Losing track

It's hard to keep up with all the scoundrels in the Democratic Party. Here's the latest (excerpted from Gary Bauer's End of Day report):

Over the weekend, we learned about yet another tax-raising liberal Democrat who massively underpaid his own taxes. This time it is former Senate Democrat Leader Tom Daschle, who has been nominated by President Obama to be Secretary of Health and Human Services. In that post, the pro-abortion Daschle is expected to direct the Obama Administration’s takeover of American health care and dismantle the pro-life policies of the previous administration regarding human embryo stem cell research.

Daschle is considered very smart. Nonetheless, he expressed ignorance that a luxury car and chauffer he was provided by his employer were taxable... In addition, Daschle lacked proof for thousands of dollars of charitable deductions he took and failed to report some consulting income. The bottom line: On January 2nd, he sent the IRS $140,000 in back taxes and penalties. The Washington Post referred to this as a “tax glitch.” I suspect most taxpayers would apply a few more colorful adjectives.

If this sounds familiar, that is because Daschle’s tax “glitch” comes on the heels of the tax problems of another Obama nominee, Timothy Geithner (supposedly the smartest man to tackle the economic crisis), who claimed not to understand that you must pay self-employment tax on self-employment income. He is now head of the Treasury Department and oversees the IRS! And don’t forget Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY), who is under investigation for failing to pay tens of thousands of dollars in taxes. Rangel just happens to be chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, which means Rangel is the man who writes our nation’s tax laws!

No wonder liberal Democrats love higher taxes – they don’t pay them!

The Obama team carted out various people all weekend to tell the public that these were honest mistakes, and, besides, Daschle is such a nice guy and he’s a liberal. Everyone in Washington knows that if this were the nominee of a Republican president, the nomination would be dead on arrival. The Democrat attack machine, aided by its media allies, would go into overdrive. The nominee would be humiliated in public hearings and withdraw in disgrace.

There will be a Senate hearing on Daschle today – in a closed session. The Obama team that promised “openness” and “transparency” apparently doesn’t want the public to see Daschle squirming. Senator Daschle should make his tax returns public immediately. The hearings should be open to the public. And President Obama might want to go back and review his own campaign speeches about the new ethical standards he was going to bring to Washington.

Yes, someone reading this might bring up Republican scoundrels, like Randy Duke Cunningham. But it's the hypocrisy that's so galling. These are the people who would reach deeper and deeper into my pockets to pay for their pet social projects but somehow manage to keep a tight grip on their own money (by lying or gaming the system).

Maybe taxing and reallocating should be strictly voluntary. If wealthy Democrats want to fund these kinds of projects using taxpayer money, then go ahead and set it up so people can volunteer to have their income taxed and let the rest of us donate our money to causes we believe in. But they should stop pretending this is all about social justice, etc. These people--the Daschles et al--are full of hypocrisy. They say, oops, sorry, my bad....here's a hundred thousand, will that cover it? But would he pay if he hadn't been caught?

And people wonder why I left the Democratic Party.