Posted on 01/04/2002 3:08:51 PM PST by KQQL
For all of Tom Daschle's talk about fiscal responsibility and protecting the surplus, consider this: we know of at least three major companies that have benefited from Tom Daschle's priorities. They are American Airlines, Northwest Airlines, and Boeing. How? American and Northwest Airlines and others have received federal tax subsidies as a result of the September 11th atrocities. Boeing received what Senator Phil Gramm recently called the most outrageous, largest example of pork spending he's ever seen in his entire Senate career.
In essence, the federal government is going to enter into long-term leases for Boeing airplanes at above market prices rather than buying the planes outright at much cheaper bulk prices. According to the office of the secretary of the Senate, these three companies - American Airlines, Northwest Airlines, and Boeing - are represented by Linda Daschle. She is a lobbyist. She is the wife of Tom Daschle.
So all this talk about fiscal responsibility and protecting the surplus? Look who it is giving away federal money! Look who it is spending without restraint. Look who it is spending without any concern for reality. Tom Daschle, on companies represented by his wife, Linda Daschle, one of those supposedly evil lobbyists the media, Democrats and John McCain scream about when they try to pass campaign finance reform.
Look for a magazine story on Tom and Linda Daschle in February. In it - and I've seen a faxed copy - she is referred to as "Daschle's Hillary problem." This is just another example, folks, the pure phony-baloney, plastic-banana, good-time rock 'n' roller garbage that consists of that speech Daschle gave on Friday, in an effort to get his name talked about on the Sunday talk shows.
As he lies and tries to terrify senior citizens into crawling to the polls lest they lose their Social Security, Tom "Puff" Daschle is engaged here in his own personal vendetta. He's running for president, and he faces a huge problem in that, because he faces a president with an 85% approval rating. A lot of those people are Democrats. Daschle has to shore up his base to get those Democrats back.
Whether you're Republican or Democrat, when you're in the shape Daschle's in, shoring up your base is the first priority, and your base is always your most fervent, they're the first ones to give money, they're the most likely to vote in primaries. So you pander to them. You go out and do whatever it takes. In Daschle's case, the base is the hard-core, ultra-left-wing extreme religious left liberal, and that's who he's paying homage to.
But he's opening himself up. If anybody on our side ever gets the gumption to actually spell out for people what Daschle is doing (rather than just shutting up and playing the game), then he's really, really exposed here. What he is doing is not in the best interests of the country, after all, and we're in a very patriotic mood right now. There's more unity in the country than we've had in a long time. The American people think that we're all unified, and they're not thinking it's a whole bunch of partisanship in Washington.
If Daschle is exposed as the pure partisan he is, it would really come back and haunt him. So I think he's taking a huge risk with this. He's standing in the way of things that are good for the country. Daschle has, in essence, declared war with this speech. The campaign season is official underway. So, let's get in the arena and play the game. The ball's been kicked off. I say we return it for a touchdown. Then we can have an onside kick and never let them have the ball back.
Because the airlines are a powerful lobby, with which all parties collude. The industry was the only one to get a post 911 bailout, and an egrgious one on that. ON top of that they have orchestrated an American taxpayer giveaway to the WTC victims, cleverly structured as a legal settlement, whereby WE give them money if the victims and their families waive their claims against ...who? The USA? No. Against the airlines and their insurance carriers themselves. Very nice piece of lobbyist work structured as "helping" people, and coloring those who don't agree as "greedy" and "lawsuit lovers." In reality, yet another subsidy for the airlines. Disgusting.
Also making Phil Gramm a hero (and thereby attempting to spin the Repubs as the "good guys") by focusing on the Boeing deal alone, and not his airliner votes is ridiculous. Plus his wifey got some Enron problems coming up in the future, methinks.
D.C. is a next of snakes. Now they're marrying each other!
No doubt figuratively, but literally? I'm still learning...
And that's why you need to vote for them. They're not at all like those mean, nasty Republicans.
I'm wondering if there was added incentive for the inflated price.
The more golden eggs she brings to the nest the bigger the Shingle on her door.("You need to hire Linda she gets 'things' done")
"If Daschle is exposed as the pure partisan he is, it would really come back and haunt him. So I think he's taking a huge risk with this. He's standing in the way of things that are good for the country. Daschle has, in essence, declared war with this speech. The campaign season is official underway. So, let's get in the arena and play the game. The ball's been kicked off. I say we return it for a touchdown. Then we can have an onside kick and never let them have the ball back."
The question is does such a republican in the Senate exist?
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