When he's not on MTP to save us from those dastardly insurance companies or to fiercely advocate for a public government insurance option, what does Tom Daschle do with his free time? Golfing? A beach getaway? Or perhaps,

Daschle, in his capacity as a high-paid consultant at the law firm Alston and Bird, is once again working closely with lobbyists for UnitedHealth, the largest U.S. industry player, aiding the company's effort to convince moderate Senate and House Democrats to, among other things, kill the public option and keep company profits high.

Gosh, it's like he's two different people or something!

CNN crawl [and now Pravda]: "White House: Tom Daschle asks President Obama to withdraw his nomination for health and human services secretary."

... despite what anyone says, and I'm totally confident that Obama's vetting process will continue to produce public servants of the most awsum and unimpeachablest integritude, despite blips like chief speechwriter Jon Favreau, Commerce Secretary-designate Bill Richardson, and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, but doesn't this pose the appearance of conflict?

[Daschle's] finances [include] more than $300,000 in income from health-related companies that he might regulate as secretary....

And, even though a substantial proportion of that $300,000 must come from the insurance parasites that single payer would remove from the health care system, it's impossible for me to imagine that this would influence Daschle's views of what's "politically feasible [rhymes with weasel] and what isn't.

So, I'm cruising around to see if there's a 5:00 Horror I missed, and what do I see but this headline in tomorrow's Pravda:

Daschle Owed Back Taxes That Exceeded $128,000
Former Senator Paid Days Before First Confirmation Hearing

Daschle paid the back taxes just six days before his first Senate confirmation hearing, the report said.

Well, so much for that vaunted vetting process; I mean, Daschle didn't put up a picture of himself, drunk, groping Obama's future Secretary of State on his Facebook page -- though granted, that could only help him in the Village -- but still, the optics are bad, very bad. Little Tommy has such a sense of entitlement. And why six days? So he could rest on the seventh? Anyhow, a few more random thoughts:

No one should be mistaken. There has not been, nor will there ever be, a purely plebeian owned and operated society of significance.

From the Department Of Oh! That Might Explain Things this, via TPM:

Obama has strong ties to the Daschle world.

Well, great. Just what we need. Let's return the Democratic Party to the great days of 2002.

Why am I never cynical enough?