You can't help but wonder if Democrats ever pay taxes. It seems from the headlines that the way it works is that Democrats levy taxes but only Republicans have to pay them.

For a president who said he was going to preside over the most ethical administration in history, Barack Obama has shown an astounding talent of being able to find appointees who mistakenly manage to forget to pay their taxes.

Just look at Timothy Geithner, for example. The new Treasury secretary -- the man who oversees the IRS -- forgot to pay $34,000 in taxes. Tom Daschle had to pay $128,203 in back taxes and $11,964 in interest after he learned he was going to be nominated as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. Obama's appointee Nancy Killefer withdrew her candidacy to be the first "chief performance officer" for the federal government because she messed up paying payroll taxes on her household help.

Then there's Charlie Rangel, head of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, who didn't pay his taxes. And Al Franken, who might be a new Democratic senator from Minnesota thanks to the peculiar way they count votes in his state, didn't pay his taxes either. The Congresswoman who was appointed to fill Hillary's vacant seat in the Senate did not pay her taxes.

Not to worry, though. It appears that none of these people committed offenses. They merely made "mistakes."

Speaking of Daschle, the president said: "Tom made a mistake, which he has openly acknowledged. He has not excused it, nor do I. But that mistake and this decision cannot diminish the many contributions Tom has made to this country."

No Democrats ever commit crimes. They merely make mistakes.

Not so with Republicans. If you tell a joke at the 100th birthday party of a retiring and dying Senator, your career in the Senate will be in shambles, as Trent Lott discovered. If you're a Democrat, however, well, you simply make a mistake when you do something wrong. Continued...