# Another Democrat Crook **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 3, 2009, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-democrat-crook/484284 "2009-02-03T18:18:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![tagos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tagos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tagos)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-democrat-crook/484284/41 "2009-02-04T15:24:48Z")
> [@saoirse](#): > > Kerik wasn’t done in by a nanny problem. If he had been, I’d be celebrating nanny problems for having prevented him from becoming Homeland Security Secretary. > > [Bernard Kerik](http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/k/bernard_b_kerik/index.html?scp=1-spot&sq=bernard%20kerik&st=cse) That post-dates his nomination problems but just goes to show how much ‘due diligence’ Bush did. My feeling is that is a crook tries to hide stuff and does a good job then the appointer, be they Bush or Obama, are also to some extent victims. I’d lay odds there isn’t one set of completely clean hands in either House. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-democrat-crook/484284/42 "2009-02-04T15:50:46Z")
> [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](#): > > Never mind the ex Illinois governor’s crookedness. Tim Geithner,Tom Daschle, and now [Nancy Killefer](http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/090203/usa/us_politics_obama_nominee_2) > > These are Democrats who are often charged with wanting to raise everyone’s taxes. Except their own of course. In these cases anyway. > > Three cabinet appointees out of how many ? > > Before I make a judgement on Democrats in general, could any one tell me how many of Bush’s cabinet appointments were caught tax cheating ? Is tax cheating the only offense that counts? Didn’t we have our share of GOP scandals in the Bush era? ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-democrat-crook/484284/43 "2009-02-04T16:25:23Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > I really don’t understand why she fell on the sword, when her problem was the smallest, monetarily, and she fixed it years ago, as opposed to discovering it during the confirmation process. Seems a tad askew to me, as well. It’s easy to make a mistake with taxes, and the IRS will slap a lien on your bank account in a heartbeat. Happened to my wife when she failed to send in a form telling the IRS she had terminated the woman caring for her mother. Even though she paid the woman’s social security and all, the IRS placed a lien on our bank account until it was all resolved. If there’s not more to this issue, then it’s probably better that someone who panics easily is not in the cabinet. Oh, and fuck Tom Daschle. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-democrat-crook/484284/44 "2009-02-04T16:38:19Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Seems a tad askew to me, as well. It’s easy to make a mistake with taxes, and the IRS will slap a lien on your bank account in a heartbeat. Happened to my wife when she failed to send in a form telling the IRS she had terminated the woman caring for her mother. Even though she paid the woman’s social security and all, the IRS placed a lien on our bank account until it was all resolved. > > If there’s not more to this issue, then it’s probably better that someone who panics easily is not in the cabinet. Shorter **Bricker** : I will make the effort to rightly call others out on their specious reasoning, and then turn around and spew some of my own right back. Shorter **chefguy** : Yeah! And then some! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-democrat-crook/484284/45 "2009-02-04T16:43:09Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > This is an example of fallacy: argument from ignorance. “We don’t know what her secret crime is, so it must exist.” If you have evidence, present it. This is an example of a strawman: argument from incompetance. Particularly when you deliberately and egregiously misquote me. I never specified a crime. Just speculating something far more serious than tax witholding less than $1000, rectified long ago. You jumped the gun here. Could be a medical condition, could be an affair. Hell, I don’t know . Its really difficult to provide a cite for my own speculation. ---
**Author:** ![ReuvenB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9fc348/32.png) [@ReuvenB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReuvenB)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-democrat-crook/484284/46 "2009-02-04T16:56:42Z")
> [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](#): > > Its really difficult to provide a cite for my own speculation. Then just shut up. It’s the obvious solution. ---
**Author:** ![Sinaijon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@Sinaijon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sinaijon)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-democrat-crook/484284/47 "2009-02-04T17:31:34Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > Or for that matter, [George W. Bush](http://archive.democrats.com/display.cfm?id=290)? Seriously? Did you actually read the link? Total conspiracy theory logic going on. 1. George Bush partook in a complicated financial transaction many years ago. 2. George Bush hasn’t released his tax returns for that year. 3. OMG! George Bush evaded taxes!!! Get back to us again when you have any shred of evidence at all. This is worse than Obama’s Birth Certificate conspiracy loonies. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2009, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-democrat-crook/484284/48 "2009-02-06T04:00:37Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > By the way, has the OP ever heard of Catalina Vasquez Villalpando? Or for that matter, George W. Bush? Or [Sarah Palin](http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/06/questions-linger-about-palin-taxes/)? [Comment](http://www.thenextright.com/risingtide/governor-palin-unlike-former-sen-daschle-didnt-pay-her-back-taxes): > [@](#): > > Someone should make the point that the theory on which Daschle did not pay taxes on an extraordinary non-salary benefit provided by his employer (car and driver) is exactly the theory on which Palin did not pay taxes on an extraordinary benefit (free air travel for her children, and 60 dollar per day per diem payments for use of her own house). ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2009, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-democrat-crook/484284/49 "2009-02-06T05:00:17Z")
> [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](#): > > This is an example of a strawman: argument from incompetance. > Particularly when you deliberately and egregiously misquote me. > > I never specified a crime. Just speculating something far more serious than tax witholding less than $1000, rectified long ago. You jumped the gun here. > > Could be a medical condition, could be an affair. Hell, I don’t know . Its really difficult to provide a cite for my own speculation. I didn’t misquote you. I paraphrased your argument. Nor does your disavowal of the specific accusation of “crime” help your case. Your speculation is simply that - speculation. In debate, a gratuitous assertion may be equally gratuitously denied. Your “speculation” is intended to make the point that she has something to hide, especially in view of the thread title and original post for this thread, which also came from you. I’ve just spent eight years listening to ignorant yammerheads mutter darkly about Bush’s administration; one post above cites a column that talks about how Bush “may” have evaded taxes with only speculation in place of evidence. I see that now that the shoe is on the other foot, rationality isn’t going to spring up. You cannot accuse based on ungrounded speculation, you can’t lump Democrats together as “crooks,” and expect to be taken seriously. ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2009, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-democrat-crook/484284/50 "2009-02-06T06:05:05Z")
Wasn’t it Charlie Rangle, chair of Ways and Means, the ones who WRITE the tax code caught up in a tax scandal recently? His excuse? (Paraphrased) “I didn’t understand the tax law.” Joe Biden himself said it was patriotic to pay taxes during the campaign. Funny how the missteps of Obama somehow still rile up the anti-Bush crowd. I remember as of January 21, 2001 conservatives weren’t allowed to utter the name Clinton without a barrage of left-wingers complaining. Well, I guess we got our change. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2009, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-democrat-crook/484284/51 "2009-02-06T14:23:55Z")
> [@duffer](#): > > Wasn’t it Charlie Rangle, chair of Ways and Means, the ones who WRITE the tax code caught up in a tax scandal recently? His excuse? (Paraphrased) “I didn’t understand the tax law.” Yes. Daschle was on the Senate Finance Committee, though, which does the same thing. I don’t really understand the point of your post, though. It sounds like you’re calling out Democrats (or possibly even Republicans) for being consistent. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-democrat-crook/484284.md?page=2)