his closest colleages, for whom he was one of three chief strategists has been removed from office by his state legislature (Blagoyavich) for trying to sell his Senate seat. This is what you get. I imagine, he’s going to have problems throughout his only term in office. I just hope that the bloated, pork-laden “stimulus” package collapses.
And now Gibbs is doing a stand-up act:
WASHINGTON (AP) – Despite the tax problems faced by high-level nominees, and the exceptions made to the no-lobbyists pledge, President Barack Obama’s spokesman is defending the administration’s ethical standards.
Robert Gibbs told reporters Tuesday, “The bar that we set is the highest that any administration in the country has ever set.”
During a briefing filled with questions about Tom Daschle’s decision to withdraw from consideration to be Health and Human Services secretary, Gibbs pointed to experts who describe the administration’s ethics rules as the strongest in history.
He also said those experts recognized that Obama would need to make exceptions to his pledge to run an administration free of former lobbyists.
Obama’s choice to become the No. 2 official at the Defense Department recently lobbied for military contractor Raytheon. And his choice as deputy secretary at Health and Human Services, lobbied through most of last year as an anti-tobacco advocate.
Shows you don’t see the harm of raising taxes when you don’t pay them yourself.
Taxes..Shmaxes..Who Cares!
Anybody here hoping that they don’t get a letter from the IRS in the next few months?
This will cost Daschle and his wife literally millions of dollars in lost revenue and will cost the government the tax on the portion of that revenue that Tom would declare.
I’m sure that there are LOTS of Chicago punks and thieves that Obama could select to replace Tom. In fact, the way that Obama is going, he may appoint Blago or Jerry Wright or Bill Ayers to some high federal post.
I got to assume that Obama does have a Clinton administration ‘phone so he won’t miss anyone. How about Reno or Freeh? What have they been offered?
I wonder how much Nancy Pelosi owes in taxes.
I wonder if it’s more or less than Rangel? Daschle? Dodd?
When Sen. Judd Gregg lead the TARP bailout for the banks in the Senate he had $5 million invested in the Bank Of America.
RE:
Wait a minute none of this clowns that have been caught so far have been from Chicago.
Tax cheats and lobbyists all around him; Nancy Pelosi totally rolls him on the stimulus porkgasm. Two weeks in and already he’s an epic FAIL. Who could have seen that coming?
Wrong angle, folks. Obama is actually solving our budget dilemna.
If BHO nominates 5,820 people a day for his cabinet who owe on average 100,000 of back taxes and he does this every day of his first term, our govt can pay cash for the 850B “stimulus” package.
(5,820 X 1460days X 100,000 = 850,000,000,000).
This will be a logistical nightmare from a press conference standpoint. (The MSM could perhaps loop the first presser repeatedly every day).
Of course, every nominee must promptly resign. But it just might work and BHO could turn his full attention to preventing the next ice age!
Jennifer:
It was never realistic to expect President Obama would reinvent politics, but it would have been nice had he not sacrificed his principles quite so quickly.
What principles? The man learned his politics in Chicago and Cook County, for pity’s sake. The only principle he has ever stood on was “say whatever the rubes want to hear in order to win, then I can do what I want.” As Jim Geraghty rightly observed, all Obama promises have an expiration date.
…the general public is left wondering: Didn’t we vote for something better than this?
That’s what we get for a majority not paying attention.
Exculpatory Haiku
by T. Daschle
As a Democrat
my own culpability
ends, as I say this:
“I made a mistake;
I didn’t realize that
I had to pay tax.
“I swear, I meant well!
Do you not realize how
important I am?
“To show that I feel
genuine remorse and guilt,
I’ll fire my driver.
“Let us now move on,
and let us never forget:
It’s all Bush’s fault!”
@8. Mike G:
Hey Mike, the Chicago crowd learned their lesson from Capone, they would have had their taxes paid in full every year. They might not report all the graft and outright theft, but if it’s traceable you can bet it’s reported and paid.
BHO is just sloppy and lazy. He chose a bunch of insiders that the DNC said had “good name recognition” and could pull the levers for him while he read from the teleprompter. In his hubris he assumed that the world would just go along with the program.
Dachle is obviously nothing but a lying Tax Evading greedy politico.
No one other than the most devout kool-aid drinker would believe his lame excuse that it was just an oversight or mistake not paying his taxes.
What are we all in Wonderland here or something??
Had he not been selected for the job he would have probably Never paid what he owed.
I think I’ll just do like Dachel and Tim Geithner and just forget about payin my taxes for a few years, Think the IRS will Forgive Me like they did them???
I would imagine I would loose my business as well as my home to the IRS thugs.
Here is Tom Dachle from earlier days.
Quote:
“Make no mistake, tax cheaters cheat us all, and the IRS should enforce our laws to the letter. ” Sen. Tom Daschle, Congressional Record, May 7, 1998, p. S4507.
Stop, please, oh my stomach. Share the wealth, so his nominee’s can pay their taxes. Change anyone?
..I had a dream last night where there was this country, the most powerful and righteous on their planet, and this country elects this guy with no experience at all save the ability to deliver a great speech. So, anyway, he surrounds himself with legions of people who wind up being thieves and confidence men, AND his first foreign policy outreach is to call the leader of a terrorist network. AND he has this notion that getting furtehr into debt actually solves a debt crisis. And get this, the media in this country in my dreams totally whitewashes all of it! Thank God it was just a dream…
What’s that? Really? Oh.
“And another one gone, and another one gone. Another one bites the dust.”
Sorry could not resist. I really did have some hopes for Obama despite my better instincts. I thought that he might be a pragmatic efficient manager who would at least give it his best shot.
Instead he is proving to be a complete clown with VERY suspect judgment. If this is what we can expect of this boy-playing-dress up over the next 4 years, methinks we might be in some serious difficulties.
He’s in WAY over his head and when it actually dawns on him that he really has to man-up to be the Prez. ,I don’t think he has it in him.
And that’s bad for everyone.
Hey, wait a minute! Hold your horses.
These (the string of Dems not pay taxes) things happened UNDER Bush’s watch.
It is All Bush’s fault!
/works for the libs….
What a bunch of maniacs! They can’t figure out the tax code they created.
Warning to all tax cheats: keep your vanity in check, the country can live without your “service”.
It’s better to keep all the taxes you cheated and forget your invaluable service you may perform to those ungrateful non-cheating taxpayers than to pay the taxes and make a fool of yourself.
NCBob:
“…revenue that Tom would declare” which would qualify him for earned income credits.
Re: #19. RE:
I wonder how much Nancy Pelosi owes in taxes.
Fergit about Pelosi, how much does Al Gore owe?
I heard he’s got rich working ‘in the private sector’. Let’s have Obama nominate him for some job in government.
Rich Vail writes:
“What did you expect from a corrupt Chicago politician[?]“
Rich, we didn’t expect anything from this clown; it’s the poor bastards that voted for him who expected that “HopenChange” something-or-other crapola.
Maybe we should exhume the body of the former CHICAGO MOB KINGPIN Al Capone and give him a “pardon” for being convicted of not paying his taxes. Apparently all this would require is an “apology” not to be a “bad boy”and to kiss the IRS Collective asses. After all, wasnt the Obamaskank hero SAUL ALINSKY mentored by CAPONE ENFORCER FRANK NITTI?????
BY the way Jennifer-according to the “LAW OF OBAMASKANK” Charlie Rang Ho should qualify next as the ECONOMIC KINGPIN. Even Marvel comics at least classified Wilson Fisk, there “KINGPIN OF CRIME” as a hood. Drudge called this a “circus”. Its more like a bad joke.
You know, these DEMOCRAT thieves are so blatant that I can’t believe that Daschle would give up all that potential revenue just because he made a minor mistake on his past tax returns. Tommie has always been dirty; there must be something else out there waiting to bite him. Wonder what it could be?
BTW, has anyone actually watched the new press secretary, Gibbs, conduct a press briefing? I know that when he says “ah,” it is because he is lying. But is he lying about what he just said or what he is about to say? And, when he refuses to answer a question (“I’m not going to look in the rear view mirror.”), even some of the worshipers from the media will eventually realize they are being played and that they would never have accepted such performance from a Bush press secretary.
youz guys are gettin it..dem Chicago boyz is a crooked bunch..i gotta go get a deep dish,,,blagojevich is waitin for me and da gang
This is shaping up to be the worst presidency since Jimmy Carter and it’s only 03FEB09. What is the corrupt train wreck going to look like in two years? He wants to cut the military budget by around 10% while spraying money at his supporters with a firehose. He has threatened to shove gays into the military while slashing it’s cash. You know those cuts are going to adversly affect the people serving.
All the Obama voters who ‘say’ you support the troops. Please stop, your hypocrisy is nauseating. Just admit you could care less about the troops and the country, and your in it for your own personal enrichment. We already know it, it’s time you admitted it too.
The Messiah did pay his taxes didn’t he?
Just askin’.
Being from SD this is funny to see. Tom was suppose to be so pristine clean all this time, that was his reputation here. I guess President Obama should ask a Republican to run for the position now like Sen. Judd Gregg (R) from New Hampshire who is replacing Bill Richardson for Commerce Secretary.
I want to know how they get out of paying interest and late penalties? They are the real Taxmasters!
We now have the exact meaning of what Hope and Change means to Obama.
Hope my appointee isn’t a crook that I’ll have to Change again and again.
What really gets my goat is how the Republicans are always portrayed as crooks and get blamed for every crooked act guilty or not or even guilty by association while the Democrats are always the innocent ones. Their crooked acts are swept under the table or totally forgotten when they “apologize” to the media. At least Daschle gets credit for withdrawing. If we can only get more crooked democrats to resign. Hey Charlie (Rangel) what about it? And what about our illustrious media, when will they ever wake up? Better yet let them go under so we can be better served by somebody else.
You know who’s coming next? One Howard C. Dean. Get ready for the hate. http://hateonme.com/
Maybe Blagoyevich should be the next HHS Secretary nominee.
I hear he’s looking for work, and he’s cheap.
He’s also well within the Alleged Hawaiian’s “Comfort Zone”.
And didn’t Blago have dealings with a Chicagoland hospital at some point?
Blame George Bush. President Bush caused ALL these problems by implementing lax collection practices. The stinkers in chicago wouldn’t have done all these bribes and kickbacks ifg they had been properly regulated. It isn’t Obamas fault that all his friends are cheaters.
The comments on this ( event) are way too funny. This is more entertaining than I ever thought it would be.
We know Obama is a fool and he keeps confirming it every time he does something.
Where are Boris and all the rest of the trolls when one of theirs gets caught red-handed? Come on, trolls, you should have as much spine as Andrea Mitchell, and WHINE resoundingly about how this poor man is being hounded for the minor error of not getting his taxes right:
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/scott-whitlock/2009/02/03/andrea-mitchell-public-will-blame-gop-bringing-down-daschle
Even Einstein admitted not understanding income taxes. Right? Right?
Yes, he felt pressure because of his tax problems, but this really did not matter much because he is a Washington insider.
It seems to me that Daschle has a keen sense of politics and some will ask if he wanted to be a member of the crew of the Obama ship of state “Titanic-2009.” In just two weeks, everyone in the world seems to be asking “how could we have elected this imbecile?”
It’s a good question.
It is especially sweet to see old Tom go down with the po’ boy drives himself and the tax cheats are bad bad clips running all over the internet. No would have bought this as a believable script.
You have a great point there PeeWee. Ms. Rubin usually brings ‘em out in droves with her posts.
I’m also guessing the taxes question wasn’t on the questionnaire, maybe O could have replaced the gun question with it – might have saved a bit of heartache and political capital.
#32 Jarhead91
Nobody can figure out the tax code they created.
It’s a fake-it-and-hope-you-don’t-get-busted kinda thing, just like these yahoos in DC.
I looked it up – they asked for taxes only back to 2005. Maybe that should have been longer, eh?
Holder resigns his appointment in 3…2…1…
If a corporate CEO had as many executive officer or VP hires with such ethical lapses the BOD would toss him out on his @$$ in a heartbeat! How much longer until we can call this administration an Epic Fail? I think he’s but a razor’s edge away right now.
It must be a confidence thing! Many senior Democrats were apparently so confident of an Obama presidential election that they took their tax breaks early? Either that of they didn’t like the idea of THEIR wealth being spread around……..
Daschle is simply emblematic of the whole hypocritical farce that is the Obama administration. Consider this:
Hothouse in the White House?
A current radio commercial features a dad erupting in rage and demanding to know, “Who turned the heat up to 58??” Those of us doing our bit to conserve both oil and wallets get no empathy from Obama who apparently basks in a semi-tropical White House.
President Jimmy Carter advised us to follow his lead in the seventies during that decade’s oil crisis and wear a sweater (or two) at home. President Barack Obama has a better idea. He would rather say, “Do as I say, dammit, not as I do!”
Consider the following:
“We can’t drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times… and then just expect that other countries are going to say ‘OK.’ … That’s not leadership. That’s not going to happen.”–Obama campaigning, May 2008, and,
“President Obama was photographed in the Oval Office without his suit jacket. There was, however, a logical explanation: Mr. Obama, who hates the cold, had cranked up the thermostat. “He’s from Hawaii, O.K.?”. . . He likes it warm. You could grow orchids in there.”– Obama Senior Advisor, David Axelrod, January 2009: http://foxforum.blogs.foxnews.com/2009/01/30/milloy_obama/.
Aside from the fact orchids can thrive in temperatures ranging from 55-80 degrees F, it seems as if Barack likes it hot, hot, hot! At taxpayers’ expense and despite his admonitions to lower our thermostats.
Incidentally, Barry’s stimulus bill includes billions for electric “smart meters” which would allow power companies to rein in our profligate use of juice to allow us commoners relative comfort in our homes, as if many commoners could afford his hothouse White House temps.
One poor guy, WWII vet Marvin Schur, was recently found frozen to death in Michigan compliments of his power company’s “limiter device” which malfunctioned and killed him. (That was the same war in which Obama said his great uncle had helped liberate Auschwitz, which was a baldfaced lie, unless he was a Russkie back then: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2008/05/27/will-media-report-obamas-claim-his-uncle-helped-liberate-auschwitz.)
I guess we’d best get used to lies and hypocrisy. The good news? There’s a mere 206 weeks to go before Obamaland fades into oblivion. It may be a warm oblivion, but still oblivion.
(http://genelalor.com/)
Man, this has been the funniest bunch of posts! The “wheels on the bus” one still has me laughing!
More seriously, though, the one thing I don’t fault Obama for is hiring lobbyists. I always knew that it was unworkable. Anyone who has the government inside-baseball knowledge will use it to get paid when they are not in government. They gotta eat, after all.
This was just more idiotic campaign ignorance. This was not one of his lies. He actually believed it. Ignorance. Once he got into office, he found out that he needed the expertise. He has found he has to hire some former lobbyists (or Republican Businessmen). There’s campaigning, and then there’s governing.
All he has to do now is admit his former ignorance and tell the country that he needs those former lobbyists, because they have the skillsets he needs. Mea Magna Culpa time. Yeah, that’ll happen.
But,but… Obama was behind him1,1,000 %.(oh,sorry,that was george Mc Govern with Tom Eagleton)
Maybe tax reform could be the hope & change BHO can hang his hat on… Do you think the Anointed One will get the idea that the US Tax Code is a bit on the nonsensical side?
Did I miss the press conference, where Joe Biden called Daschle UNPATRIOTIC???????????????
This is an awesome development, a two-fer. Daschle pays taxes AND stays in the private sector. Fantastic.
GOOD! YEA! Couldn’t happen to a more deserving slime ball. Too bad he’s not going to keep O.J. company.
They could, at least, use this parasite as a training aid for the IRS.
23. Kevin:
Can I sign up for your Economics Class? I might learn something, but I’d be taking it, primarily, for the laughs. You’ve got talent.
In reality though; All this felonious activity is telling the Dumocrats that it’s okay to cheat on your taxes. If a high percentage of tax payers follow this example, the Treasury Dept. is in trouble. Who’s going to bail them out?
Yea; I know.
This is a great group of posts…Haiku, a thumping bus, a line from a great Queen song. Howard Dean would be a SCREAM at HHS.
If Daschle could not figure out his tax obligation there was no way he was going to figure out how to fix health care. Buh-bye. This work was well above his pay grade.
The Obama Gang, never met a tax that wasn’t meant for, um, you know, Republicans. But then a candidate who does not verify where his contributions came from would be unlikely to think taxes were something that applied to The One and his closest disciples.
And the comedians were worried? The last few days have been hysterical.
Now I understand why BHO is tapping Republicans {Judd Gregg} to fill out his Cabinet…he’s run out of tax payers from his side of the aisle.
The most telling thing about this is that the MSM is actually reporting on it and on the pork-a-thon. The MSM! Reporting! Actually reporting! I’m… I’m… feeling a bit dizzy. Better lie down.
I think Obama should hire whoever is running the Arabian Horse Association. It worked before.
Also, is there any bigger hypocrit than Claire McCaskill? If I were hiding all my $$$ in an off-shore tax shelter I’d STFD and STFU. BTW, has anyone noticed the ligature marks around her neck? Dingy Harry…you’re getting a little too kinky.
Republicans are hypocrites. Democrats are hypocrites. Everybody accuses the other side of doing what they themselves just did. Whoever is out of power gets up on their high horse as though they are the righteous ones refusing to recognize their own failings. It has always been this way. Democrats did it for the last eight years. Republicans will do it for the next (4, 8, 12, 16) years.
Why waste your time this way? Go down and dish out some food at the mission. Teach your son a new song. Call your daughter. Read a book by someone you’ve never heard of. Wash your car. Walk the dog. Lay down in a field of tall grass. Create a new cocktail. Play Scrabble. Because absolutely NONE of what is said here has any impact whatsoever on the quality of life for you or your family or shifts policy in any way.
Two days ago I came on this board to see what kind of reactions I could generate. I wasn’t disappointed. I think my experiment here is done. Thanks. It’s been a real hootenanny.
The left wants to empty Guantanamo fine. Let the prisoners there out in the middle of Havana unable to leave the country to keep Castro’s army occupied and imprison Daschle, Geithner, Dodd, Frank, Schumer, etc Madoff and all the Wall Street crooks etc. all of these crooks, in Guantanamo and throw away the key. These imbeciles on the left have done far more damage to this country than the Muslims will ever do.
These Obama Administration appointees, only recently key lobbyists, were improperly selected.
These weren’t ‘waivers’. They were repeated breaches of new ethics rules promulgated by the POTUS.
And tax evasion is not ‘oversight’, ‘mistake’, or ‘inadvertent’, it’s a CRIME. If a person familiar with federal laws fails to pay ANY significant amount of back taxes, ESPECIALLY if he pays up ONLY when he is nominated to a Cabinet post, then he is a criminal.
And ‘conflict of interest’ apparently means nothing to Obama. Hillary Clinton, as Secretary of State, is indebted to Arab oil tycoons through the Clinton Foundation.
As someone whose credibility in the Middle East should be unimpeachable (sorry), Hillary will have none at least as far as Israel is concerned.
Any attempt by Hillary to negotiate between Israel, Palestine, Syria and/or Lebanon will rightly be perceived as putting Israel on the defensive.
Many of us knew Obama as a lightweight who voted ‘present’ for a living. Now that he’s driving the bus, many more Americans are realizing that he has almost no clue what in the hell he’s doing.
69. sambo hux:
Bye; Don’t let the door hit you in the ass; It’s been designed to aid in your exit. The 69 post fits you so well.
What was your name again?
“I screwed up”
Are these the words which are to be uttered when Iran demonstrates it’s nuclear might to a helpless west?
Western democracies don’t have the luxury of trial & error when their kingdoms are at stake. 30 years of a defensive strategy has squandered options, limited maneuverability & jeopardizes our chance at victory. Cornered, the USA takes refuge under the “umbrella” illusion that we can protect our interest’s against an offensive onslaught from those who invented the Game of Chess.
glock boy will be back, they always come back.
He is pretty bright for a liberal, he’ll grow up some day.
“…calling into question his judgments and skills as a “chief executive”?
The Dems refused to pay any attention to the fact that he he had never even managed a youth basketball team,much less been the major of a town of 5,000.
Can you imagine what a circus it must be inside the White House these days? Talk about the fist 100 days! Just over two weeks into his administration and look at what the PERSONALITY KID has accomplished: Introduction of a stimulus -wth-a-side of –pork program that is in chaos, a flurry of cabinet appointments that have had to be cancelled, offended the European allies who were supposed to swoon in his arms by telling them that he was going to cut off their exports, gone hat in hand to apologize to Arabic nations who’s holy quest is to kill us off after first destroying Israel, taking no notice of a winter disaster close to the scale o Katrina, and failed to respond to North Korea’s mad dictator’s threat to attack South Korea.
What’s going on? Who’s in charge? Is the KID telling them HE won and things are going to be done hIS way and they better get used to it? And they’re tearing their hair in frustration? Or are they pressuring him from all sides and shoving him off the end of the dock? He’s looking a lot less cocky these days. Being the new KID on the block just means that all the toughs in the hood will be out to get you.
I get a sense of panic in the Oval Office. Things are NOT going according to the script. Has Axelrod lost control? You don’t put a lightweight KID into the ring against welterweights without some hard training and a few KO’s. The KID is not a natural. He’s more of an airy -fairy. He floats like a butterfly but he’s got no sting. He needs time nd he won’t get it The Dems said experience isn’t important – youth and charm is what our customers are looking for. . And that’s all we got -that and an ego as big as the Sears Tower.
There’s an old carny saying: You can’t hype a stiff. But that’s what the DNC and the Chicago Gang have delivered – Barry the KID.
sambo hux: i saw that commercial about being a dad or something like that. read a book, call your momma, end of your experiment, how elitist of you, to look down your intellectual nose. if i had feelings i would be hurt. just think of it as one more show at the Apollo theater and the peanut gallery ain’t cutting your boy Obama any slack. hootin and a hollerin.
#66 Marc Malone:
“The most telling thing about this is that the MSM is actually reporting on it and on the pork-a-thon. The MSM! Reporting! Actually reporting.”
It’s to be expected. The MSM taken as a whole, may not be all that smart, but they know that The Fellow Who Claims to Have Been Born In Hawaii is “their creature”, and they’re just “yanking his chain” to remind him so that he doesn’t forget it.
He dances to their tune, and they’ll slant nice about him:
“Dance! Mister Obamajangles, Dance!”
You know how when you are to give a presentation and you are really nervous- they tell you to imagine the audience in their underwear. This is supposed to loosen you up and help the nerves go away. Well, I have recently discovered a remedy for us conservatives in exile – imagine a tiny clown car pulling up to the WHite House and the door opens – and out tumble in full clown regalia: Rezko, Ayers, Wright, Farrakhan, Phleger, Daschle, Richardson, Clinton, Geithner, Paulson, Biden, “BAghdad” Bob Gibbs, Pelosi, Reid, and BHO last of all! Now also imagine circus music blaring in the background – . It puts a smile on my face everytime.
What has stricken me as morbidly funny recently is that Iran has enough or will have enough bomb grade material to make one Nuke. I suspect that if their first bomb “test” is near or in Israel, they will be glass. They will have no second strike chance. This is getting real interesting. Where will Israel strike back first? Any guesses?
Iran, may you live in interesting times…Ancient Chinese curse.
I suspect BHO’s problems are the result of our severely flawed method of selecting presidential candidates. We only have ourselves to blame for a choice between 145-day wonder and Yosemite Sam!
At this rate, Obama may have no choice but to appoint Republicans. Question is, will the MSM find a way to make people forget all of this in time for the 2012 election, whose campaign should begin in about 18 months.
have a lot of hate for this era of responsibility bullcrap? http://hateonme.com
23. Kevin:
45. Bilgeman:
“Maybe Blagoyevich should be the next HHS Secretary nominee.
I hear he’s looking for work, and he’s cheap.”
57. Marc Malone:
” This was not one of his lies. He actually believed it. Ignorance. Once he got into office, he found out that he needed the expertise. . . . There’s campaigning, and then there’s governing.”
That seems to be what transparency does. And welcome to the world of the United States of America government!
What I’d like to see is what the Learning Curve will look like.
Jeff Weimer:
“I looked it up – they asked for taxes only back to 2005. Maybe that should have been longer, eh?”
Statute of Limitations for tax cheat: 3 years.
It pays to cheat on your taxes. But do it every year. If you are caught, you only have to pay back three years’ worth of back taxes, interest and penalties. Just don’t get caught too soon.
Chicago Tribune reader made the observation that Obama was wearing an earpiece during the CNN interview last night.Did CNN give the WH staff advance notice of the questions Cooper was going to ask?And Obama’s answers were feed to him by staffers?
I strongly recommend Marcia Angell, MD for HHS Secretary. She is a physician, former editor-in-chief of the New England Journal of Medicine, and now Senior Lecturer in the Department of Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Angell is highly respected and has worked hard for ethics, scientific integrity, and health policy her entire career. In 1997, Time magazine named Marcia Angell one of the 25 most influential Americans.
Marcia is not afraid to speak out, and has criticized our current healthcare system and the pharmaceutical industry. She wrote the book: The Truth About the Drug Companies: How They Deceive Us and What to Do About It.
I can think of no better person to be HHS Secretary! She is eminently qualified, and would bring ethics and integrity to the office. If you agree, let Obama know at http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/ and ask your friends and colleagues to do the same.
Obama said they had the “Strongest Ethical Rules in history” He did not say that they obeyed them or believed in them. Clearly they do not obey the rules but what is terrifying is that the believe they are.
A Liberal will say: “I’m a vegetarian but I eat fish”
THEN YOU ARE NOT A VEGETARIAN!! A fish is not a vegetable!!
Liberals proclaim they are morally superior because they no longer perform forceful interrogations on terrorists but in their next breath they support and actively fund late term abortions by the millions. Which of these two procedures is more harmful to the subject?
Is the humiliated terrorist harmed more than the aborted child? A liberal thinks so.
They also believe a fish is a vegetable. Just ask them.
Aside from the obvious furor over the main story, did anyone else notice the slip that Obama SMOKES????? Interesting how the mainstream media let that one slip in. By the way, my 7 yr old son attends public school and last week he was disciplined for pretending to smoke a pretzel stick that they had had for snacktime. I got a call, and he lost 2 recesses…. the same “non-partisan’ public school made his ENTIRE school watch the whole Inauguration from beginning to end… then each class had to write about how it made them “feel”. I am going to become a survivalist, and send my pretzel-stick smoking children to private school!
the world is going to hell in a PC handbasket!
Marc Boyd wrote: “What has stricken me as morbidly funny recently is that Iran has enough or will have enough bomb grade material to make one Nuke. I suspect that if their first bomb “test” is near or in Israel, they will be glass. They will have no second strike chance. This is getting real interesting. Where will Israel strike back first? Any guesses?”
I don’t believe that Iran has any bomb-grade material right now (although they may have enough low-enriched Uranium by mass for a bomb-which would have to be further processed to HEU). If they have any HEU it’s totally clandestine-because for civilian electric generation purposes, highly-enriched uranium is not necessary. HEU is only needed to produce a bomb…
Here’s what will happen IMHO: Bibi Netanyahu gets elected Feb. 10 because of the failure of the current government to stop the rockets. He deals with (topples) Hamas first and takes military control of Gaza to keep that area calm when he threatens Iran. Then he threatens Iran with military action for not conforming to UN resolutions. Obama, of course, along with most other Western leaders and the UN, reject the “aggression.” Obama also, just like Bush did, denies overflight (of Iraq) rights to the Israeli air force-which makes an airstrike unreasonable. Finally, Israel detonates a bomb in the atmosphere above Natanz (and possibly other areas involved with Iran’s nuke program). This produces an electromagnetic pulse which destroys pretty much everything electronic in the area of the explosion. So, Iran won’t become a radioactive glass factory, no citizens are killed, and their nuke program is set back (along with their economy) for years. Not a pretty scenario to be sure. But, if anyone believes for an instant that Israel is going to let its arch-enemy get the power to destroy it, you might want to think again.
It’s off-topic, for sure, but I couldn’t resist.
I’m glad Daschle is out, too. I saw him on Meet the Press a few years ago and, to this day, despise him for his condescending attitude.
In all fairness he did say this about Washington, when it was obviously from his experience as a senator in Chicago.
Senator’s Speech Announcing His Run For The Democratic Nomination:
Quote:”Now listen, I recognize there is a certain presumptuousness — a certain audacity — to this announcement. I know I haven’t spent a lot of time learning the ways of Washington. But I’ve been there long enough to know that the ways of Washington must change.”
Was he alluding to the corruption he witnessed? We’ve been bamboozaled!
#87 Mike is on to something. I would not be surprised if Obama often wears a device in his ear to get help from staffers, he is much better scripted. I believe that observation was also made during the presidential primary debates, that he was getting help offstage. Of course, he was getting a lot of help onstage also, from the moderators.
you people cant wait, just chomping at the bit to see him fail after 8 years of bush running us into the ground you still cant accept that someone might just be trying to do whats right for all of us not just a few . im a white man who voted rep. twice so dont throw the race card out there i just want a job , to be able to keep my house and a chance at contentment but thats too much to ask from republicans with a win at all cost state of mind .give him a chance befor you start makeing things up to tear him down . give all of a chance will you ?
THE PRESIDENT IS NOT RESPONSIBLE TO SIFT THROUGH EVERYONE’S PERSONAL FINANCES TO MAKE SURE THEY ARE BEING HONEST WITH THEIR TAX RETURNS.
Perhaps he should have not given these guys the benefit of the doubt and asked them if everything is on the up and up before we go through this process. But don’t start blaming the president.
In my opinion, it’s not Obama’s fault. And he has plenty more room for errors and mistakes as far as I am concerned. I will not flinch at any mistake for a long while SINCE THIS ENTIRE NATION STOOD BY AND LET BUSH WRECK OUR COUNTRY FOR 8 LONG YEARS!!!
So does this mean that Obama asks Timothy Geithner to resign? I did not think so. Obama claims he screwed up but this is just more of the same Washington politics that he said he was going to CHANGE. Obama brings a new flavor to the discussion. He brings the ‘do as I say not as I do’ arrogance as opposed to the ‘my way or the highway’ arrogance of the previous administration. Yes, that is CHANGE alright, but I do not think it is the type of change this country needs as we face these difficult economic times.
This is no surprise to me. Obama is the fruit of the corrupt Chicago political machine. This presidency is an embaressment to this country. He has no experience and it shows. Bush didn’t wreck this country, he kept it safe while the Democraps wrecked it from the inside out. I have no faith or respect for Obama. He bought the presidency with illegal, foreign campaign contributions, ACORN voter fraud and criminal media propaganda. He should be impeached before he can cause any more harm.
MIke Planchunas:
Chicago Tribune reader made the observation that Obama was wearing an earpiece during the CNN interview last night.Did CNN give the WH staff advance notice of the questions Cooper was going to ask?And Obama’s answers were feed to him by staffers?
——————–
Wow, you guys are starting to sound as loopy as the folks who think 9/11 was a government coverup. It’s so easy to write-off any truths or items that come up that you don’t agree with when you believe in the “liberal mainstream media” huh? “Oh that’s just the liberal media again, I don’t have to believe it.”
Here’s something for you America-hating Rush Limbaugh-types, the deal with transparency is that these things don’t get swept under the rug. At least these guys aren’t getting nominated and we’re finding out 3 years after-the-fact. To all of you who supported Bush and Cheney, you have very little room to start talking about ethics (Scooter Libby?). America is not only great when it is being run by the GOP or whatever loopy right-wing religion you subscribe to (that’s right, I said religion; there’s no better way to subscribe your blind disdain for one side and your full support for the other).
A fair bit of skepticism is healthy, but not when your intention is to break down our President. Yes, our President is black, yes he’s a Democrat; get used to it because that is the case for the next 4, possibly 8 years. *Man it feels good to shovel that s**t down your throats now with all your double-talk about how I should support Bush or leave the country bulls**t*
I’m fairly impressed that President Obama took responsibility. Additionally, I’m not too surprised or irritated that Daschle is a crook. Now, if Mr. President will fire/un-appoint Timothy Geithner (and any other “screw-up”), he’ll the super-hero that was elected.
Atleast PRESIDENT OBAMA, unlike George Bush had the manners to apologize, which is the right thing to do. The Rupublicans have ran this country into the ground without as much as a my mistake, ever. Those criticizing Obama are such hypocrits!!
But guess what, he is still our PRESIDENT. So you guys can scrutinize whatever you want. Even the way he urinates if you want too. Too much to the left. Too much to the right, whatever. He is our President!! Give the man a break. Anyone coming after GWB needs understanding and patients. Even if it was a Republican President.
Wow, that’s something I haven’t seen for a LONG time– a president holding himself accountable for mistakes made under his administration. What a breath of fresh air.
And here endeth Week Two.
This couple of weeks will no doubt be too short a time for those too damned stupid to know they’re being lied to to have decided that this is already the failed “administration” of a self-and-own culture mobbed-up murtadd Muslim Marxist two-times a mummy’s boy.
Those, that is, who, (along with those too damned mean-spirited and/or too damned greedy to care and/or who’re either criminal alien and/or are felons — or both — who are dead and/or who’re crypto-fascists) comprise the “Democrats’” voters, the feral gummint bureaucracy — and, worse, the basta*d offspring of the Soviet-agent Alger Hiss-descended Foggy Bottom brahmanas and State’s carefully cloned for cluelessness foreign service.
But it is way long enough for every totalitarian gang’s and/or regime’s every evil genius to have figgered the United States of America, its Congressional houses in the hands of two deranged dhimmicraps and nobody at the switch at 1600 Pennsylvania, to be without effective government and therefore extremely vulnerable to attack by the any number of the world’s manifestations of evil that are in waiting for any opportunity. And will soon strike!
Brian Richard Allen
Chris said:
To all of you who supported Bush and Cheney, you have very little room to start talking about ethics (Scooter Libby?)
Sorry , try again.
Scooter Libby was convicted of breaking the law as a process after the fact during the investigation of the Plame case. Which should have been over already as the actual leaker (Richard Armitage) was already known.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwJCUZHZjV8
It was a witch hunt trying to get the V.P. ,
and tell me this.
Why did the real leaker, Armitage walk away from all this scott free???
Armitage has a very impressive resume to say the least & probably has more connections than ma Bell, wouldn’t doubt that he is basically untouchable. If he,as he publicly states, outed Plame’s identity then he meant to do so.
The left & the press wanted to hang someone and Scooter was nothing more than the fall guy.
Did someone have the audicity to call “The One” an imbecile? Now, remember folks, this pathetic excuse for a leader is a Harvard law graduate. If you will check out alot of these people ((CEOs(John Thain for example),Obama appointees, government officials))who are fraudently using their power to destroy major companies, our country and whitewashing the news,(CNN, MSNBC, etc)they are Harvard or “Big Ten” graduates. So many mean-spirited left-wing bloggers questioned Bush’s ability to be qualified to go to Yale/Harvard business school because his daddy went to Yale. Well…”The One’s” father attended but I believe did not graduate from Harvard. So it is questionable whether it was by merit or not. It is time we all stopped being mesmerized by these ‘Big 10″ schools reputations and take a real hard in-depth look into how their graduates are being influenced. I remember the Prince of Saudia Arabia giving $10M dollars to Harvard at one time. How much has Harvard received in total from them? I am also afraid that the Brits are becoming our hidden enemy. Look how much they are being incorporated into our government (assistant secretary of treasury under Bush administration had a very thick British accent) and our news media. Look how quickly we are being forced to adopt their socialism and “Big Brother” attitude. And don’t forget when the British-owned company that had access to US shipping/dock security tried to sell it to a Saudia company. Do you remember the outcry? I have noticed that Britain is becoming a “front man” for the Muslim world. My point is we the people need to break up this “In-Like-Flynt” group, throw them in Gitmo with their partners in crime or maybe in Alcatraz and take back our country or in a short amount of time we won’t have a country.
I would also like to point out some contemporary well placed Rhodes Scholars(a British school), Bill Clinton, Rachel Maddow, and George Steppanapolis.
Please forgive my spelling/grammerical errors as this is my first post ever. I will do better next time.
Brian Richard Allen:
How long did it take you to post that reply. Actually how long did you search the dictionary for a bunch of words with no substance. Look up
Gibberish: meaningless or unintelligible talk or writing.
Talk or writing containing many obscure, pretentious, or technical words.
I bet there is a picture of you right next to it. Why don’t you just say you hate Obama and leave it at that?
Are you and “Angry American” the same person? Gotcha!!
So, a few of you are glad that Obama apologized for his “mistake”. What exactly was the mistake? Was the mistake believing that it is OK for some people not to pay taxes? Was the mistake believing that they might be able to keep the tax issue a secret?
For the majority of Americans, if you don’t pay your taxes, and you get caught, you get punished; often the punishment is severe. What punishment does Daschle now face? The ever brilliant John Kerry said that Daschle’s tax problems would not keep him from doing his job. Genius. Guess what, John. That is true about everyone. Paying taxes doesn’t help anyone do their job.
Isn’t this the case as well for Timothy Geithner? Geithner also failed to pay his taxes for a couple of years and he now heads the Treasury which includes the IRS. Strange.
juang29 said:
THE PRESIDENT IS NOT RESPONSIBLE TO SIFT THROUGH EVERYONE’S PERSONAL FINANCES TO MAKE SURE THEY ARE BEING HONEST WITH THEIR TAX RETURNS.
Perhaps he should have not given these guys the benefit of the doubt and asked them if everything is on the up and up before we go through this process. But don’t start blaming the president.
juang
BO knew about Killifer’s tax problems since Jan 8 when she disclosed her tax lien herself. Also, Daschle’s problems with the IRS were known to many in his state since 2004 when he lost senate re-election. So this stuff was out there. BO took responsibility for Daschle’s withdrawal but doing so left him open for cries of hypocrisy for allowing Geithner to stay.
Can we officially say that Daschel’s political carerr has been an unmitigated disaster? He’ll never hold an important post again. That’s for sure. Hate coming that guy’s way. http://hateonme.com/
To you Obama apologists saying we should just give the guy a chance:
1) You’re sounding desperate;
2) Do you not know how ridiculous that sounds? He’s the POTUS. I expect him to do the job right, or resign. He campaigned for almost two years. Do you think he lacked time to prepare? He had a two-month transition period; a smooth one thanks to Bush. Why all the pratfalls?
3) Remember all the criticism of McCain for selecting Palin without “proper vetting”? Remember?!? He’s running the show. It’s his responsibility. He’s supposed to interview his top appointees. He has a team to do the vetting. It is not getting done. In his place, I would publicly can the leader of that team, and I would have Geithner resign, all in an effort to redeem myself in the public’s eyes. I would clean up my mess.
Still think I should “give him a chance”?
Jimmy Carter is smiling. THE ONE is setting a new speed record for incompetence. He even has our close allies, the Indians, calling him a Monkey.
Way to go, BO!
He has another bad nominee. A Congresswoman from CA was working as a lobbyist WHILE IN CONGRESS! She was lobbying the other Congresscritters without full disclosure. Purely against the rules. A lobbyist and a cheat! A two-fer!
I gotta say, losing is the best thing to happen to us Pubs, because Obama is showing how hard it is to find an honest Dem. Hilarious! People are also starting to see that the Emperor has no clothes. The pork-a-thon is out of control, and the corruption is being unmasked. I’m laughing every day, now. It’s some much needed comic relief.
96. juang29:
“I will not flinch at any mistake for a long while SINCE THIS ENTIRE NATION STOOD BY AND LET BUSH WRECK OUR COUNTRY FOR 8 LONG YEARS!!!”
Yea; I’m seeing the light. We should stand by while Obama wrecks the country for eight years like Bush did; Makes perfect Dumocrat sense.
Bush shouldn’t have done such a good job protecting these dummies; There’d be less of them around to complain, and distort history.
My favorite Obama quote so far:
“The time for thinking is over”
That is the future he invisions. Where he makes all of the decisions and chides us when we think.
You should be afraid, very afraid.
With all the concern over the ethical dimension to this, we’re missing another important lesson from these tax cheats: such chicanery is enabled by the Byzantine tax code.
By nominating a series of tax-challenged candidates, 0bama is doing a much better job of making the case for the fair (flat) tax than Republicans or Libertarians could ever make.
#116 Self-hating Boomer – Interesting point, but a bit off. These things they are guilty of are things that have been well-known for years, ever since some previous Cabinet appointments blew up. Everyone now knows what you have to do to employ a nanny (everyone who would employ one). Daschle, btw, knew exactly what he was doing. He had specific info on it from both his employer and his accountant. There was no mistake, nor lack of understanding. These guys are just elitist crooks, a la Leona Helmsley.
I’m not intending to let them off the hook; I’m just saying that using their lame excuses (it was a mistake), they’re unwittingly making the case that the tax code is too complicated. For crying out loud, if the tax code is too complicated for the treasury secretary (whether true in fact or not), is there not something grossly wrong with this picture?
Tax return on a post card. End of excuses. And also the end of an enormous industry (maybe they can hire all of those tax accountants and lawyers to fix the roads).
Every time BHO makes a Cab. appt. our treasury gets fatter from the trogs rushing in arrearage payments to the IRS. Name them all to something. Czar this and that.
BHO- Gun Salesman of the year
Tax Collector of the Year
Next candidate hor HHS? Wasn’t Mrs POTUS a bigshot in a Chicago hospital? I’m sure she must the great health care knowledge we need in the HHS position.
#120 quasar – Funny! He has his own Empoyee-of-the-month parking spot at the IRS!
You idiots would rather have wars in the middle east, secret prisons and torture, terrible leadership across all departments of government than a mini-tax scandal like this? Thats why your people got kicked to the curb because you don’t know whats right for the country.
Hey! I know what’s right for this country! Let’s invade Pah-kee-stawn, bankrupt the coal industry, do nothing about illegals, tax businesses to fund a bunch of makework gubmint “jobs”, and saddle our kids with billions of $ in debt! Now THAT sounds like a plan!
the amount of vitriol on these boards is just unbelievable. What has 90% of the comments got to do with the subject matter? Most of it seems to be residual anger and racism that a black man (someone actually made the point of mentioning KID in block letters several times) is in power?
Only 2 weeks into office and we already have those who would rather the country sinks than Obama succeeds?
Wow… and i thought mature people posted here. What a mistake.
125. david:
A sad reality.