Limousine liberal takes a cab to senate hearing

Dana Milbank:

Tom Daschle failed to pay taxes on a quarter-million dollars of income related to the chauffeured Cadillac that ferried him about town for three years. But don't call the guy a limousine liberal.

When he visited Capitol Hill yesterday to explain his tax problems to senators, Daschle -- President Obama's choice to run the Department of Health and Human Services -- came and went in a D.C. cab. The ride waiting for him on Constitution Avenue was labeled "M. Djebbour Taxi Co."

"My failure to recognize that the use of a car was income and not a gift from a good friend was a mistake," the former Senate majority leader explained as his onetime colleagues stood behind him in a display of support. "It was completely inadvertent. But that's no excuse, and I deeply apologize to President Obama, to my colleagues and to the American people."

It's unclear whether the American people will accept the apology; they tend to look unfavorably on people who amass more than $350,000 in unreported income and improper deductions. They also might be skeptical of somebody who used his connections and influence to pile up more than $5.2 million since he left the Senate, much of it from a major Democratic donor and $220,000 of it from health-care interests that Daschle, if confirmed by senators, will begin to regulate.

But Obama, and Democratic senators, were eager to accept their friend's apology. The president, a former senator himself, pronounced himself "absolutely" behind Daschle, and members of the Senate Finance Committee, after sitting with Daschle for just 15 minutes, lined up at the microphones to absolve him.

"I don't know of a person more honorable," said Kent Conrad (D-N.D.).

...

At yesterday's White House briefing, ABC News's Jake Tapper asked whether Obama worried that the nearly $200,000 in back taxes and penalties owed between Geithner and Daschle will "undercut the president's cry for an era of responsibility."

"Both Secretary Geithner and Secretary-designate Daschle are the right people for very important jobs," press secretary Robert Gibbs replied.

"Is there an amount of money in unpaid back taxes for any nominee to the president's Cabinet that would be considered disqualifying?" needled Fox News's Major Garrett.

"I'm not going to get into hypotheticals," Gibbs answered.

...

It appears that responsibility is also a hypothetical for this administration. Major Garrett had the right question and the dodge used by Gibbs is a give away. But what does it say about the character of the senate Democrats that they just accept the apology and ignore the offense?

Then their is Kent Conrad's slander of the rest of his friends, "I don't know of a person more honorable." Really? Do all his friends cheat on their taxes too?