Daschle's "word of honor"

DVT noted recently that the "August meeting" Tom Daschle promised to hold with tribal leaders in exchange for prominent Native American journalist Tim Giago dropping his independent Senate bid has yet to come to fruition. There's eight days left in August, and, according to a recent editorial in the Lakota Journal headlined "To be or not to be" (PDF) the Daschle campaign is "clueless" about whether a meeting will even be held. What makes this development so rich in irony is the front page, top of the fold headline from the April 23-30, 2004 edition of the Lakota Journal announcing Giago's withdrawal: "On Daschle's word of honor, Giago drops out."

Here's a blow-up of the photograph of Daschle and Giago meeting at the Rodeway Inn Restaurant in Rapid City:

The photograph's caption reads: "Tom Daschle and Tim Giago met for a discussion of important Indian issues at the Rodeway Inn Restaurant in Rapid City on April 17."

In the story, Giago was quoted at length about Daschle meeting with tribal leaders in August. Excerpt from the April LJ story:

Although neither party was ready to discuss the specific ideas that were raised during the meeting, Giago said he an Daschle hope to initiate a gathering of tribal leaders and government officials in the near future in order to discuss methods of settling ongoing Native American issues that he said have been disputed for more than a century.

"A lot of the things that were discussed I can't discuss here," Giago said. "Tom wants to speak with the tribal leadership first--he wants to meet with tribal leaders in August. At that time, the issues that were discussed on Saturday will be laid out for input from the tribal leadership."

"Tim and I had a very important, thorough discussion about Native American issues," Daschle said. "We shared ideas about working with the government and the tribes to bring economic change to the reservations. We discussed a possible meeting with tribal leaders other government officials in August in an effort to bring people together."

Giago said, "Every Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota will be shocked and surprised at some of the issues Senator Daschle will bring forth."...

Giago has high hopes for Daschle's commitment to Indian issues and trusts that the Senator will keep his word.

"At the end of our meeting [on Saturday], we shook hands," Giago said. "I told him if he follows through on the things we discussed, I would throw my full support behind him. He shook my hand and said, 'You have my word of honor.'"

In 1978, Daschle gave his word of honor in a letter to constituents saying he would "do everything in my power to persuade others that abortion is wrong" and enclosed a letter from eight nuns in Aberdeen vouching for Daschle's veracity on the subject. In 1986, Daschle sent a letter to constituents stating "The truth is that I am unalterably opposed to abortion on demand" and enclosed a letter from a pastor vouching for Daschle's veracity on the subject. You can read a pdf copy of all of these letters by clicking HERE. Now, of course, Tom Daschle writes fundraising letters on behalf of NARAL boasting about how he "stood up for a woman's right to choose."

The point is that it seems when Daschle gives his word of honor, he's hoping you have a bad memory.