Tom’s “public” was Leo Hindery, the New York media rich guy who paid him a million a year, plus providing the now famous car and driver, in exchange for what appear to be some very ill-defined duties.Of course he wasn’t lobbying, which would have required him to register as such, which would have brought certain vocational restrictions, included barring him from the Obama cabinet per BHO’s self-imposed ban on that particular strain of doxy.
Ah, but a lobbyist by any other name is not a lobbyist in the parlance of our government. It turns out that anyone can “engage in lobbying activities on behalf of a client” so long as said activities do not constitute more than 20% of one’s activities on behalf of that client. TD was the only one tracking his hours, so I guess it worked out OK for him.
I make a tab less than TD, but my employer supplies me with a few perks that sweeten the job a little. Despite never having served as the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, I am, however, fully aware that these perks trigger tax obligations. And my professional tax advisor reminds me just in case it slips my mind. But if it could happen to Charlie Rangel and Tim Geithner, I guess it could happen to Tommy D., too. He would have been a little more believable if he’d paid up in June when the “error” was discovered rather than waiting until he’d been nominated for the H&HS gig.
Ever since the news of his tax problems broke we’ve been hearing about what a popular guy he is on the Hill. I’m just wondering how much of his popularity stems from the $66,000+ he and his wife gave to various Senate, House and Presidential candidates last year. (Including, ironically, Charlie Rangel.) Full rundown here. Well, I’m sure those contributions will play no role in the confirmation vote.
Finally, don’t you love how Tommy quickly labeled his failure to pay his income taxes a “stupid mistake”? This is has become the de rigor response for all manner of political chicanery. I call it the Harrison Ford response, for the advice he gave the President (Donald Moffat) while playing Jack Ryan in Clear and Present Danger. The basic idea is you self-label yourself something terrible, but survivable (stupid), before your critics or the press can label you something worse and less survivable (e.g., thief, tax-cheat, influence peddler).
Finally, don’t you love how Tommy quickly labeled his failure to pay his income taxes a “stupid mistake”? This is has become the de rigor response for all manner of political chicanery. I call it the Harrison Ford response, for the advice he gave the President (Donald Moffat) while playing Jack Ryan in Clear and Present Danger. The basic idea is you self-label yourself something terrible, but survivable (stupid), before your critics or the press can label you something worse and less survivable (e.g., thief, tax-cheat, influence peddler).
So somebody please tell me, why is it so important that Tom Daschle be the Secretary of H&HS that we are expected to overlook this pretty thievery which saps the morale of the country and dishonors genuine public service?
Posts
29 comments:
You left out that his wife once headed the FAA and she is now a lobbyist for Lockhead Martin and American Airlines.
The reason he should be confirmed? I don't understand why he'd want to give up the job he has now to take HHS. Isn't that a couple of million a year pay cut? Maybe he should be confirmed as a punishment.
Well, maybe, but I guess my worry is that this is a step up financially. If he puts in 2-3 years at H&HS he’ll have much bigger influence to peddle; maybe he’ll be able to command $3 million a year for his advice and counsel.
$350,000+ in unreported taxable income from mulitple sources is not, as you describe it, "petty thievery." It is a felony, and it is certainly "grand" in every sense of the word. There is not one rational person in the United States, including Daschle, Obama, or any one of our elders and betters in the U.S. Sentate, who believes otherwise. If you did it, it would be a jail offense. If any republican nominee did it, the now well documented undue delay in informing the President and correcting his tax return after Daschle realized the jig was up, would be an additional crime most likely characterized in the press, and by the grand jury, as an obstruction of justice.
I'm happy for you, Mr. Blank, that both you and your professional tax advisor, are apparently more averse to serious crime than either Mr. Daschle or Mr. Obama. It is unfortunate for you, however, in a way, in that if you and your accountant were both obvious crooks, you could be in the running for what Obama has repeatedly referred to as "my cabinet."
Bill Ayers was reported to have said (describing himself) something along the lines of "Guilty as sin, free as a bird." Maybe someone could prevail on Bruce Springsteen to put that refrain in an edgy new working class ballad about his idol, the Change agent, the new Lincoln. It could replace "Happy Days are Here Again," as the new democrat anthem.
Nearly 140 years on, Honest Abe weeps again for his nation.
The pols know that nobody is going to really check their tax returns so they feel they can lie with impunity. The idea of honest government has been dead for generations.
If you are not gaming the system in banking, wall street, on the street, in politics or with your business, then you are not a player. The punishment for Tommy D would be make him live back in South Dakota, his home state that he lost touch with and was defeated while Senate Majority Leader. At least the folks there eventually realized he was a fraud.
Yes, that's perfect. Exile Dash to SD where he will experience SPW (severe perk withdrawal).
The O-bomb has a real opportunity here to toss this guy overboard and take a stand. He couldn't toss Gethner because he had bipartisan support and because there wasn't time to find someone else with the same support and credentials. Economy is too pressing. Health care is another story. There are plenty of political hacks available to run a department like Health which simply isn't top of mind and won't be for at least a year.
Plus, as the Anonymizer pointed out, Dasch evaded a lot more $ than Gethner and had a much bigger job where he absolutely should know better.
Hopefully the O-bomb will figure out he will score more populism points by dumping him than keeping him.
Aha, some friends and I were just discussing the Clear and Present Danger technique on Friday night. Too bad the term "stupid mistake" does not trump "wilful and criminal misconduct unbecomming of a lawmaker".
What has our country become? Scandalous theives slithering their way to power within the government, unchecked, with no regard to laws, morals, rules or obligations - only to smile, shrug say sorry and oh well once they're called out. We really need to adopt China's wayh of dealing with corrupt businessmen and start apllying it to our lawmakers as well.
I've had just about enough of this bullshit.
Don't you think this nonsense has been going on since day one but investigative reporting is now more thorough? In the 19th century the distance from Washington to their constituents was vast. This is the information age. Paper and electronic trails aren't like the bread crumbs of Hansel & Gretel.
The problem isn't which party. It's opportunists who are attracted to politics. Does it matter if you get kicked to death by a donkey or trampled by an elephant? Politics are all about money. What did Willie Sutton say?
I realize it's been going on for some time, but I have only recently started to become more politically aware. I can say that even 4 years ago politics had very little influence on my thinking - all I knew was that Republicans love guns and the gun business put me through college. But now as my income multiplies and my taxes go up and priorities change, I have to look around and see who the hell is piloting this behemoth and wonder how in the hell they didn't see the icebergs we ran into.
Hankster's right. It's non partisan. It's how it works. You work for "nothing" on the Hill...get deep knowledge on an issue, then take a lobbying job. Then, if you're ambitious, you get back into the public side to earn greater creds, then cash back again.... That's a very different deal from cheating on your tax returns, which is inexcusable.
To ANONYMOUS...
While the Senate my contain many elders, I see none that's my better.
Here's the rub. Your votes are meaningless.
The system is not flawed, it's broken.
Irreparably.
Your homework is to watch the Ned Beatty monologue near the end of NETWORK. 35 years ago, Paddy Chayefsky articulated America’s root problem in that screenplay. Since then, a new generation of TV watching/ internet surfing sheeple has grown more stupid and more passive. NETWORK could never be made today. They’d have to dumb down the dialog so it could be understood by Vin Diesel fans.
Sure, you’re all MAD AS HELL, but you’re going to take it and take it and take it as long as you believe throwing a little lever every fourth year for another vapid, pre-packaged power-hungry “public servant” will bring “change,” regardless of what your flavor of change is.
It’s time to initialize the hard drive, folks.
I wanted to say I encouraged a revolution, but after admitting I previously worked in the gun industry, I was afraid to be labeled a militia supporter (which I am not) or nutcase (which is arguable). But what I'm really afraid of is more of the same... we're going to end up a failed experiment in future history books if we keep it up. Our rights keep getting chipped away, a death by a thousand papercuts as it were, and the "balance of power" is exceedingly in the government's favor, not the peoples.
To Fistinyoface – I should have been clear that I was being sarcastic: the Senate has none of my betters, either, nor are most of them my elders.
You’re right that I’m mad as hell. And I do have to take it. Bruce Willis repeats your view on this point somewhat more economically when he says 'Welcome to the party pal."
But the problem is less “vapid power hungry public servants,” as you accurately describe them, than the “new generation” you describe in the prior paragraph. The United States is sent down the river by the parents, teachers, and "journalists" who have trained our young so that the best educated and most thoughtful, from the best institutions, are shallow, fatuous and feckless.
It is clear now, whatever happens to Daschle, that the creepy legions in the press and at large in this nation who elected Obama have, generally, no interest whatever in making him accountable for his words (c.f. his turnarounds on Nafta, Blago, the surge, the Rev. Wright and too many other issues to mention.) (I hasten to exclude from that charge, for now, our gracious host and most of his commenters.)
Instead we are treated to pablum along the lines of “They all do it.” Or even more incredible assertions that the Dashles and Geithners of the administration have only surfaced because investigative journalism is more thorough than ever, even as it has remained nonpartisan. Yeah, right.
Ludwig Wittgenstein said this:
“The institutions could not but be corrupt if the idiom of the race was confused, presumptuous, and vacuous, a fabric of nonsense, untruth, deception, and self deception.”
Those phrases describe the land and time of Obama, the Brittany Spears of American history. Anyone who likes this state of affairs should thank a teacher, a union official, and a "community organizer," for all of whom what we have now, is apparently perfect.
I give them credit for constancy of purpose, if for little else.
Well, Daschle gets tossed on the ash heap of history. A good thing in my view, although I hate giving the likes of Saxby Chambliss anything to crow about which he undoubtedly will. He's a big fan of the endzone dance.
Let's remember folks, Obama's been the president for a grand total of 2 weeks. That's 14 days according to my calculations. A little soon to be making judgements about his place in history.
It is good that we have at least succeeded in bringing down Tom...shades of Uncle Walter when LBJ said, "if I've lost Cronkite then I've lost middle America." When The Daily Blank turns on you, then it is time to return to lobbying.
This blogging thing can be fun. In just this one post, comments were posted quoting Bill Ayers, Willie Sutton, Paddy Chayefsky, Bruce Willis Ludwig Wittgenstein (how many of you knew his first name was Ludwig?) and LBJ. Everyone had something interesting to say, but the key is that we did not accept the unacceptable. You have to do something more than talk. For example, I sent President Obama an email at about 10:00 this morning saying that I found the Daschle appointment unsupportable, and by 1:00 he was toast. Now that’s democracy in action!
I also sent my Congresswoman an email expressing my displeasure with the economic recovery plan that was passed by the House; no word yet on pending revisions.
Dennis, optimism is not dead. The system still allows input. All those who p*ss and moan about our current leadership should note the ship of state actually has mechanisms to change course. You may have strong feelings but our president is not Uncle Joe. As flawed as the process is, what would you rather have? Bully boys in brown shirts? Royalty in powdered wigs? Holy book thumping hypocrites? How about raw anarchy?
You are one 350 millionth of the problem. But individuals can actually make a difference.
ANONYMOUS, well said.
I doff my Borsalino to you.
Anon & FIYF: congratulations, you have concluded humanity has let you down. Guess what? You're mortal too! And these are the best of times for your sorry souls. It is only going to go downhill. Get over it. Your narcissistic cynicism is a sidetrack for fools on the road to enlightenment. Bitterness is a waste of the precious moment.
Speaking of lobbyists -- how the hell did Obama's pick for Deputy Sec. of Defense (Bill Lynn) get a pass as a former lobbyist for Raytheon???!!
Woof! Woof! Fisty & Annon -- you're not going to take that trash talk from Hankster are you? I'm reasonably certain he owns no firearms of any sort, but I'm sure he can outrun you.
Yesterday:
click on mens 50-59
http://web2.nyrrc.org/cgi-bin/start.exe/aes-programs/results/startup.html?result.id=a90203&result.year=2009
nothing like a run up 100+ flight of stairs in 16 minutes to vent surpressed rage.We would all be better off it we would have that kind of endorphin release.Great Job Hank
Hank -- you beast!
Hank -- Honor is due.
Hankster, your naiveté is soooo cute! You say there’s more monitoring from the fourth estate than ever? You are flat wrong. Every news bureau has been decimated and long before the recession/depression. Furthermore, there are only a handful of “news” organizations extant, all small cogs of larger multi-national corporate wheels. They see with one eye, hear with one ear and sell the same state-approved propaganda. It’s not journalism, it’s infotainment – obviously the source of your opinions.
Bully boys in brown shirts? Our airports and travel hubs are awash in stupid, uniformed thugs all demanding “vere ahr yoowr paypahs?!” What they miss, omnipresent Orwellian “security cameras” record. Royalty? Every jack-off in congress gets a lifetime pension and free passes for any criminal offense... up to and including manslaughter (Ted Kennedy).
Raw anarchy might be okay – just to see the oblivious ones, the "I believe in the system" ones – like you -- get their candy asses handed to them.
to the Hankster - good work.
to Mr. Blank - why are you so sure he can out run me?
Well annon, i don't know who you are, but the Hankster runs marathons and races up the stair to the top of the Empire State Bldg, so I'm going with the odds and guessing he beats you.
FIYF, You will know the revolution is getting close when you can't live by eating out of the average American trash can.
As much as you don't like being hassled to get on an airplane, they aren't culling the herd. We are still dealing with a bloated system with excess. If you care to have your hair stand up at the back of your neck, this from today's NY Times article on Dr Heim, the Nazi concentration camp doctor. He had a habit of looking at inmate's teeth. He liked to present his friends with a skull from a prisoner who he killed "with an injection, cut off the head, leave it it cook in the creamatorium for hours, until all the flesh was stripped from the naked skull, and prepare the skull for himself and his friends as a decoration for their desks."
I don't see us headed down that road.
yeezy shoes
jordan shoes
kobe basketball shoes
kobe shoes
nike air max 95
golden goose sneakers
yeezy boost
golden goose sneakers
michael kors handbags
golden gooses sneakers
Post a Comment