http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/03/daschle/index.html

I think this a good thing that he step's aside. I wish more would do this when they realize it may affect their ability to do the job.

I think he was right to step aside. Too bad, I like the guy and think he would have made a good HHS secretary.

"Republican Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina said Obama was "losing credibility" with his statements in support of Daschle. "Part of leadership is recognizing when there has been a mistake made and responding quickly," the Republican said."

Where the hell has Jim DeMint been the last 8 years?

Maybe this could be Kitzhaber's chance??

I don't think Kitz would want to do it now.

No they should put Howard Dean as head of DHHS.

He's a doctor.

An effective administrator (as governor New Hampshire AND chair of the DNC.)

An advocate for single-payer health care.

The fact that Dean favors single-payer wouldn't mean much at HHS. He wouldn't be shaping legislation, plus Obama isn't supporting single-payer anyway.

I like Dean, but I think he's too independent to want to report to anyone.

Actually, Obama is demonstrating his genius here. He keeps coming up with these crooked tax cheating Democrats to serve in his administration, they quickly pay their delinquent taxes, then have to bail out. Meantime, if he does enough of these losers, he'll have enough new tax revenue to have the budget balanced. Pure genius. Now I see why you like him so well.

Being that you're self employed and cheat on your taxes, who are you to give a crap? But remember, no one cheats because it's a CPA that's doing the taxes...

Well, well. Look who's back. I wondered how long it would take. You were just waiting for something, anything to grab onto.

Could Herb be next?

At least Obama is owning up to his mistake in the Daschle fiasco. After 8 years of "I never made a mistake", I'll gladly trade a little tax evasion over a country invasion anytime.

Book said it all!


At least Obama is owning up to his mistake in the Daschle fiasco. After 8 years of "I never made a mistake".....

Refreshing from the days of Lord DUHbya...

How about the nomination of a guy to be Health and Human Services Director who has taken large money pay offs from the health providers he would be regulating? I know, Obama can do no wrong. You guys need a white cane when it comes to seeing reality.

How about all the people that stepped down on DUHbya's watch?
You NEVER saw reality EVER when it came to DUHbya and Co. EVER!

Deane_johnson:
Actually, Obama is demonstrating his genius here. He keeps coming up with these crooked tax cheating Democrats to serve in his administration, they quickly pay their delinquent taxes, then have to bail out. Meantime, if he does enough of these losers, he'll have enough new tax revenue to have the budget balanced. Pure genius. Now I see why you like him so well.

HA HA. Well I guess if that's the way you look at it. He needs to nominate more conservatives. That's where all the corruption and big money is.

Earth to Aok, earth to Aok. You haven't been paying attention lately have you?

Bush is gone, the conservatives are out of power and the corruption is rampant. I really don't need to detail it do I? Richardson bowing out due to corruption, Daschle bowing out for unreported personal income, a Secretary of the Treasury not paying his income taxes, a so called stimulus bill that is nothing more than a major handout to every historical liberal cause ever invented for you children to pay for. And away we go.

Where's the change?

That took what? 12 days!

The memo I got says phone it in huge. Nothing gets the Republicans riled up like a easy purpose.

In this case, it's saying "no"!

LOL!!

The change is that they bow out. The GOP just kept going, corruption and incompetence be damned, until they were voted out or indicted.

Yeah and they can't actually cop to that, or they would be forced to actually do something different.

Would chap the base huge!

Can't have that.

So it's squabbling between the Limbaugh faction, and the rest of the Republicans, and a common goal of "no" so that Dems can't actually do anything that would work.

If that happens, they are cooked after 30+ years of bone head policy.

Where's the change we were promised? Same old bunch of Democrat hacks. Clinton, Richardson, Daschle, on and on. He's having so much trouble finding anyone in the Democrat party that isn't dirty, he's having to appoint Republicans to his administration.

I really don't have time to be posting on this forum, but damn, the material coming down the track is so rich it's hard to leave it alone.

"the material coming down the track is so rich it's hard to leave it alone."

Funny how the GOP has memory loss of the past 8 years. And funny how the GOP still wants the same kind of deal as before that was a total failure.

Yeah a few bumps in the road for Obama we're bound to happen in the early going. It's to be expected and for sure disappointing but not a career ending situation.

If the GOP has to have Rush to lead the way then the GOP is in deeper doo doo than ever before. It's truly laughable how you point at two nominee failures as a some kind of complete disaster. This is politics, sadly, and the GOP has proven it's pretty dirty under their fingernails.

*bam*

And from Chris too. (nice one man)

Deane, that post took what? 2 minutes tops?

What's rich is that those that broke it are complaining about the way it's being fixed.

"Yeah a few bumps in the road for Obama we're bound to happen in the early going."

Calling the current circus a "few bumps in the road" is like Bush referring to our economic crisis as "hitting a rough patch".


"GOP has proven it's pretty dirty under their fingernails."

Specifically what?

"Specifically what?"

1. Memogate: The Senate Computer Theft
2. Doctor Detroit: The DOJ's Bungled Terrorism Case
3. Dark Matter: The Energy Task Force
4. The Indian Gaming Scandal
5. Halliburton's No-Bid Bonanza
6. Halliburton: Pumping Up Prices
7. Halliburton's Vanishing Iraq Money
8. The Halliburton Bribe-apalooza
9. Halliburton: One Fine Company
10. Halliburton's Iran End Run
11. Money Order: Afghanistan's Missing $700 Million Turns Up in Iraq
12. Iraq: More Loose Change
13. The Pentagon-Israel Spy Case
14. Gone to Taiwan
15. Wiretapping the United Nations
16. The Boeing Boondoggle
17. The Medicare Bribe Scandal
18. Tom DeLay's PAC Problems
19. Tom DeLay's FAA: Following Americans Anywhere
20. In the Rough: Tom DeLay's Golf Fundraiser
21. Busy, Busy, Busy in New Hampshire
22. The Medicare Money Scandal
23. The Bogus Medicare "Video News Release"
24. Pundits on the Payroll: The Armstrong Williams Case
25. Ground Zero's Unsafe Air
26. John Ashcroft's Illegal Campaign Contributions
27. Intel Inside ... The White House
28. Duck! Antonin Scalia's Legal Conflicts
29. AWOL
30. Iraq: The Case for War
31. Niger Forgeries: Whodunit?
32. In Plame Sight
33. Abu Ghraib
34. Guantánamo Bay Torture

And that's just the first four Bush years.

Any other questions, Deane?

That's not only not much of a list, but you didn't originate it. Do you have any of your own knowledge to present?

"That's not only not much of a list, but you didn't originate it. Do you have any of your own knowledge to present?"

Quit trolling, Deane.

Asked and answered.

I wish Daschle was the right man for the job. But the fact that he isn't, and even the fact that why he's not came as a surprise to me, reminds me of something that used to be important to me;

It's important to find the right person for the job. It's less important to save face and pretend he is.

I'm through with pretending anymore.

In a few days, this too shall pass. Perhaps the vetting process didn’t work as well as it should have and I’m frankly disappointed. But what isn’t going to change is the colossal fiscal catastrophe left behind by George W. Bush. Comparing Daschle’s tax problems to the economic monstrosity left by the George W. Bush is like comparing World War II to Grenada.

Plus we’re just learning about the $100 billion dollars reconstruction money frittered away in Iraq with little or no oversight by the Bush Administration. As well as all the TARP money sent out by George W. Bush’s Treasury Department with no strings attached. That doesn't include the $1 trillion dollars that will be spent in Iraq. Remember that war, it was going to cost between $50 to $100 billion dollars?

Call the Dems all the names you want. But the GOP had EVERY opportunity to act judiciously when spending the public’s money. But instead, they royally blew it, and blew it mightily. They made a mockery of themselves and have little if any credibility on the matter.

Well, the process as a whole is working. Obama makes his picks, and they are either confirmed, or there is a problem.

He can make another pick, and perhaps this time there won't be a problem.

I'm perfectly ok with that. CJ has it right on. Find the right person for the job. Not pretending means this kind of thing will happen.

It's a perfectly wonderful problem to have, as opposed to the "doing a heck of a job brownie" approach we are used to seeing.

@Deane: You are kidding right?

Your team took it in the sack --huge -->TWICE. It's about a third smaller. Heh, almost typed turd. Oh well.

Seriously, about the only thing I see the GOP doing right now is issuing a big ass Republican "No". No plan either, just "no".

(wanting to keep doing the same shit with a different administration isn't a plan)

I was talking with a friend about this. One of the reasons we discussed for the "no", was to unify the party. You know, bring out the discouraged, disillusioned, the tired, the pissed.

You know, like you?

Yeah. Worked. I'll have to let that friend know, "good call".

Now the only discussion, is whether or not to follow Limbaugh so he brings the base along, or to actually think through what might help people and build up the party that way.

I'm hoping for the latter, so we can bag on the failed economic policies that bled us dry for 30 years.

There are plenty of people that will listen to conservative ways to get that done, simply because it's what needs to be done.

...or the GOP is gonna take in in the sack AGAIN in 2010, and leave the Dems the 60. From there it's Progressive policy, and likely happy days for a while.

Bush is gone, the conservatives are out of power and the corruption is rampant.

LOL!
DUHbya and his tribe of idiots did enough corruption that it would take 9 terms to just catch up. Corruption is rampant... That's rich.... LOL!

That's not only not much of a list, but you didn't originate it. Do you have any of your own knowledge to present?

OMG!
Deane is back in fine form.. RIGHT ON CUE..
LOL!

I think that's a new one for the Dodge List. Deane has a coupla entries on there already.

Hmmm... Let's see?

---------The Dodge List---------

1. Subject change (Nixon, Abortion)

2. False comparison (Like computers and cars, only it's politics and sex --or something goofy, that just does not present as goofy at first blush.)

3. Claim of too many opponents

(This one debunked for online venues as participants have all the time they need to research and consider their next point of discussion --they can collude too)

4. Silence (Ignore the impending point to be taken. Essentially, it can be used another day. Acceptance of that loss means loss of that point for a greater discussion in the future. Very potent for online venues)

5. (first seen from Deane) Claim to either be a member of, or opponents of discussion being members of club, with said membership somehow required to complete what is otherwise a non-rational conclusion.

(love that one It's freaking beautiful--Where is Deane anyway?)

6. Claim of overall subject and or implications of subject complexity being greater than scope of discussion; therefore, it's all a waste of time. (Herb and Deane on that one too.)

Both complex and subtle variations on the, "you wouldn't understand" theme.

7. Transformation of rational point at hand to emotional one.

8. The bible, which is a specific manifestation of subject change. Warranted because it's often used in tandem with the transformation bit. The next two on this list seen in this mess often too.

9. Redefinition of common words. This happens either via manipulation of time lines (historical), or via authorities, whose scope is limited to a sub-set of generally accepted authorities. (non peer reviewed, or non common, word use)

10. Personal attack. This varies too. Sometimes it's an attack on an authority. That form is kind of an indirect attack, as in, "you listen to that nutbag?". I'm lumping all of these together in one group. Don't know why, just am.

11. Obsfucation. (however you spell it) This might be redundant, given the word redefinition one above. I see this as half-answers, like if you have the same point of view, the answer is solid, but if you don't, it leads to questions and framing that puts non-aligned beliefs on the defensive.

12. Excess verbosity. (KSKD, CJ, Littlesongs, others) Hammer them really hard, hoping the problem will go away. It's both therapy and a dodge in one fell swoop!

13. Evoke unreal boundary. Most often seen with indignation. This is a variation on "too complex" and "you wouldn't understand", in that it limits the scope of discussion where it would not otherwise be limited if things continued to be rational. Once this has happened, discussion is no longer rational.

---------------------

Well, I'm not sure I see that form in there. Could come under #10 indirectly. That's a stretch though. It's a pretty clear subject change. I'll bite on that one, but it's specific enough to warrant #14, so here it is!

(another credit to Deane --damn man, you are good!)

14. Implied claim that personal knowledge is a requirement to establish a point at hand, without actually stating it, and without that actually being the case.* (Deane)

Also implies cut -n- paste is not valid for discussion, regardless of the merits of the material so presented.

(I'll have to water that one down, but it will serve for now)

Where in God's name is Herb!!!!!?

Now maybe he can be one of the 500 million unemployed in America according to Nancy Pelosi!