Obama's first failed appointment

[classicman]

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

...will keep him under a microsope, something the Sec of Treas does not need in these troubled economic times.

I think thats EXACTLY what is needed - especially now.

[piercehawkeye45]

Originally Posted by classicman

I think thats EXACTLY what is needed - especially now.

We need to put every politician under that microscope.

[classicman]

Yup - and hold them accountable - We really need to have some serious consequences. Too many times they get caught and then there is no punishment. The sentence needs to be quick and PAINFUL! A lot of examples need to be set and soon.

[piercehawkeye45]

*rolls out guillotine and leaves it beside Senate entrance*

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by classicman

Yup - and hold them accountable - We really need to have some serious consequences. Too many times they get caught and then there is no punishment. The sentence needs to be quick and PAINFUL! A lot of examples need to be set and soon.

Yea, sort of like not skipping out on paying your taxes til Obama nominates you for a post that involves all of the countries money.

[classicman]

After promising transparency and change. It sure seems like its the same ole same ole...
Tom Daschle, picked to spearhead U.S. health care reform, failed to pay more than $128,000 in taxes.

Obama was facing a new political distraction -- the disclosure that Tom Daschle, picked to spearhead U.S. health care reform, failed to pay more than $128,000 in taxes.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's nomination was held up earlier by criticism over late payment of $34,000 in taxes.

The White House said Obama expected Daschle, a former Senate Democratic majority leader and one of his key early supporters, to be confirmed by the Senate as secretary of Health and Human Services.

"The president has confidence that Senator Daschle is the right person to lead the fight for health care reform," Obama's press secretary, Robert Gibbs, said when the news broke. The White House reiterated that position on Saturday.

Obama has made accountability a key thrust of his approach since his election on a platform vowing sweeping change in the way Washington operates.

Daschle recently filed amended tax returns to pay back taxes, interest and penalties involving unreported consulting income, charitable contributions and use of a car service provided by a prominent businessman and Democratic donor.

Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., compared Daschle's issue with the tax problems that hindered the confirmation of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and those of Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., who is embroiled in a controversy over payment of taxes on a beachfront villa in the Dominican Republic.

"A pattern is developing," Cantor said. "The pattern is solidified. ... It's easy for the other side to sit here and advocate higher taxes because -- you know what? -- they don't pay them." Link

Oh so after he gets the appointment and realizes that this is gonna blow up in his face, he decides to come clean. Better late than never? I don't think so. Seems as though these guys still think they are above the law. I dunno, maybe they are.

[TheMercenary]

Well isn't that special.

"A pattern is developing," Cantor said. "The pattern is solidified. ... It's easy for the other side to sit here and advocate higher taxes because -- you know what? -- they don't pay them."

Change my ass. I've never seen more people turn a blind eye to the duplicity and double standards in the Demoncratic controlled Congress. And people bitched about the Republickins. Poppycock. Must be the blinding light from Obama's halo.

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

Well isn't that special.

"A pattern is developing," Cantor said. "The pattern is solidified. ... It's easy for the other side to sit here and advocate higher taxes because -- you know what? -- they don't pay them."

Change my ass. I've never seen more people turn a blind eye to the duplicity and double standards in the Demoncratic controlled Congress. And people bitched about the Republickins. Poppycock. Must be the blinding light from Obama's halo.

It certainly has some measure of familiarity with the Bush years.

But the Executive Orders issued to-date suggest change...perhaps not as much as some (like me) would like.

The restoration of the Freedom of Information Act and the Presidential Records Act that Bush gutted with EOs.

Far more ethics standards for senior political appointees during their time in office as well as during their return to the private sector.

Banning of torture.

One small step for more transparency and accountability.

Or maybe this is the wrong place to bring all this up. I'm a little rusty here.

[TheMercenary]

I don't totally disagree. But the democrats are talking out of both sides of their mouth and this one and no one is calling them out on it.

What politician has ever not talked out of both sides of their mouths?

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by Redux

What politician has ever not talked out of both sides of their mouths?

"Change, yes we can!"

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

"Change, yes we can!"

I will settle for more transparency and accountability of the executive branch as a start.

That will be a "change" that most Americans wanted to see.

[TheMercenary]

Not if they continue to do business as usual by allowing the double standards for standards of conduct among the appointees and those they present to Congress for approval in key leadership positons. There isnt a damm thing bipartisan about them, which actually I can live with, because they get all the responsiblity for it.

Appointments have never been bi-partisan.

Most presidents get the cabinet level appointments they want unless there are questions of serious impropriety or serous questions of qualifications. Personally, I think the tax issues are embarrassing but trivial

The most glaring rejection was of John Towers as Bush Sr. Defense secretary. His colleagues in the Senate knew he was a drunk and were not prepared to put the US armed forces under his control

And I have run up my post count enough for one setting....but its nice to be back and discuss the issues intelligently...or at least I hope that is the standard here!

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by Redux

Appointments have never been bi-partisan.

I don't disagree. That was not the point. "Change. Yes we can!" was about doing things differently. Rhetoric about corrupt politicans in the White House and Bush administration are being ignored when tax dodging cheats are nominated for posts in the Obama administration and suddenly pay back taxes they never intended to pay.