Sen. DeMint Calls on Obama to Withdraw Daschle Nomination

[Chris_]

Sen. DeMint Calls on Obama to Withdraw Daschle Nomination

Republican Sen. Jim DeMint on Tuesday called for President Obama to withdraw the nomination of Tom Daschle for health and human services secretary, becoming the first senator to say that the former majority leader's tax problems are disqualifying.

DeMint told FOX News that Daschle's failure to pay $134,000 in federal taxes reflects a "problem with integrity" that the government cannot afford to tolerate. DeMint spoke out against Daschle as a number of prominent newspapers, including The New York Times, called for the South Dakota Democrat to drop his bid.

"It's very unfortunate with Tom Daschle that this has occurred, but the president needs to lead. He needs to step in here and he needs to withdraw this nomination," the South Carolina Republican said.

DeMint said he came to that conclusion after it became "obvious" that Daschle knew about the tax problems long before his nomination and did nothing to make it right.

"The average American would likely face criminal charges with tax evasion of this size, yet he did not address the issue until he was nominated," he said.

Rules is for theeeeee, not for meeeeee. [/Oooooobama mode]

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I wish I made enough to have to pay $146,000 in back taxes.

[thundley4]

Where was this guy before Geithner was confirmed?  A tax cheat in charge of the IRS is more bothersome than a tax cheat in charge of HHS.

[Wretched Excess]

Where was this guy before Geithner was confirmed?  A tax cheat in charge of the IRS is more bothersome than a tax cheat in charge of HHS.

true.  but the income that he failed to declare (and was arguably therefore trying to hide) was from the health care industry;  the very indutry he will be allegedly regulating if confirmed.

there are real parallels in these two case.