Free Republic

PRESIDENT Barack Obama admitted "I screwed up" after his political soul mate and pick to lead health reform Tom Daschle withdrew in a storm over personal tax issues. On Mr Obama's worst day in the White House so far, he also lost another nominee - Nancy Killefer, who he had named as Government budget watchdog, and termed one of his most "important'' appointments - also over tax issues. The twin bombshells overshadowed Mr Obama's bid to showcase his economic stimulus plan in a flurry of television interviews and reflected the potential traps he has set for himself by promising a...

You're kidding me, right? Tom Daschle is trying to tell the American people that he didn't know that he was supposed to pay taxes on the value of that limo and chauffer provided to him by the company that hired him as a lobbyist. He thought it was a "gift from a friend." He was working for that friend. He was getting paid! And he sits there and wants you to believe that the car and driver was a gift? "Oh yeah, I was on the payroll all right, but this car and driver was a gift." Come on, now....

Daschle apologized and threw himself on the mercy of the Senate Finance Committee hoping his failure to pay taxes would not prevent him from becoming HHS Secy. "I am deeply embarrassed and disappointed that errors required me to amend my tax returns. I apologize and profoundly regret that you have had to devote time to them," Daschle wrote to the panel........

Thomas A. Daschle, fighting to defend his nomination to be secretary of health and human services, released a letter early today apologizing to the top lawmakers on the Senate Finance Committee for mistakes on his personal income tax returns that resulted in $146,000 in back payments. "I am deeply embarrassed and disappointed by the errors that required me to amend my tax returns," he wrote to Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa). "I apologize for the errors and profoundly regret that you have had to devote time to them." In the letter, the former Senate majority leader...

WASHINGTON – Tom Daschle apologized Monday to the Senate panel that will decide whether he becomes Health and Human Services secretary, saying he was "deeply embarrassed and disappointed" about his failure to pay more than $120,000 in taxes....

WASHINGTON – Tom Daschle said Monday that he's "deeply embarrassed and disappointed" about his failure to pay more than $120,000 in taxes. President Barack Obama's pick to head the Health and Human Services Department apologized for his mistake in a letter to the Senate Finance Committee released Monday. Daschle is expected to answer questions from the panel later in the day in a closed session. Daschle said he profoundly regrets the errors that the committee has had to deal with and he is willing to answer any questions. The committee reported that Daschle recently filed amended tax returns to reflect...

The nation's housing doldrums will drag on at least through 2009, dampening U.S. economic growth and job creation, but the slowdown won't push the economy into a recession, according to a new economic report. Despite plunging housing values, rising oil prices and the credit crunch that battered Wall Street, the nation's job market is unlikely to suffer the kind of steep losses that would tip the economy into a recession, according to the quarterly Anderson Forecast by the University of California, Los Angeles. "We still think an official recession is not in the immediate future," concluded Edward Leamer, director and...

Embattled Democrat Pete Stark has just publicly apologized to "the president and his family." He took the floor after his fellow Democrats successfully killed a motion to censure him in the wake of his remarks last Thursday asserting that American troops were fighting in Iraq to have their "heads blown off for the president's amusement." "I want to apologize to my colleagues, many of whom I have offended," Stark began. He then apologized to "the president and his family" and "the troops." "I hope that with this apology, I return to being as insignificant as I should be," he concluded...

Calling national Republicans “sad” and “desperate,” former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) decried their pledge to begin pursuing an aggressive campaign against his ill former South Dakota Senate colleague, Sen. Tim Johnson (D). In an e-mail to supporters issued by Johnson’s campaign committee, Daschle criticizes National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) Chairman John Ensign (Nev.) for saying he would push forward with an effort to defeat Johnson in 2008. (snip) “Tim’s focus should be on his recovery to serve the people of South Dakota, not fending off classless political attacks from national Republicans,” Daschle wrote. “That means we’re not going...

Former President Bill Clinton and former U.S. Sen. Tom Daschle laugh at a speech by George McGovern at the dedication of the George and Eleanor McGovern Library Saturday, Oct. 7, 2006 at Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell, S.D. (AP Photo/Doug Dreyer)

NEW YORK (AP) -- Capping an extraordinary conservative furor over a movie virtually no one has seen, CBS said Tuesday it will not air "The Reagans" and shunt it off to the Showtime cable network instead.

Former U.S. Senator and presidential candidate, George McGovern, says he has encouraged Tom Daschle to run for president in 2008. McGovern lost to Republican Richard Nixon in the 1972 election. Eight years later he lost his bid for re-election to the Senate. McGovern expects up to a dozen people to run for the Democratic nomination for president, and he says Daschle has as good a chance as anyone. Daschle expects to make a decision by year's end on whether he'll run.

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Tom Daschle said he has no regrets about his tenure in the Senate, despite losing his seat to Republican John Thune in 2004. But the former Senate Democratic leader said he does have some regret about a decision he made before he lost — not running for president in 2004. Now, he may be going for it.

Saturday was a tragic day for the Lawrence township fire department. One of their own was found dead following sex charges in Ohio. Now authorities are asking why. Tim Craney was in police custody after investigators say they caught him in an Internet sex sting Friday. Now Craney is dead. "The Lawrence township fire department is deeply saddened by the events of the last 24 hours and all of our members have been touched by this incident," Division Chief James King with the Lawrence township fire dept. said. Marion County Sheriff's deputies found Craney's body around 2:30 Saturday morning in...

LONDON -- World oil prices fell further on Friday, with New York's main contract plunging to the lowest point in almost four months, owing to mild temperatures in the United States, where crude inventories are recovering also after recent hurricanes. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in December, fell 40 cents to 57.40 dollars per barrel in pit deals. Earlier on Friday it had hit 56.93 dollars, its lowest point since July 21. In London, the price of Brent North Sea crude for December delivery shed 81 cents to 54.87 dollars per barrel in electronic dealing. "Warm...

Daschle Aims to Stay Engaged Former Senate minority leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) isn't running for president in 2008 -- yet. "It interests me," Daschle acknowledged. "I don't have any plans to run, but I am going to keep my options open."Tom Daschle lost his South Dakota Senate seat last year. Will the former top Senate Democrat seek the White House in 2008? (File photo) Daschle would not commit to a national race in an interview Friday at his new office at Alston & Bird in Washington, D.C.  But he gave every indication that he has been thinking long and hard...

<p>WE had peace and prosperity with the last legitimately elected President. Now with the selected one, we have war, recession, high gas prices, and hurricanes. Your hero worship of Chimpy McJimBeam is beyond moronic.</p> <p>Bye Bye. Consider yourself banned.</p>

A lifetime ago, when William Jefferson was just a plain old congressman, not the central figure in what's shaping up as a major investigation of his business dealings, I sat down to talk to him about one of his pet subjects, international trade. Jefferson kicked it off by asking whether I was familiar with the Central American Free Trade Agreement. Having skimmed a stack of newspaper clippings on the subject, I told him, with utter confidence, that I was. Big mistake. Before long he was off on a treatise about trade deals past, with a particular focus on provisions to...

Everybody leaves the world's most exclusive club sometime, and last night the tribute at the National Building Museum was for a man who had left it most reluctantly -- Democrat Tom Daschle, tossed out of the Senate in November by the good people of South Dakota after an expensive and contentious race. "Tom wasn't wild about this, to tell you the truth," said his wife, Linda Daschle, an airline industry lobbyist, as she surveyed the room of about 400 guests, including nearly all 44 Democratic senators. "He wasn't about looking back. But so many of his Senate family wanted to...