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Politics: The senator who called the president a liar and never apologized may have worn out his welcome in his home state. Harry Reid may be riding the liberal agenda into political oblivion.In 2004, Republicans defeated Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle largely on the theme that he neglected his home state in favor of national party interests. The GOP is hoping that in 2010 lightning will strike a second time, and Nevada polls indicate it may be more than wishful thinking. In 1998, Reid beat John Ensign by a hair-thin 428 votes. Ensign would go on to win Nevada's other...

Liberal Democrats like to say that if our government took all the money spent on the Iraq war it could pay for health insurance for all of the uinsured. Well, that may be, however, the Iraq war was a matter of national security. Regardless of what one believes, the purpose of the war was to prevent another terrorist attack. However, there is something liberal Democrats can do to help the government pay for the uninsured. This won't require changing the insurance status of the 90% of Americans who are very satisfied with the current system. Liberal Democrats just need to...

Former U.S. Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., is playing a key role in shaping a healthcare reform compromise measure, analysts say. Daschle, who withdrew his nomination to be President Barack Obama's "health reform czar" in February after coming under fire for not paying certain taxes, has been ubiquitous in behind-the-scenes moves to forge an agreement establishing non-profit insurance cooperatives as an alternative to a government-run "public option" plan, The New York Times reported Sunday.

Six months have passed since the morning when Tom Daschle, the former Senate Democratic leader, under fire for not paying certain taxes, called President Obama in his study off the Oval Office to withdraw his nomination as health secretary and reform czar. But these days it often seems as if Mr. Daschle never left the picture. With unrivaled ties on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, he talks constantly with top White House advisers, many of whom previously worked for him. He still speaks frequently to the president, who met with him as recently as Friday morning in the Oval Office....

Six months have passed since the morning when Tom Daschle, a former Senate Democratic leader, under fire for not paying certain taxes, called President Obama in his study off the Oval Office to withdraw his nomination as health secretary and reform czar. But these days it often seems as if Mr. Daschle never left the picture. With unrivaled ties on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, he talks constantly with top White House advisers, many of whom previously worked for him. He still speaks frequently to the president, who met with him as recently as Friday morning in the Oval Office....

Former Senate majority leader Thomas A. Daschle's visit to the Oval Office on Friday, at the invitation of President Obama, was more than just a meeting between two loyal friends and political allies. It also served as a reminder of what might have been. As Obama's health-care agenda teeters in Congress, the White House listed the private meeting on the president's public schedule, sending a signal that Obama is still consulting Daschle on his top domestic policy priority. An assiduous student of health policy and an adept creature of the Senate, Daschle was Obama's first pick to oversee his reforms,...

Oval Office Visit Hints at Daschle's Role President Consulting Man He Once Wanted as Czar on the Issue By Philip Rucker and Anne E. Kornblut Washington Post Staff Writers Saturday, August 22, 2009 Former Senate majority leader Thomas A. Daschle's visit to the Oval Office on Friday, at the invitation of President Obama, was more than just a meeting between two loyal friends and political allies. It also served as a reminder of what might have been. As Obama's health-care agenda teeters in Congress, the White House listed the private meeting on the president's public schedule, sending a signal that...

Per Fox, Obama is huddling with former senator Daschle, who was dropped as HHS secretary when it was discovered that Daschle is a tax cheat. According to Fox, Obamacare is hung-up on a House that insists upon the "public option" (i.e. destroying all private insurance companies) and the Senate's failure to have enough Dems supporting the "public option." Reportedly, Obama and Daschle have been in daily contact on passing Obamacare.

Tax Tips: what's good for the goose...By Jeff Quinn Special to the Bonanza Wednesday, July 22, 2009 INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. — The people presently in charge of the government are very good at taking shots at the practices employed by privately-managed businesses. But we guess there must be different rules applicable to those in control. So will somebody kindly enlighten the citizenry as to some of the recent shenanigans employed by the Social Security Administration, whose “motivational management conference” held recently at a high class Arizona resort managed to consume some $700,000 of taxpayer funds? Phoenix local TV (ABC-15) raised...

Sen. Tom Daschle, Rep. Jason Altmire, Healthcare Experts Tout Homecare As Cost-Effective Solution In The Healthcare Reform ProcessArticle Date: 26 Jul 2009 - 0:00 PDT During a roundtable discussion on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle and Blue Dog Democrat Rep. Jason Altmire (D-Pa.) stressed the cost-effective role that homecare can play in the reform of the U.S. healthcare system. The roundtable also addressed the controversial competitive bidding program for home medical equipment and services. The American Association for Homecare hosted the event, which was attended by congressional staff and media. Senator Daschle and Representative Altmire...

"I’ve got to own up to my mistake. Ultimately, it's important for this administration to send a message that there aren't two sets of rules — you know, one for prominent people and one for ordinary folks who have to pay their taxes," Obama said on NBC’s "Nightly News with Brian Williams." "I'm frustrated with myself, with our team. ... I'm here on television saying I screwed up," Obama said on NBC. He repeated virtually the same words in interviews with other TV anchors. Worried about 'a distraction' Daschle said in a brief letter to Obama that he refused to...

“Health-care reform will not be pain free. Seniors should be more accepting of the conditions that come with age instead of treating them.” – Former Senator Tom Daschle, on Obama’s plan to ration health care

Tom Daschle, the man originally tapped to lead President Obama's health care push, is now urging him to drop the idea of offering a government-run plan. According to ABC, the former Democratic Senate Majority leader had this to say: "While I feel very strongly that consumers should have the choice of a national, Medicare-like plan, my colleagues do not. . . But we were concerned that the ongoing health reform debate is beginning to show signs of fracture on the public plan issue, so in order to advance the process of developing bipartisan legislation and to move it forward, it's...

So the president appoints Daschle originally, finds out he's a tax cheat, reinforces his support, accepts withdrawal, admits mistake, then appoints him to another position that will receive less public scrutiny? Does Daschle need a job that badly?

CBS Evening News: Educational Nonprofit Under Fire For Transporting Politicians With Money That Could Have Gone To Students ### Educap is a multibillion-dollar student loan charity run by CEO Catherine Reynolds. As CBS News Investigative Correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reported Monday night, Educap is under investigation by the IRS and Congress for alleged abuse of its tax-exempt status because it charges high interest on charitable student loans, and provides lavish perks with millions in compensation for Reynolds and her husband. CBS News has obtained exclusive details of what may have been the biggest charity perk: use of Educap's $31 million luxury...

Subject: Daschle, Rangel, Dodd and Bertrand de Juvenal Jonah, I picked up De Juvenal’s The Ethics of Redistribution and came across this timely quote in the introduction: “We may well wonder which of these two closely linked phenomena is predominant: whether it is redistribution or centralization. We may ask ourselves whether what we are dealing with is not a political even more than a social phenomenon. This political phenomenon consists in the demolition of the class enjoying ‘independent means’ and in the massing of means in the hands of managers. This results in a transfer of power from individuals to...

When Tom Daschle's highly publicized tax problems derailed his bid to become secretary of health and human services two weeks ago, it slammed the breaks on the momentum of one of President Obama's biggest campaign promises — health care coverage for all Americans. No potential HHS candidate has emerged yet who has inspired the excitement and passion many health care reform advocates — both on and off Capitol Hill — expressed for Mr. Daschle. When Mr. Obama nominated Mr. Daschle for the HHS post in November, Ron Pollack, executive director of the liberal health care advocacy group Families USA, called...

The 1,000+ pages of President Obama’s so-called economic stimulus bill contains language establishing a new National Coordinator of Health Information Technology (NCHIT) bureaucracy that will be charged with tracking and prescribing “allowable” health care treatments for all Americans. The new bureaucracy was the “brain child” of Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) nominee, former senator Tom Daschle (D-S. Dak). “Health care costs in this country have been getting out of hand because we’re spending too much on the wrong treatments for the wrong people,” Daschle contended. “The current anarchic system allows individuals to make selfish choices that may not...

Earlier this week, Bloomberg reported on a stealth provision in Porkulus that would set the stage for federal diktats in patient care.   The bill created a Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research, a Tom Daschle pet project that would study the effectiveness of patient treatments and set federal rules on which treatments would be allowed by health-care providers throughout the US.  As Betsy McCaughey reported, Daschle’s vision was to eliminate costly treatments and slow progress on medicine: Hospitals and doctors that are not “meaningful users” of the new system will face penalties.  “Meaningful user” isn’t defined in the bill....

President Obama has lost his pivotal health care "Czar." But forget about uncorking the bottles to celebrate. Someone will soon take his place. Background Just two days after the voters of South Dakota dispatched three-term Senator Tom Daschle to private life in 2004, this column (in a previous incarnation) gave him a big sendoff — "Let the door hit you on the way out." That was in part a reference to the fact that Daschle — a coldly liberal lawmaker who had survived politically by paying mere lip service to his constituents — was finally ousted when voters connected the...