Daniel Patrick Moynihan Dies

March 26, 2003

[Timesink]

Breaking

[Avoiding_Sulla]

The last honorable Democrat.

Sorry to disagree. Factual reasons.

Just about every technical expert who is, or is considering becoming, an independent contractor have Moynahan soley to blame for the IRS regulations that outright discriminates against independent engineers and programmers. And every taxpayer (that's nearly EVERY FReeper and even a few DUsrupters) has him to blame for siphoning off their money to a middle-man, pure-pork, industry.

What was his role in this?
It was at the conference committee resolving the differences between the Senate and House versions of Ronald Reagan's important 1986 Tax simplification act. From his position as chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee he inserted the infamous rule 1106 into the bill at the eleventh hour.¹

So what? That's normal in D.C. How does that make him dishonorable?
Well how about huge conflict of interest? His family ties to the largest temporary employer in the country, CDI, is virtually unknown.
For whatever reason -- be it his position as senior New York Senator, or his genial professorial background, or his former hawkish Ambassadorship to the U.N. -- he remained beyond scrutiny for that connection. And that oversight was and reamins costly.

This "little" personal gain has resulted in huge payouts to largely parasitic third-person agencies like CDI. This is paid by the Federal govt in paricular, but also by any company that feared IRS prosecution for employing specialists on an as-needed basis.

His personal gain has cost us taxpayers anywhere from 25% to 100% increase in the cost of independent specialists who provide their expert services, not just to benefit one company, but to benefit entire industries for the benefit of all of us.

So before the members of FR join in cannonizing this man, please recognize -- at the least -- this not insignificant "contribution," exposing the gross venal side, of who many in the coming days will declare "a great man."

-Av

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

¹ This abolished what used to be called the "safe harbor." Due to onerous legal ramifications facing employing companies for the slightest error, rule 1106 virtually required high-tech independent contractors to incorporate or to be represented by third-party agencies. For many incorporation didn't help but hinder, so they went back to the middle-men to work as temps or not work at all. HenceL
Moynahan: patron saint to American temporary employment agencies.

[DWC]

It was daniel patrick moynihan who selected hilary as the nominee for the demorats for senator of new york state. I feel your pain.

[skinkinthegrass]

I sense Shillary's hand in this...every person the Clintons'
touch...dies lately, what's the count now?...which volume?

[OldFriend]

Moynihan was right on welfare and he was right on privatizing social security. Too bad the man never had the courage of his convictions.

That said, my condolences to his family.

[AgThorn]

Lets see how the dems. handle this funeral.

My thoughts exactly.

[HanneyBean]

I've been reading this entire thread, and with few exceptions, this man has been given a respectful send off by a bunch of conservatives on a conservative web-site.
Anyone like to bet me on how many RATS will have the class to be as respectful of Jesse Helms when he departs?....anyone?....anyone at all?....hello?....helllloooo?

That's the difference between conservatives and liberals. We have class, they spew hate.

[OldFriend]

Lott was on one of the Sunday shows in the past few weeks. He did discuss the double standard as to how it applied to him and not to 'certain' democrats. Just repeating what I read, I do NOT watch the Sunday shows any longer.

[S.O.S121.500]

"Hillary isn't worthy to pick Moynihan's nose (YOU know what). "

[cgbg]

I guess I should add this. I absolutely guarantee that any Freeper who had the privilege of meeting and talking to this guy would never forget the experience.

He had none of the Hillary vices of power-lust, arrogance, anger, and greed.

I think if you had a drink with the man after he became a Senator and asked him about some silly left-wing vote he took in the Senate he would probably just smile and say "I am a Democratic Senator from the state of New York. You just can't expect me to vote like a Republican from Texas."

Then he would smile again and probably add "but you are a smart fellow so you probably knew that".

[eleni121]

Three of four votes n 1999 were pro infanticide. I once emailed him about his atrocious record.
http://www.righttoliferoch.org/wlusvote.htm

[beckett]

If you are going to make that charge it's only fair that you layout exactly how his pocket got lined. Who in his family benefitted financially and how much money did they make? How much money went to Moynihan directly?

If you don't have on your fingertips those facts, and yet are willing to condemn the man on the day of his death over what everyone would have to agree is an obscure piece of legislation, you end up looking a lot worse than Moynihan in terms of ethical conduct.

[Claire Voyant]

WHEN did BUSH KNOW???? Surprised Hillary didn't scream that in her best fish-monger's wife voice.

[thathamiltonwoman]

Rest in peace, Senator. Sadly, every single thing you warned us about in your report on the black family has come true.

[Tailback]

His legacy of lisping spittle filled speeches lives on with the Senator from Oregon Ron Wyden (d).

[ReleaseTheHounds]

An intellectually honest man. Usually in the opposition, but always the loyal opposition, and always interesting. I add my RIP.

What will be interesting is that 95% of Senate Democrats will stand in solid opposition to the last, and perhaps most important, public policy Moynihan was advocating: reform and partial privatization of Social Security. It was on issues like that that Moynihan was the true "conscience" of the Senate -- on the Clinton scandals, he was like all the other "pols"... he looked the other way and "kicked the can down the road." But for those moments of rare political courage, he will be missed.

[ArneFufkin]

The road to hell is paved with good intentions, and nobody sent us to Hades with an earnest charm like Moynihan. He was one of a slew of well intentioned "Great Society" architects of group-identified welfare entitlement whose Marxist vision weraked pernicious real world damage on the very individuals, families and communities they professed to so wish to help.

Unlike most others of his 60s/70s welfare utopian cult, however, he seemed to understand the damage he and his cohorts - through their welfare schemes and bureaucratic control - did to our culture and society. Few of that ilk will ever face the dismal outcome of their utopia. The dissonance is too devestating. Moynihan might have done it different in retrospect. The rest will never face their crimes.

He seemed like the kind of guy who could master the arcane details of the Health Care Financing Agency, but was a less than even bet to zip his fly after a restroom break. I'm confident he spilled a lot of food and beverages onto his lap over his career - that's probably the origin of the ubiquitous bow tie.

Like Humphrey, Bentsen, McGovern, Simon, McCarthy, Proxmire, Moynihan, Church and Bradley - he was an affable, honest and earnest man of the 60s/70s Democrat party who played open and fair in whimisical pursuit of their desctructively misguided ideologies. Those admirable traits are, with few exceptions, entirely lacking in the Bill, Hillary and Terry Democrat party/organized crime syndicate of 2003.

RIP Pat.

[attiladhun2]

Good riddance. As a legislator, absolutley usless, in fact, dangerous.

[Recovering_Democrat]

God bless his family. One of the few Democrats I still respected, though now I'm a Recovering_Democrat. Moynihan still had some sense about him.

[attiladhun2]

Good riddance. As a legislator, absolutley usless, in fact, dangerous.

[Recovering_Democrat]

Hitlery will
NEVER
be anything but a perverted, horrid, pale reflection of the honorable man that was Daniel Patrick Moynihan.

She succeeded his seat in the Senate. That is where the similarities end.