Limousine liberal tax cheat has a bad day

Politico:

With President Obama and Senate Democrats rallying behind Tom Daschle after Friday’s revelations of back tax troubles, Republican senators faced a difficult choice—whether to support the Cabinet nomination of a former member of their exclusive club, or strike a clean shot at the new Democratic president.

“If this were anyone else, I don’t think there would be any question that [the nomination] would not make it out of the committee,” said a top Senate GOP aide, referring to Daschle’s 18 years of Senate service, including stints as both majority and minority leader. “But he’s a former majority leader, which means a lot to these guys.”

Senate Republicans on Saturday were still trying to come to grips with the scale of Daschle’s tax issues, and had yet to decide whether to support him or block his nomination as Health and Human Services secretary.

Daschle will meet with GOP and Democratic members of the Finance Committee late Monday. Republicans on the panel want to hear from Daschle on the controversy before deciding whether to support or block his nomination."

The White House said Saturday that Obama remains committed to Daschle’s nomination—now the second case of a high-level appointee failing to pay taxes, and one in a string of recent Democratic embarrassments on the ethics front.

Sources close to Daschle said they’ve gotten reassurances from the White House that Obama was not wavering. ?

“They knew it was coming and they’d have to take a hit," said a source close to Daschle.

And, this person acknowledged, it had been “a bad first-day hit."

If Republicans take up the cudgel, Obama, who’s spent much of the week railing at Wall Street greed, would have to explain why he’s backing a rich political insider who didn’t pay taxes on his limousine.

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I think Obama knew this was going to be a problem and that is why he installed Daschle in the White House as a health czar is it is a position that does not require confirmation. That way he gets to keep him in charge of rationed health care even if he can't get HHS.

The strange thing about this story is it does not ask the obvious question. Why would Democrats want to go to the mat for another tax cheat for the program they want to be their signature item? Democrats should be as angry about Daschle as Republicans. You know they would be if Daschle was a limousine Republican. In that case they would be giggling up their sleeve in derision at the suggestion that they would approve such a person.

Republicans would make a mistake if they did not hold the Democrats to the same standard. They may accept a tax cheat for Treasury Secretary because he is "needed" for the financial crisis. Despite what Democrats have been saying for 16 years there is no health care crisis because if there were half of us would be dead by now.