But of course, he happily voted for the Iraq use of force resolution in October 2002, stating that "it is clear from this debate that Saddam's weapons of mass destruction are the principal threat to the United States and the only threat that would justify the use of the United States military force against Iraq."
Daschle has been an expert at making people believe he is a good liberal/progressive while at the same time furtively doing the bidding of corporate interests. His major clients over the years, both during his time as senator from South Dakota and after have included mining and logging concerns.
For example, in late 2001 he went to bat in Congress for Barrick Mining. For those familiar with the HBO television series "Deadwood," the amendment Daschle sneaked through nicely could become a late chapter of the saga. It granted legal immunity for Barrick's Homestake mine in the Black Hills, the very one once owned by William Randolph Hearst. The Lakota Sioux cannot pursue claims on billions of profits extracted from land once belonging to them.
The contradictions inherent in Daschle's character finally came to light in his failure to pay taxes on the extraordinary perks awarded him by InterMedia Partners, an insurance industry lobby. How the great benefits Daschle accepted from these guys would have affected the health care reform program apparently intended in the Obama Administration, we don't know. Suggestions (including in his own book) that Daschle would be a thorn in industry's side, an advocate of single payer, designer of a tough-on-industry health board deserved much skepticism. I'm happy that point is moot now, at least as far as Daschle is concerned.
Update: Before I wrote this, I had not read Greenwald's incredible post on Daschle, HERE. Greenwald is much more pointed than I was.
Greenwald: But there's no need to withhold judgment on Daschle himself. He embodies everything that is sleazy, sickly, and soul-less about Washington. It's probably impossible for Obama to fill his cabinet with individuals entirely free of Beltway filth -- it's extremely rare to get anywhere near that system without being infected by it -- but Daschle oozes Beltway slime from every pore.And he has much to back this up, including the story of Daschle's behind-the-scenes work for telcoms during their successful bid in Congress for spying immunity.
I also fixed a misspelling in the original post and put in "included" for "been" for clarity.
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