Obama nominee withdraws over taxes

reply to post by amazed


Maybe. But this is about Obama's cabinet choices isn't it, and how badly he judges the character of other people. This has nothing to do with other Democrats/Republicans not paying their taxes unless Obama considers them for a cabinet position.

Incidentally, I'd now like to see Geithner resign his position and Obama should be encouraging him to do so. Since Killefer and Daschle have done the right thing, it's time for Geithner to do the right thing and resign his cabinet position as head of the treasury. He's the most important one, when it comes to integrity. After all, what does it say when the head of the IRS is himself a tax-dodger?

Originally posted by sos37
Maybe. But this is about Obama's cabinet choices isn't it, and how badly he judges the character of other people.

I'm not exactly sure you can tell whether or not someone has paid their taxes based on character. How often can it be said of a co-worker, neighbor, friend, or family member who is found out to be a drug abuser/spouse or child abuser/suicidal/severely in-debted/ill-tempered rampage/etc. whereas everyone who knows them says, "I don't understand it! I've always known him/her to be such a kind, loving person"? A person's 'character' is what they want us to see...it's their demeanor, not their nature. We can never really get into the heart (or checkbook) to get all the details of their lives that they try to cover up soley on character alone. I doubt Mr. Obama has really had to get to know any of these appointees any more than a few lunches and recommendations from others.

What it does reveal is his lack of foresight, planning, research, inquiry, and evaluation of his 'MVP' picks for his team (repeatedly). That causes me much greater concern than any character oversight. I'd expect a president to say, "You think I should pick John Doe? Okay, tell me everything about him both sins and praises. I want to be sure there's nothing the press could dig up to tarnish his, my, or my party's name".


[edit on 3-2-2009 by saint4God]

Originally posted by saint4God

Originally posted by sos37
Maybe. But this is about Obama's cabinet choices isn't it, and how badly he judges the character of other people.

And then this who voted for BUSH twice walks in and says "...HOW BADLY HE JUDGES THE CHARACTER OF OTHER PEOPLE".

Originally posted by Wethesheeple
Wow, this is getting ridiculous. Obama clearly has a poor judgement in character lol. Rezko, Daschle, Geithner, Emmanuel, Blagejevich, Ayers, Wright, and he newest one.....Killefer. It gets to a point where you have to wonder what exactly is going on? Anyway i'm sure the Obama Brigade will be here any minute to defend this.

Is is strange. As a total outsider to this game I would ask: "is this a postelection repositioning of players by a force that is encountered by the Pr.Obama group at this time?".

But maybe I have been reading the wrong webpages. I just read some stuff written by a certain Tom Heneghan. Does anybody know what this guy is about. He had interesting input on the Blagojevich case.

Democratic Governor victim number three was anti-Wall Street fraud crusading New York Governor Eliot Spitzer. Spitzer was forced to resign in March 2008 after it was revealed by GOP dirty tricks operatives that Spitzer had used the services of an escort service that was later found to be connected to Israeli government elements. Spitzer's bank account information had been turned over by HSBC to the Internal Revenue Service and FBI. Victim number four was Blagojevich, the governor of Illinois. Fitzgerald seems to be having problems with presenting valid evidence against Blagojevich to a grand jury. Why?

The fifth to fall victim to "pay-to-play" allegations was New Mexico Democratic Governor Bill Richardson, who is apparently the subject of a current grand jury. Richardson was forced to withdraw his name from consideration as Secretary of Commerce in the Obama administration. Republican Senator Judd Gregg of New Hampshire is now being considered for the post. WMR has learned that there is bad blood between Richardson and Emanuel. This begs the question: STELLAR WIND was used by Rove to go after Democratic enemies of the Bush White House, so might Rahm now be using it to attack foes of the Obama White House, both Democrats and Republicans?

linkHeneghan blog

So I mean, maybe these "taxes stories" are just bull, and they are just removed from positions to get others in position. There is no way to check this, but maybe we can do a scan on the replacements backgrounds?


[edit on 3-2-2009 by Pjotr]

reply to post by amazed


SHHH but Sarah Palin, Joe the Plumber, nor Ted Stevens consistently call and vote for higher taxes to be imposed on us via a complicated tax system.

Shhhh Palin, Stevens, and the plumber aren't the President either and aren't appointing and "standing by" tax cheats SHHHHHHH

Shhhhh Palin, Stevens, and the Plumber aren't going to be the Secretary of Treasury, who is in charge of the IRS and the finances of the U.S.A. ..SHHHHHHH

Originally posted by Wethesheeple
Wow, this is getting ridiculous. Obama clearly has a poor judgement in character lol. Rezko, Daschle, Geithner, Emmanuel, Blagejevich, Ayers, Wright, and he newest one.....Killefer.

You may have to add the closing of Gitmo to the list.
Poor judgment indeed.

Originally posted by jam321
You would think that taxes would be part of the vetting process before nominees are nominated. Obviously it isn't or Obama could have saved himself from this type of embarrassment.

Obama's picks are definitely MORE honest than the ones Bush put into office -- without a murmur from the press. It wasn't until around 2007, when any real criticism started to surface.

I'm disappointed in his pick of Rom Emmanuel -- but perhaps it's better to have him WITH YOU than against you. I also don't like his picks of Wall Street insiders.

Tom Daschell would have done fine -- but I'd prefer someone like Howard Dean.

We've already had enough evidence, especially from whistleblowers, to let us know that the NSA was spying on Bush's political opposition. So, it stands to reason, that ANYTHING that can be found out about a political pick can be brought to light.

If Obama puts someone forth who is a full on BushCo crook -- then we probably won't get any surprise dirt on them.

Not to defend characters like Bloggo from Chicago -- but, why was there a phone tap on him? In that state, I doubt that anyone DOESN'T try to trade political favors. So, if only the people who defend unions gets dirt dug up on them like Bloggo, we will only get the most corrupt people.

I don't think they let you in the club these days, without getting some dirt on you. It allows control.

So if the WORST about Daschell is that he owes back taxes -- well, to me, that's probably a ringing endorsement. This is the guy who had the Anthrax shipped to his office, just before the vote on the Iraq invasion. Why would they bother intimidating some crook in the club?

I'm not going to bother convincing people who voted for Bush with such "conspiracy theories" -- God knows, you have to hold onto some illusions not to hate yourselves. But for the rest of us, who want Obama to be another FDR -- let's realize that we had a Hoover in the White House, running the economy into the ground and making government fail, so that he could undo all of FDR's improvements. And we had a Hoover (FBI) in the White House, spying on everyone to extort them.

I think we've been damn lucky so far. It's going to take either bribes or bullwhips to get the crooks who actually run this country to Go along with an actual honest administration.

I think Obama's biggest mistake wasn't putting most of the Bush administration (like Hank Paulson and Bernanke) on the witness stand the second day in office. They should be busy trying to stay out of prison, rather than robbing our country and sabotaging any chance at salvaging this mess.

Only half of you know what I'm talking about.

reply to post by VitriolAndAngst

Obama's picks are definitely MORE honest than the ones Bush put into office

That is yet to be seen. Haven't seen a Presidency yet that isn't full of scandals. Obama and gang will have their fair share. Get back to me in three years and we will see how the honesty issue worked out.

Originally posted by jam321
reply to post by VitriolAndAngst

 

Obama's picks are definitely MORE honest than the ones Bush put into office

That is yet to be seen. Haven't seen a Presidency yet that isn't full of scandals. Obama and gang will have their fair share. Get back to me in three years and we will see how the honesty issue worked out.

We can't be sure of anyone.

The problem is, Obama has to deal with the Mob -- organized crime has taken over our government. So, you get the NICE guys in the Mob -- but you've got to deal with them, right?

It fundamentally comes down to the choices he makes. Closing GitMo was good. Keeping the 2nd half of the TARP fund payments intact when all WallStreet did was use it for bonuses and buying up other banks -- BAD.

They even got a tax break passed to save them $150 Billion on banking Acquisitions. Amazing how surprised everyone is by this Crisis, and yet they still have the wherewithal, to sneak in complicated legislation.

Reminds me of how Bush's FEMA group, couldn't find Louisiana on a map when it came to shipping them ice, but they managed to close 144 Public Schools in the week after the tragedy.

>> Nobody gets to these positions of power, and puts a few million in the bank, by being a wide-eyed fool. There were no surprises. There were no accidents.

I don't know if Obama is with the people or not. I find it hard, however, to so his level of insight and wisdom and be faking the empathy. So, to me, he is making some hard compromises. He is putting in Republicans and Blue-Dog Democrats to say to the robber barons; "see, I'm not a threat."

But the greed and avarice of the Banksters is too much. They are frying up and eating the golden goose they stole from America.

FDR only got control of the situation AFTER wall street robber barons tried to raise an army to take him out. So, I very much expect things will have to get very much worse before he has the political capital to make it better. Too many crooks are busy robbing us blind at the moment -- and then making people blame home owners, rather than watching all the rats like Goldman Sacks with steamer trunks of cash.

This is my take on the reason Daschle did not take the position offered to him by Obama. Yes Daschle owed back taxes and finally paid up and if Obama let him take the Secretary of Health position I believe there would of been a great backlash.

The backlash could of led to a great number of We The People refusing to pay taxes and the reasoning being if this guy can get away with it so can We the People. This could of cost the government big time when it came to collecting taxes because of the inequality of the matter. What is good for the goose Is good for the gander.

With the economy being the way it is We The People are tired of examples of do as we say and not as we do Republican or Democrat.

[edit on 3-2-2009 by amari]

Yes, why hasn't Geithner resigned too? And why haven't we heard more about Charles Rangel's tax evasion investigation?

These people don't belong in any kind of government servant positions. It seems like Obama has so far appointed a house full of crooks.

Correct me if I'm wrong, nut I'm almost positive the news reported that the IRS is creating hundreds of jobs for more auditoers because they want to make sure they get every penny coming to them.

Anyone here this.

Maybe theyshould start with the elite scum who've been cheating on their taxes and raping us honest folk for decades.

I perosnally think we should arrange a country wide, no tax paying protest. This would surely rip'em a new hole and let them know what the consequences of their corrupt actions will be.

People are always looking for a way to amend the government and the first/last response is a violent revolution. Not the answer.

DO what they do to control the masses. Hit em in the wallet. Guarenteed it will change everything.Only problem is everyone talks and is scared *snip*less.

Obama flat out stated "I screwed up". How many times did you hear that from the Republicans the last 8 years?? I'm waiting.............

Nobody's perfect and as President you have to rely on your staff and the people your picking. Daschle has known about this 'mistake' for over 6 months and didn't bother to tell the vetting committee. Obama stepped to the plate and took responsibility...something sorely lacking in American Presidents for decades. That's change I can believe in. If you go over every Republican's taxes with a fine tooth comb you could probably pay for the Stimulis package on those missed taxes alone. People slagging Obama need to grow up.

If anything this episode shows that our tax system is so screwed up that even someone as intelligent as Geithner can't figure the damn thing out. Anyone ever think of that before jumping into rip your President mode?

[edit on 3-2-2009 by hawkeye1717]

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Barack Obama on Tuesday admitted he made a mistake in handling the nomination of Tom Daschle as his Health and Human Services secretary, saying Daschle's tax problems sent a message that the politically powerful are treated differently than average people.

Daschle, the former Democratic leader in the U.S. Senate, withdrew earlier Tuesday as news that he failed to pay some taxes in the past continued to stir opposition on Capitol Hill.

"I think I screwed up," Obama said in an interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper. "And, I take responsibility for it and we're going to make sure we fix it so it doesn't happen again."

CNN

Well he came out and said he was wrong. I would say that we can't really blame him, it's not like he is looking for people with tax problems in the closet. These people should have come forward and said something before they said yes.

I was pretty surprised at the fact he even picked Tom.

I'm pretty sure that the people in Washington know Tom fairly well and know that he doesn't have the nations interest first and foremost.

I've argued this point multiple times with multiple people. Everyone that knew him knew what I said was true and the folks that would argue with me never even met the guy much less knew what he was like.

Really all you have to do is talk to folks in SD and they will tell you the only thing he did was what he felt would get him closer to the presidency. I had a friend who was surprised when SD got rid of him as a representative, at the time I had told him they were planning too and he laughed at me. A few months later he was out and my friend was just flabbergasted until I explained to him why this happened.

I was kind of hoping that he would have ended up in the spot because I knew he would turn out to look like well, lets just say he would have made a lot of enemies if he treated that position like he treated his position in SD.

Lots of promises for this or that bill and then every time voted opposite of what he said.

Ummm...."I screwed up" seems the "norm" lately...I can respect Obama for admitting his mistake (unlike Clinton who "didn't have sex with that woman") but he really needs to step up his vetting of these candidates...It is making him look incompetent as president...

We can bitch all we want but he is still the president...What we need is a solid Cabinet...Unfortunately, I truly believe that if Obama continues to seek political "veterans" to head his Cabinet, he will lose...He needs to think outside of the box...Most of these idiots he is choosing have lost grasp of reality and, like the idiots at Citibank who ordered the $50MM jet on OUR dime, believe that they are above the law and that "we" are just cattle...

Blago is a prime example...This idiot really believes that he is "entitled" to hold office...Apparently, tonight, he will appear on David Letterman and Letterman lambasts him...

So, hopefully Obama can get it together...or we're screwed...

reply to post by Wethesheeple
"Wow, this is getting ridiculous. Obama clearly has a poor judgement in character lol. Rezko, Daschle, Geithner, Emmanuel, Blagejevich, Ayers, Wright, and he newest one.....Killefer. It gets to a point where you have to wonder what exactly is going on? Anyway i'm sure the Obama Brigade will be here any minute to defend this."


LOL. Yeah scarry to think he's the leader of our Nation. Is this the "Change" the obama supporters were expecting?

Those so called "tax cheats" are not guilty of breaking ANY LAW. If you can show me where in the law of the United States it says a person has to pay income taxes or even file a tax return I will eat my words.
I can show you a video where not even the IRS agents can find this "LAW"
www.youtube.com...

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www.youtube.com...

The money that the IRS collects goes to pay the debt on the interest that the privately owned Federal Reserve charges the U.S. Gov't for the "federal reserve notes" that they print.



[edit on 4-2-2009 by Muundoggie]

reply to post by Muundoggie


Maybe this will answer your question about the law to pay taxes.

docs.law.gwu.edu...

docs.law.gwu.edu...

reply to post by Muundoggie


The fact is, if you or I don't pay our taxes, we'll be heavily fined and may spend time in jail. Is it right that the IRS hounds us about any little mistake made on our filings, yet these politicians skimp out on thousands, even hundreds of thousands in taxes, with no penalty whatsoever? Better yet, they get nominations to cabinet positions - even still, positions that oversee the IRS!

Had these people not been nominated, they would likely never have had to pay up, and you and I would have never heard a word about it as we were busy making sure we've crossed our T's and dotted our I's, lest the IRS come knocking down our doors, guns a'blazin.