Tom Daschle Discusses Health Care With Congress; Convinces NY Times Reporter
[Guest post by DRJ]
Tom Daschle, Obama’s Secretary-designate of Health and Human Services, addressed the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions in Washington today in what the New York Times describes as the first of two steps in his confirmation hearing process. Daschle is scheduled to appear next week before the Finance Committee for hearings and a vote. (Did George W. Bush’s appointees get pre-Inauguration hearings on confirmation? I don’t recall but I doubt it.)
New York Times reporter Robert Pear apparently liked what he heard:
“Having represented South Dakota in the House for 8 years and in the Senate for 18, Mr. Daschle understands the ways of Washington. He graciously answered questions from senators, echoed their concerns and fluently discussed fine points of health policy without consulting notes or briefing books.”
This sounds more like a movie review than a report on a Senate committee hearing. At this rate, the New York Times will describe Daschle as walking on water at the Finance Committee hearing.
— DRJ
I think Robert Pear is getting a tingle up his leg! Young love, isn’t it grand?
Patricia (89cb84) — 1/8/2009 @ 9:51 pmHe graciously answered questions from senators, echoed their concerns. . .
I wonder which concerns those were: “Gee, Lucy Jones from my home state had to choose between buying groceries or paying for the operation to have her husband’s foot extracted from the butt of their layabout 19-year-old son the drug dealer,” or “Gee, I hope we don’t end up with nine month waiting lists to see a cardiologist about your chest pains and labored breathing like they have in Canada and Britain.”
JVW (bff0a4) — 1/8/2009 @ 10:06 pmWhile the NYT develops a crush on this new Obama appointee, Howard Dean is feeling a bit jilted. Apparently he had his eye on the Secretary of Health & Human Services post and was snubbed.
btw, if Daschle walked on water, it would be usurping The One’s position and that simply isn’t permitted.
Dana (137151) — 1/8/2009 @ 10:16 pmThe use of adverbs denotes editorializing, not reporting.
Icy Texan (b7d162) — 1/8/2009 @ 10:25 pmI am sickened more by the PrObama bias than by their 8 years of venom to GWB (and side attacks on our military). From hostility to panting slaving over the powers-that-be with just the flip of and R to a D. “R legs baaaad, D legs good!”
Like we are in a 1984-ish Media Thought-Control complex – They should change their name to the Manhattan Pravda.
Travis Monitor (cfa2f1) — 1/8/2009 @ 10:51 pm…echoed their concerns and fluently discussed fine points of health policy without consulting notes or briefing books.
Translation: He dazzled the nitwits with BS and a shiny nickel.
Perfect Sense (9d1b08) — 1/9/2009 @ 1:58 amThese are people who think Biden’s intelligent and well-spoken.
Rob Crawford (04f50f) — 1/9/2009 @ 6:42 amWalking on water is reserved for The Precious.
Bradley J. Fikes (0ea407) — 1/9/2009 @ 6:48 amDid George W. Bush’s appointees get pre-Inauguration hearings on confirmation?
Didn’t Ashcroft get an extra special ritual evisceration hearing before inauguration? I seem to recall that happening.
Dodd (fbfada) — 1/9/2009 @ 6:54 amAnd in fact had been sent off to do Party grunt-work in American Samoa
Scott Jacobs (a1c284) — 1/9/2009 @ 7:02 amWalking on water….
AD (9c6207) — 1/9/2009 @ 9:35 amOne must remember that light-weight fecal-mater floats;
Whereas (as my old D.I. patiently explained ad nauseum), whale-s..t ends up on the bottom of the ocean, putting it on a higher level than lowly basic-trainees.
Isn’t it a felony to give a blow job like this in public?
JD (085a0e) — 1/9/2009 @ 11:51 amDid George W. Bush’s appointees get pre-Inauguration hearings on confirmation? I don’t recall but I doubt it.
Donald Rumsfeld, Paul O’Neill, Christine Todd Whitman, John Ashcroft and Colin Powell – to name five – underwent or began confirmation hearings before the Bush Inauguration in 2001.
Daschle welcomed O’Neill:
steve (6830b3) — 1/9/2009 @ 3:07 pm