Tom Daschle and Timothy Geithner

There is a scene in the movie QUIZ SHOW near the end where Charles Van Doren (Ralph Fiennes) goes before a Senate Committee and eloquently apologizes for his role in the quiz show scandals. When he is finished, one Senator after another praises him for his courage in making the statement. Then a Senator from New York chimes in and says that while he's happy that he made the statement, he can't praise him for making the statement because he thinks a man of Charles Van Doren's intellect should not be praised for simply telling the truth.

This is kind of how I feel about Tom Daschle withdrawing his name from consideration for Secretary of Health and Human Services. While I'm glad Daschle did the right thing in withdrawing, he could have done the right thing years ago by simply paying his taxes.

However, compared to Timothy Geithner, who is now Secretary of the Treasury despite his failure to report income and pay taxes on it until the vetting process discovered it, Tom Daschle appears principled. Geithner should be ashamed of himself.