For a Republican, An Apology Wouldn’t Be Enough . . .
. . . and for mistakes less significant than Daschle’s.
This headline, Daschle apologizes for failing to pay taxes, suggests the Democrat believes an apology enough save his nomination.
Well for a Democrat it just might work, but if he were a Republican:
If a Bush appointee got rich off of Wall Street in this climate, had a chauffeur from one of his fat cat cronies, had unpaid taxes that amounted to more than what most people make in a year, and then the administration tried to fix it behind closed doors. Democrats would call for his head and would demand ‘accountability.
That observation led Glenn to remark, “will Republicans have the guts to do the same?“
If they want to stand for anything, they’d better. Despite Obama’s campaign rhetoric to change the way business is done in Washington, he has appointed a lot of Beltway hacks to his team, those who, like Daschle embody the way Washington really works.
A Republican couldn’t get away with just an apology. He would have to withdraw his nomination and admit not just the error of his ways, but also of his ideology, as if his ideology were responsible for his misdeeds.
So, is Daschle’s ideology responsible for his misdeeds? Or just his arrogance? If the latter, this speaks poorly of the individuals the president has tapped for his cabinet.
It seems some believe that the rules that apply to the average American don’t apply to them.
UPDATE (JohnAGJ): A quote that Hot Air amusingly calls “delicious irony”:
“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.
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I posted a little PSA on this topic.
Comment by Gregory of Yardale — February 2, 2009 @ 3:56 pm - February 2, 2009
Change! Hope! Change! Hope! Don’t look at that man’s taxes. Look at the change they represent! Don’t look at how it’s a change for the worse (since Bush would never have tried it). Feel the hope!
Comment by ILoveCapitalism — February 2, 2009 @ 4:46 pm - February 2, 2009
Heard Hannity say that NRO found a bit of Congressional history where Daschle called on the IRS to enforce the tax laws. I’ll have to head over there and see if I can find it.
Comment by ThatGayConservative — February 2, 2009 @ 4:51 pm - February 2, 2009
P.S. I feel like I’m living in a _Star Wars_ movie.
[Yoda] You must… *feeeeeeeelll* the Change and the Hope… between you.. the tree… Obama… the rock… yes… even Daschle.
[Obi-wan] This is a dangerous time for you. You can feel the Change and the Hope… but you cannot control it.
Comment by ILoveCapitalism — February 2, 2009 @ 4:53 pm - February 2, 2009
Sen. Tom Daschle, Congressional Record, May 7, 1998, p. S4507.
Comment by ThatGayConservative — February 2, 2009 @ 4:56 pm - February 2, 2009
Having worked in the financial industry my entire life, and having filed many personal and business taxes, I have a question that no one seems to have asked. When one underpays taxes, one is required to pay the taxes due, with interest and PENALTY. Why has Tom Daschle no been required to pay a penalty? He paid back taxes and interest. Who excused the penalty? Does anyone think the MSM is going to ask this question?
Comment by John in Dublin Ca — February 2, 2009 @ 4:56 pm - February 2, 2009
So is this the change that we can believe in?
Meh. Same ol’, same ol’…
Comment by John — February 2, 2009 @ 5:45 pm - February 2, 2009
Dan, I know this is not the subject of your post, but I was out of town over the weekend and did not get to comment on your January 31 post regarding President Obama’s request that the Pentagon reduce its FY 2010 budget request by 10 percent.
I was involved with the military for 25 years, am a life member in the Air Force Association and consider myself very pro-military.
If the service secretaries, Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Joint Staff put aside service rivalries, took to heart Dwight Eisenhower’s warning about the military-industrial complex and carefully and honestly took a sharp scapel to the Pentagon’s budget, ten percent could be cut without any significant impact on our military’s training, readiness and morale.
It would help a lot if a couple of the services stopped pouring billions into some weapons systems that are never going to work — and if, miracle of miracles, they did work they’d be useless fighting Islamic radicals who hide in caves.
Comment by Jack Allen — February 2, 2009 @ 6:45 pm - February 2, 2009
If Dashle is so sorry for being a tax cheat why doesn’t he ante up and pay 2 or 3x the PENALTY? Same with Rangel and all the other Democrat tax cheats appropriately called the Leona Helmsley Democrats!!!!! hehe
Comment by Gene in Pennsylvania — February 2, 2009 @ 6:50 pm - February 2, 2009
Jack Allen (#8) makes a compelling point about military spending and waste.
However, much of the waste is actually foisted on the military by members of Congress who grab Congressional district pork through military spending in exchange for other support of various defense projects. The Pentagon is fully staffed with folks who “coordinate” spending with members of Congress. Not long ago, the USN built a huge pier facility in Rhode Island. It is great for cruise ships and the likes, but the Navy no longer uses the port. How better to get urban upgrades than to get it budgeted as part of “national security?”
Comment by heliotrope — February 2, 2009 @ 7:04 pm - February 2, 2009
And, heliotrope, I hope “weapons systems that are never going to work” wasn’t a crack at a anti-missile defense – which the American people deserve, since countries with missile programs like Russia and North Korea are still in the world, and which of late is impressively close to working.
Comment by ILoveCapitalism — February 2, 2009 @ 7:40 pm - February 2, 2009
Perhaps heliotrope is thinking more along the lines of systems like the V-22 Osprey Aircraft which has wasted huge amounts of money over decades and still is less than it was advertised or some of the various projects the Army has been behind that have been costly and not panned out.
Comment by Not Always Right — February 2, 2009 @ 10:04 pm - February 2, 2009
The military, like big pharmaceuticals, must spend huge money on R and D. That will necessarily include a “system” from time to time that is outdated before it can be deployed or takes on a constituency of support for a program that is going nowhere. However, like the space program, military R and D spins off a lot of data that is of great value in other R and D areas. A bum military program is not all useless “sunk cost” in economics terms.
The military-industrial complex of Eisenhower’s meaning was an iron triangle which would have been better named the military-industrial-Congressional district triangle. But even then Eisenhower’s warning does not account for Jack Murtha.
Murtha has robbed the defense budget for his district. This is from the Wall Street Journal:
Congressional oversight is often a sham. When you cut the military by 10% it is the common fool’s assumption that the admirals will get smaller cars and the $600 dollar hammers will be canceled. But the fact is, that cutting the budget is no easier than base closings. There are political fingers in every nook and cranny of military spending.
Obama promised to keep lobbyists out and then appointed some of the biggest whales in the lobbyist tank. If (and I doubt he will do it) he cuts the military, it will be Congressional district by Congressional district. And the Murthas will try to grab the appropriation from some losing district rather than watch it disappear. Congress is made up of jackals and hyenas. They constantly circle the military budget. Why would they waste their time trying to feed off the little stuff?
Comment by heliotrope — February 3, 2009 @ 10:08 am - February 3, 2009
heliotrope has added good PS’s to my comment. There’s no guestion that Congress is responsible for much of the waste in the Pentagon budget. That’s why smart and successful defense contractors make sure parts for a new weapons system (whether it works or not, whether it’s needed or not) are manufactured in as many congressional districts as possible. I can’t remember the program but not too long ago I read of one that has companies involved located in all 50 states. The military doesn’t want the program but can’t get rid of it in face of the support it has among Senators and Representatives.
Comment by Jack Allen — February 3, 2009 @ 2:13 pm - February 3, 2009
“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.
Facts are a b!tch, aren’t they, Tommy boy?
What goes around comes around. And it couldn’t have happened to a more appropriate libtard.
GayPatriot – doing the work the MSM used to do.
Regards,
Peter H.
Comment by Peter Hughes — February 4, 2009 @ 2:22 pm - February 4, 2009