The first victim was of course Obama’s treasury secretary nominee Timothy Geithner, whose “careless mistake” of forgetting to pay some $34,000 in back taxes almost derailed his confirmation hopes. Almost.
Luckily, Geithner’s memory cleared up, and with his taxes all paid, he can assume his new job making sure other people don’t make the same “honest” mistake he did.
But not before the virus infected its next victim, Health and Human Services Department nominee Tom Daschle, who is suddenly also “deeply embarrassed and disappointed” about his failure to pay more than $120,000 in taxes. Like Geithner before him, Daschle’s mistakes in no way reflect upon his character or ability to do the job. Lucky for him, we have no idea what the hell that is anyway.
But just to be on the safe side, Obama has decided to reach across the aisle and nominate Republican Sen. Judd Gregg as his new Commerce Secretary. Which is probably a smart bet, since the new tax evasion bug seems to be a mostly Democratic outbreak.
Republicans, on the other hand, are usually more susceptible to the gay sex and constitution-trampling viruses, which luckily are not in peak season right now.