Daschle

Michael Ramirez's Jan. 8 cartoon equating Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle with Sept. 11 attackers goes beyond bad taste. To equate Daschle's economic ideas with murderous, terrorist actions suggests to me that Ramirez thinks that normal political give and take, if it does not bow down to our $1.3-trillion tax cut president, is a danger to our nation. This cartoon is hateful and petty in the extreme. Brian L. Mark Altadena Typically I find Ramirez's cartoons simply unfunny and overly obvious.

Trying to prevent a repeat of the 1990s standoff over healthcare, four former Senate leaders are preparing a plan that combines ideas from both political parties to guarantee coverage for all. Democrats Tom Daschle and George Mitchell are set to join Republicans Bob Dole and Howard Baker today to reveal a $1.2-trillion proposal that would be paid for with a combination of spending cuts and tax increases.

Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) said he planned to leave as scheduled for the Balkans despite the crash there of the plane carrying Commerce Secretary Ronald H. Brown. Daschle was being accompanied by Sens. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah). In a statement issued by his office Wednesday , Daschle praised Brown and said the crash of his plane in Croatia was "a terrible reminder of the risks so many public servants take to do their jobs."

Embarrassing disclosures about unpaid taxes forced the withdrawal Tuesday of two of President Obama's nominees: Nancy Killefer, who was to be the White House's chief performance officer, and Tom Daschle, Obama's pick for secretary of Health and Human Services. These breakdowns were hard to ignore, especially in the wake of new Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner's failure to pay thousands of dollars worth of payroll taxes.

Re "Daschle Accuses Bush of Playing Politics on Iraq," Sept. 26: Finally! I didn't think the Democrats would ever find their voice. They have been like sheep, refusing to utter a word against either rushing to war with Iraq or postponing the huge tax cut that was passed last year. One can question these things without being unpatriotic, despite what Vice President Dick Cheney suggested after 9/11. This is a democracy, not a monarchy. Peggy Schulz Sherman Oaks Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.

If truth is the first casualty of war, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) got hit by shrapnel ("Daschle Under Fire by Lawmakers for Criticism of Bush's Diplomacy," March 19). The insults Republicans have directed at him cannot blunt his message: The Bush administration has brought us to war because of a spectacular failure of diplomacy. Lives will be lost because of the seemingly willful incompetence of President Bush, and his supporters in Congress need to come to grips with that if we're ever going to straighten this mess out. John J. Flynn Culver City Daschle may have been tardy with his criticism (editorial, March 21)

There he goes again (Michael Ramirez's cartoon, Commentary, Dec. 13). The Times' official radical-right cartoonist reasserts his partisanship in the depiction of Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) asking someone on the phone to relay his thanks to Bin Laden that he can spend money. The low insult to Daschle and the dishonesty of the characterization of his providing for unemployed workers while ignoring Republican attempts to make mammoth giveaways to multinational corporations is appalling.

Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle and his Democrats continue to stall on passage of any meaningful economic stimulus package ("Bush Renews Call for Tax Cuts," Dec. 2). Daschle has been promising since the beginning of October to pass a viable economic stimulus package but, as usual, it is all talk. The Democrats continue to push for a spend-and-more-spend stimulus with a lot of pork in it. By the time Daschle and his merry band of Democrats complete any useful economic stimulus package it could be next year.

Re "Bush Says He Won't Budge on Tax Cuts," Jan. 6: President Bush vowed that his [10-year] $1.35-trillion tax cut would be repealed only over his dead body. Instead of stimulating the economy, his tax cut resulted in more massive layoffs and hard times for America's poor, homeless and unemployed. The Republicans seem to have only one solution for our economic woes--cut taxes for the rich and corporations, increase military spending and spending for prisons and the failed war on drugs, and when the inevitable deficit ensues, balance the budget on the backs of the poor.

Re "Critics Assail Contents of Report on China Spying," May 26: Chinese espionage is like a long-festering disease. It eats away silently for years. There is no way to treat it during this covert phase. After the disease has spread, the symptoms are exposed and action must be taken. President Clinton's national security advisor, Sandy Berger, has stated that he briefed Clinton about Chinese espionage years ago. The president did not take action to stop it. Instead he compounded this malfeasance by relaxing export controls, allowing China to buy critical missile technology and enabling China to target our cities with nuclear weapons.

The withdrawal of Tom Daschle's nomination Tuesday as secretary of Health and Human Services reflected White House recognition that his tax problems were igniting anger over an apparent double standard: that Washington insiders could be careless about their taxes while ordinary Americans had to sacrifice. As late as Monday night, the former Senate Democratic leader thought he could survive the disclosure that he only recently paid about $140,000 in back taxes.

Congressional Democrats moved Monday to shore up Tom Daschle's nomination to become President Obama's secretary of Health and Human Services as the former senator apologized publicly for not paying more than $128,000 in income taxes. "The American people have high expectations for those of us who serve the public good. That's especially true when it comes to taxes.

Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, who has emerged as the front-runner for Commerce secretary, assured fellow Republicans that he would not take the job unless he was certain his replacement would line up with the GOP caucus, the Senate's Republican leader said Sunday. President Obama is expected to announce Gregg's nomination as early as today.

Tom Daschle, once considered assured of breezing through his confirmation as secretary of Health and Human Services, soon will face tough questioning on Capitol Hill about underpaying his income taxes and his extensive work for clients in the healthcare industry, Republican aides said Saturday. GOP lawmakers on the Senate Finance Committee are preparing to grill the former Senate majority leader about his failure to pay more than $128,000 in taxes for 2005, 2006 and 2007.

Former Sen. Tom Daschle, tapped by President Obama to lead his healthcare reform campaign, failed to pay more than $128,000 in taxes in the three years before Obama nominated him in December to head the Department of Health and Human Services. The disclosure -- involving unreported income and the use of a car and driver provided to Daschle -- comes 2 1/2 weeks after Obama's choice to head the Treasury Department, Timothy Geithner, admitted that he had not paid about $43,000 in taxes.

The Senate, acting within hours of President Obama's inauguration, confirmed six of his Cabinet secretaries and his budget director Tuesday, but postponed for one day a vote on the nomination of Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of State. Sen.

It's a busy Saturday night at a Century City hotel. "Sex and the City" star Kim Cattrall fields questions about human rights, while a woman in an ankle-length black velvet coat is shouting into her headset, "Sen. Boxer's people--where are you? We gotta go! We're six minutes out! Where's Sen. Boxer? Where's the governor? We're out of time!" Senators and TV stars are sharing the spotlight at the annual banquet for Human rights Campaign Los Angeles, a lesbian and gay political organization honoring Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle and "Sex and the City" creator Darren Star.

Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), in a letter Tuesday to President Bush, proposed setting aside some Democratic and Republican priorities to immediately approve parts of an economic stimulus package with broad bipartisan support. Daschle would extend unemployment benefits, give tax rebate checks to people who missed out last year, increase new investment tax write-offs for businesses and give cash-strapped states more federal Medicaid money.

Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, President-elect Barack Obama's choice to lead a major health reform effort, cruised through his first confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill on Thursday, suggesting an early bipartisan willingness to tackle the difficult issue.

By choosing former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle to head his healthcare reform effort, President-elect Barack Obama got more than an old congressional hand with a policy book on his resume. Obama has also picked up a hardheaded political strategy for his push to overhaul the nation's healthcare system.