Daschle gets dashed

Well wonder of wonders, whether it was Tom Daschle himself or Obama who let it be known that this nomination was thoroughly dashed on the rocks of unpaid taxes and something less than a frank and open acknowledgment of the problem, Tom Daschle withdrew from consideration as HHS Secretary. To me the crux of the problem was that Daschle acknowledged that he learned (if that was really when he learned) he would owe taxes on the limousine and driver provided for him by a Democratic fatcat with an investment fund in June, but didn't bother to pay the back taxes until Jan. 2 of this year, or to inform Team Obama about it until (if I remember correctly) a couple of days later. Here's the Register editorial that ran today, which I'm sure was the straw (though the chat shows foolishly attributed it to the NYT editorial that also called on Daschle to withdraw). I'm especially proud of the suggestion that Obama throw Daschle back into the velvet briar patch of influence-peddling (though many people might not get it since Disney's "Song of the South" is too politically incorrect to be shown anywhere these days).

I was especially amused at all the Democratic senaotrs yesterday who were proclaiming that Daschle -- "in Washington there are whores and there are whores and there are whores -- and then there's Tom Daschle," according to Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi -- was the very paragon of integrity and righteousness. Get blindsided much?