Neither of you (although you glance at it with the word "image") care to make the moral/political point about the corruption involved in taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from people you're going to "regulate." Yup, I totally believe Tom Daschle was going to act to promote the public good rather than the people paying him and socializing with him for the last 4 years. Not.

Daschle's image vs Obama's image: which one of these is not like the other? Daschle killed Daschle! He was the one the real progressives were waiting for this time.

"I think Steve Clemons gets this wrong."

Clemons has never had much of a clue on domestic politics. It's really not his bailiwick.

My favorite line in his post was:

This was all about Obama, about humbling him, about dividing progressives over whether to support or oppose Daschle.

I'd say pretty much every progressive who hasn't met Daschle was rooting for his demise.

That's unanimity, not division.

The money from the health care industry wasn't enough by itself to doom Daschle, but the combination of that and his back taxes flap was too much. Sort of like taking a few drinks and than popping a Valium in that each alone is doable, but the combination of both isn't.

In my tribe, we call this kind of maneuver "shooting oneself in the foot."

That, and those glasses. What was up with that? Who wants a cabinet officer who thinks he's Elton John? (and apparently thinks he's entitled to an Elton John lifestyle).

It seems his (political) candle burned out before his legend ever did.

Scott, you fail to understand. to our moneyed elite, this isn't corruption. They see absolutely nothing wrong with this. They see it as an embarrassing revelation because of the simple oversight.

They don't really see corruption in not paying taxes. They don't see any corruption in the powerful and connected getting free limos. They don't see the corruption involved in letting Senators have, essentially, a free pass on everything from every other Senator.

Basically, they have no idea what real corruption is. This entire system is corrupt and, to them at least, that makes everything okay. Not shocking, since they are the ones corrupting it.

Elton John? Nah, I think those are Sally Jesse Raphael glasses. Short a few rhinestones and/or feathers for Sir Elton...

Bill Richardson = out
Caroline Kennedy = out
Tom Daschle = out

Hillary Clinton = still a rock star!

Not so much a who as a what, twas Karma that killed Tom Daschle.

Nancy Killefer killed Daschle. Once she withdrew, Daschle couldn't stay in. You can't confirm two men who have tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars of unpaid income tax liabilities, while rejecting a woman who failed to pay a few hundred dollars in taxes for a housekeeper. The stench of sexism would have been too strong. Once she withdrew, Daschle was toast.

um, Andrew...wow. That's a neat trick turning this into what? a way to bash feminism?

Surely some of the responsibility for the action rests on the actor. Daschle killed Daschle.