Chorus: You can find me in the club, bottle full of bub/ My mind not what you need, you need to feel a buzz / I’m into havin’ sex, I ain’t into makin’ love / So come gimme a hug, if you’re into gettin’ rubbed.
~ 50 Cent, “In Da Club” (circa 2003)
Laura Ingraham, conservative intellectual and radio host, was literally beside herself Monday morning in her opening dialogue. She was livid about Tom Daschle as President Obama’s initial appointee for secretary of health and human services apparently on his way to Senate approval despite failing to report some $255,000 in income from 2005 through 2007 for a car and driver supplied to him for personal use. Like Tim Geithner, Obama’s secretary of treasury, Daschle only admitted to Congress his tax omissions after the issue became public. Daschle also failed to report to the IRS $80,000 in consulting fees.
Ms. Ingraham and most conservatives like me were pleasantly surprised when yesterday afternoon the news came down that Daschle would not get a pass from the Senate and was forced to withdraw his name from consideration. Yes, Daschle is in the Senate club, but his elite pedigree will not be enough this time.
Daschle was the subject of last Monday’s op-ed in the Wall Street Journal titled, “Driving Tom Daschle.” When pressed by committee personnel, Daschle was bold and rather flippant in his answer: “He told committee staff he had grown used to having a car and driver as majority leader and did not think to report the perk on his taxes, according to staff members.” Needless to say, if this were a Republican that failed to pay his taxes, the propaganda press would be giving 24/7 coverage and howling for that GOP hypocrite to withdraw his nomination immediately.
Before his retraction yesterday afternoon, why the double standard with Daschle? Because he’s a liberal in the (Senate) club. The alternative media – WND, Michael Savage, Laura Ingraham, Ann Coulter, Hannity, Rush, the conservative blogs, et al., take a bow, because you sounded the trumpet and I believe forced Obama to withdraw Daschle’s nomination before next week’s congressional hearings. Don’t believe Daschle’s explanation: that the he woke up Tuesday morning and while drinking his coffee and reading the New York Times editorial page calling for him to step down decided to bow out. If you believe that load of propaganda, I would love to sell you the Brooklyn Bridge.
Who is Tom Daschle? He served as senator from South Dakota from 1987-2005. As Senate majority leader, Daschle was perhaps one of the most partisan, activist senators of his generation. His political extremism, arrogance and penchant to try to cram radical legislation down the GOP’s throat over time led to his failure to win re-election in his own state at the height of his powers in Washington, D.C. Nevertheless, like his lobbyist wife, he is still sucking from the teat of leviathan government. For example Daschle’s chauffer service cited above was provided by Leo Hindery, a big Democratic donor who also made Mr. Daschle millions by making him a limited partner in InterMedia Partners, a private equity company.
Apparently, the inevitable conflicts of interest with Daschle heading a major federal department while only a few weeks before actively lobbying corporations and businesses that have direct ties to federal government contracts under his authority was even too much for this pol to overcome. The Wall Street Journal editors were incensed at his possible nomination: “In appointing Mr. Daschle, Mr. Obama is showing that lobbying is fine as long as it is done by people who agree with him.”
Why the lyrics citation at the beginning of this article by rapper 50 Cent and how does that relate to this column? I’m glad you asked. Many times in other articles I have likened certain scoundrels in the presidency, judiciary and Congress to Medieval English landlords’ oppressive rule over landless serfs, Mafia dons extortion of honest businesses, or music pornographers like hardcore rappers’ lucrative exploitation of black culture.
While on one level I and most people that appreciate real artistic expression are repulsed by the lyrics of hip-hop artists like 50 Cent and other rappers, on another level these people are what they are – not hypocrites, but hardcore rappers, music pornographers, misogynists, thugs and crooks. On the other hand, politicians like Daschle and the Democrats in Congress are shameless hypocrites in the tradition of Jezebel. These pols have made an art form out of stealing increasing amounts of taxpayers’ funds and having the nerve to call you a “Benedict Arnold” or traitor for not being willing to give these politicians even more of your hard-earned money for yet another welfare program or economic stimulus package that history has repeatedly demonstrated and most reasonable people already know will not work.
Rapper 50 Cent, in his platinum hit song “In Da Club,” showed unmitigated hubris when he boasted: “I’m into having sex, I ain’t into making love.” Likewise, Sen. Daschle told Senate staff he did not think to report the perk on his taxes. Both Daschle and 50 Cent seem to imply this is the way business is done.
While the opening lyrics by 50 Cent are admittedly vulgar and misogynist, they are also created out of ignorance of both history and cultural mores. Daschle’s IRS excuse before the media, on the other hand, is one borne out of premeditated fascism – an entitlement mentality that as a past member of the exclusive 100-member “Senate Club” shouts in the extreme: I am above the law. Realizing that most of the 535 members of Congress more or less hold these same views is infinitely more disturbing to me as a citizen seeking to maintain the verity of America’s republic, than are the song stylings of some nitwit, thuggish rapper.
In conclusion, while I’m elated that the Daschle nomination has failed, what I really hope for is that Obama’s economic stimulus package doesn’t get one GOP vote in the Senate, as was the case in the House of Representatives. In reality, Obama’s stimulus plan should be called the “Democrat Eternity Act,” because it has little to do with economic stimulus (being loaded with numerous pork bills and earmarks) and everything to do with getting Democrats elected for eternity. All Americans of good will can only pray that this bill, like the Daschle nomination, will go down in flames of defeat.
Democrats’ seething hatred for America
Wayne Allyn Root