Ed Morrisey links to a new Ramirez cartoon sure to cause a lot of liberal heart ache.

But its just the truth.

The story:

… in his brief appearances in the 336-page report, Geithner’s main concern seems to be with preventing a panic over the diseased state of Lehman. Geithner not only acknowledges his efforts at concealment, but seems to believe they were the right thing to do:

In addition to the losses Lehman would incur by selling “sticky” assets at firesale prices, deleveraging also raised the additional problems of market perception and valuation.3187 As Secretary Timothy Geithner explained to the Examiner, selling “sticky” assets at discounts could hurt Lehman by revealing to the market that Lehman “had a lot of air in [its] marks” and thereby further draining confidence in the valuation of the assets that remained on Lehman’s balance sheet.3188

The first sentence is drawn from a November interview between Geithner and Valukas, the second from “Reducing Systemic Risk In A Dynamic Financial System,” a speech Geithner delivered in June 2008. To say dressing up Lehman’s bleeding sores was wrong, you need to acknowledge that a central bank should not engage in the suppression of information, and I’m pretty sure we lost that argument a long time ago.

Smith suspects (not without reason) that this mission to regulate the market’s feelings toward Lehman led Geithner to connive at what certainly looks to have been a fraud: the erroneous counting of “501 Repos” — assets Lehman sold with an agreement to repurchase — as straightforward sales. That is, the outside world thought these toxic assets were gone from Lehman’s books, when in fact they were merely festering. Smith has some interesting words about whether, and why, Lehman counterparties went along with this charade. (Likeliest answer: They were all betting on the come like the rest of America.) Geithner, typically, says he would have caught the problem if only we’d given him more power…

Enough to send Geithner to jail? No. Enough to warrant intense further investigation? Yes. Sufficient cause for Obama to fire him. Certainly. Will Geithner get fired?

Are you kidding? He was appointed after it was known he was a tax cheat. In a Chicago Administration, what Geithner did is just par for the course – he was protecting the big money men from their own, stupid mistakes. If he hadn’t protected them, they wouldn’t have any money, you see? If these banksters were now poor, they couldn’t donate to the Democrat party, fund various leftist causes and, of course, provide sinecures for retired Treasury Secretaries in the by and by. Asking Obama to get rid of Geithner is to ask him to go against business as usual…it’d be to ask him to be an agent of real change we could really believe in.

Ain’t gonna happen – unless Geithner becomes a direct, political liability for the mid-terms. Absent a risk to Democrat political power, there’s no chance he’ll be fired.

Seems they won’t really have that new ObamaCare bill up for 72 hours before a vote:

House Democrats appear to be softening their pledge to allow the public 72 hours to review the health care reform package online before a House vote. “We will certainly give as much notice as possible, but I’m not going to say that 72 hours is going to be the litmus test,” said Majority Leader Steny Hoyer on Friday.

“The House bill or Senate bill, as proposed, has been online for some two-and-a-half months, otherwise known about 75 days,” Hoyer added, referring to the November and December dates each chamber passed its version of health care legislation.

But Democrats could vote as soon as next week on a series of changes to the health care package – called a reconciliation bill – and the number two House Republican criticized Hoyer directly on House floor.

“I’m a little bit taken aback that now that 72-hour rule has been completely cast aside, since nobody in the House has seen what’s in the reconciliation bill,” said Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Virginia.

Its because they don’t know what legislative bribes they’ll need to get it passed and it might end up being that the last bribe or two comes in less than 72 hours before a vote. Plus, if you really had it up there for three days people would have a chance to read it and react to its provisions – and Democrats are not about to let public concerns get in the way of passing a bill.

But it is also just one more lie – one more broken promise. One more clear indicator that they don’t care about the people of the United States.

From NRO’s The Corner:

Sitting in an airport, on his way home to Michigan, Rep. Bart Stupak, a pro-life Democrat, is chagrined. “They’re ignoring me,” he says, in a phone interview with National Review Online. “That’s their strategy now. The House Democratic leaders think they have the votes to pass the Senate’s health-care bill without us. At this point, there is no doubt that they’ve been able to peel off one or two of my twelve. And even if they don’t have the votes, it’s been made clear to us that they won’t insert our language on the abortion issue.”…

…Stupak notes that his negotiations with House Democratic leaders in recent days have been revealing. “I really believe that the Democratic leadership is simply unwilling to change its stance,” he says. “Their position says that women, especially those without means available, should have their abortions covered.” The arguments they have made to him in recent deliberations, he adds, “are a pretty sad commentary on the state of the Democratic party.”

What are Democratic leaders saying? “If you pass the Stupak amendment, more children will be born, and therefore it will cost us millions more. That’s one of the arguments I’ve been hearing,” Stupak says. “Money is their hang-up. Is this how we now value life in America? If money is the issue — come on, we can find room in the budget. This is life we’re talking about.”

If Obamacare passes, Stupak says, it could signal the end of any meaningful role for pro-life Democrats within their own party.(emphasis added)

Which is about how I view it – and, as an aside, so much for DNC spin that the bill doesn’t include abortion coverage. If it didn’t, then attaching Stupak’s amendment would be no problem.

They’re going to ram this through, abortion, kickbacks and all, regardless of what we, the people of the United States think. They’ll do it because its the leftist dream – the mechanism, in their view, for gaining operational control of the American people. The leverage to make us a social democracy – the end of the Great Republic.

I don’t think it will work out that way – but that does seem to be the way Democrat leaders, and their yapping chorus in the leftist netroots, views the matter. But that still begs the question – why, then, be insistent upon abortion funding? The left is willing to take this half a loaf ObamaCare bill knowing that if they get it in, they can always expand it, later. So why the big abortion push? I can only guess that the Culture of Death has become so entrenched – abortion has become such a leftist sacrament – that they just can’t part with it.

At any rate, any sort of abortion funding in the bill will just make it that much more unpopular – the American people do not want their tax dollars going to fund abortion. That has been clear in vote after vote and poll after poll for decades. It will be a useful tool for us to attack Democrats with in the fall – and should we win, it will be a strong means of getting the whole mess repealed.

But is Stupak right? Is this the end of pro-life opinion in the Democrat party? I think so. Stupak says he’ll stick around as a Democrat, but it might become impossible for him – the left is already going after him with a campaign of hate and slander, just as they did against Lieberman. Stupak might be essentially forced out – perhaps to become the founder of a Christian-Democrat Party?

Who knows – but anyone who is actually pro-life can have nothing to do with the Democrat party, if they do pass through ObamaCare with abortion funding of any sort.

But I don’t think the people in DC will listen:

Their blind persistence in the face of reality threatens to turn this political march of folly into an electoral rout in November. In the wake of the stinging loss in Massachusetts, there was a moment when the president and the Democratic leadership seemed to realize the reality of the health-care situation. Yet like some seductive siren of Greek mythology, the lure of health-care reform has arisen again.

As pollsters to the past two Democratic presidents, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, respectively, we feel compelled to challenge the myths that seem to be prevailing in the political discourse and to once again urge a change in course before it is too late. At stake is the kind of mainstream, common-sense Democratic Party that we believe is crucial to the success of the American enterprise…

…The White House document released Thursday arguing that reform is becoming more popular is in large part fighting the last war. This isn’t 1994; it’s 2010. And the bottom line is that the American public is overwhelmingly against this bill in its totality even if they like some of its parts.

The notion that once enactment is forced, the public will suddenly embrace health-care reform could not be further from the truth — and is likely to become a rallying cry for disaffected Republicans, independents and, yes, Democrats.

Second, the country is moving away from big government, with distrust growing more generally toward the role of government in our lives. Scott Rasmussen asked last month whose decisions people feared more in health care: that of the federal government or of insurance companies. By 51 percent to 39 percent, respondents feared the decisions of federal government more. This is astounding given the generally negative perception of insurance companies.

Which is, of course, exactly what I’ve been on about for months. Its not the economy, stupid. Its not the spin, stupid. Its not the “party of no”, stupid. Its the government – people are mad at government. Local, State and federal, the majority have had it with government and its bloated budgets, sweet heart deals for the well connected and serial political corruption. If Democrats are thinking they can swing people behind ObamaCare once its passed, or that improved economic numbers will save the day, they’ve got rocks in their heads. Unemployment could drop to 8% by November and it won’t matter in the least.

Unless Obama and his Democrats can convince the American people that they have changed their ways – that they have given up Big Government solutions and are really, seriously going to balance the budget and jail the corrupt – then the Democrats will lose in November, and lose rather badly.

As Red State and Let Freedom Ring have reported, there is a movement afoot led by democrat representative Louise Slaughter to pass the Senate version of the Health Care bill without even having to vote on it. As Congress Daily reports:

House Rules Chairwoman Louise Slaughter is prepping to help usher the healthcare overhaul through the House and potentially avoid a direct vote on the Senate overhaul bill, the chairwoman said Tuesday.

Slaughter is weighing preparing a rule that would consider the Senate bill passed once the House approves a corrections bill that would make changes to the Senate version.

This end-around around the Constitutional intent of internal and external checks and balances is nothing less than appalling and dictatorial.

As the polls clearly illustrate, the democrats are now attempting to rule against the consent of the governed, and are doing so with an iron fist, regardless of the consequences. Although they know full well that their present course will invariably spell political disaster for them in November, they continue to press on and fall on their swords for their megalomanaiacal commander in chief. This brazen and blatant thwarting of the will of the people is illustrative of the democrat majority and President Obama acting not as elected representatives, but as overlords.

At least Bill Clinton had enough sense to read the tea leaves in 1994 that the public wanted no part of government-run health care, and let the issue go. In 2006, George W. Bush let go of his signature issue, the privatization of Social Security (which to this day I believe was a good idea) when the democrats convinced a majority of the people to reject it. But Barack Hussein Obama, being the narcissist and megalomaniac that he is, will have none of it. Tyrant and statist that he is, he will get his ‘legacy’ enacted, even at the expense of his underlings, and even at the expense of the well-being of the American people.

Well, we certainly have our ‘change,’ don’t we. I’m still waiting on the ‘hope’ part; but I won’t hold my breath.

The disintegrating Democrat coalition:

“Rahm Emanuel is son of the devil’s spawn, Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY) said. “He is an individual who would sell his mother to get a vote. He would strap his children to the front end of a steam locomotive.”

Rep. Massa describes a confrontation with Emanuel in a shower: “I am showering, naked as a jaybird, and here comes Rahm Emanuel, not even with a towel wrapped around his tush, poking his finger in my chest, yelling at me.”

Massa, of course, is claiming that the Democrats forced him out – with the implication in that being the sexual charges against him are bogus. We’ll have to see how that comes out – some times in politics what you’ve got is a confrontation between liar and liar. Though, of course, Massa could be the victim here.

The main thing about this is the clear evidence that in spite of a friendly MSM unwilling to air dirty laundry, the Democrats are falling apart. What this tells me is that the Democrats’ internal polling must show a disaster looming in November (a bit of confirmation of my theory here is a Democrat poll showing the GOP favored by three in the “generic” Congressional ballot). Things tend to get this bad a week or two before an election when one side sees the writing on the wall.

If we’re seeing the writing on the wall in March…

About time:

Before the 2008 election, Wisconsin’s Attorney General J. B. Van Hollen and Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisolm formed a special task force to combat attempts to pervert elections, especially in Milwaukee, where most of the problems occurred in 2004.

Today, Van Hollen announced indictments in five cases — including two felony indictments against ACORN for scheming to have registrants vote multiple times in November 2008. The AG released this statement today:

MILWAUKEE – Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen announced today that the Milwaukee Election Fraud Task Force has brought additional electoral fraud cases against five Wisconsin residents. The Department of Justice, acting as Special Prosecutor for Milwaukee County, has filed felony charges against Maria Miles, Kevin Clancy, Michael Henderson, Herbert Gunka, and Suzanne Gunka, all alleging election fraud arising out of the November 4, 2008, Presidential Election.

“The integrity of elections is dependent upon citizens and officials insisting they be conducted lawfully. Wisconsin’s citizens should not have to wonder whether their vote has been negated or diminished by illegally cast ballots,” Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen said.

According to the criminal complaints, Miles and Clancy served as Special Registration Deputies (“SRD”) for the City of Milwaukee in advance of the 2008 Presidential Election. Each worked for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (“ACORN”). Miles and Clancy are each charged with the felony offense of Falsely Procuring Voter Registration as Party to a Crime. The complaint alleges that Miles and Clancy submitted multiple voter registration applications for the same individuals, and also were part of a scheme in which they and other SRDs registered each other to vote multiple times in order to meet voter registration quotas imposed by ACORN…

In 2004, Wisconsin went for Kerry by a bit more than 11,000 votes out of more than 2.9 million cast. In 2004, it went for Gore by less than 6,000 votes. Both are within the “margin of ACORN”. And I’ve long been convinced that both in 2000 and 2004, Bush was denied a Wisconsin victory by voter fraud – and denied other States, as well, in both cycles. In 2008 it didn’t affect the outcome as Obama’s margin over McCain was quite large, but its clear that the voter fraud which became endemic in 2000 has continued – and will continue until people go to jail over it.

Unless there is absolute confidence in the vote, democracy is unworkable. Democrats, foolishly determined on winning no matter what, are placing the entire American experiment at risk by colluding in actions such as ACORN’s in the matter of voter fraud. That the nation could go in to acute crisis due to such things just doesn’t register in the minds of the Democrats.

Mostly this is because of the overall culture of corruption in the Democrat Party. They’ve been getting away with law breaking for so long, they just don’t see any reason to not break the law. Always keep in mind such things as the indisputable fact that Speaker Pelosi rose to her position by a series of illegal actions. For any Democrat, this is a lesson which cannot be ignored – routinely break the law; become Speaker.

Fundamentally, it is for liberal voters to finally wake up to this and do the right thing – but, in the meantime, the job of all patriots who care about our democratic way of life is to ensure that as many Democrats as possible see the inside of a jail over this sort of thing.

A bit of nasty, political infighting going on:

White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel has become a reluctant central figure in the battle between liberals and centrists in the Democratic Party.

A spate of recent reports have portrayed Emanuel, known for his aggressive brand of Washington politics, as either the voice of reason in a weak, liberal White House or the wet blanket preventing President Barack Obama from pursuing the kind of change he promised as a candidate…

…The culprits behind those stories are not Emanuel or those who support him, Democratic strategists say, but instead the liberal Netroots crowd disgusted by what they view as appeasement to the center.

Some of those efforts to weaken Emanuel are coming from inside the building at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, one Democratic strategist said.

“There are people in the White House who are trying to get rid of Rahm, and they are leaking everything they can,” said the strategist, who is close to Emanuel. “Some of it’s personal, some of it’s professional[ly] judgmental, but there is no doubt there’s an effort.”…

A lot of things are coming together here:

1. Emanuel is not a proper Chief of Staff. The man who once sent a letter to a colleague stating, “I hate you very much”, and including a dead fish, is not the man to bring everyone together in a loving embrace. A CoS does need to have a hard edge about him (its the CoS who must say “no”, while the President is allowed to say “yes” when ever the CoS thinks it a good idea) but there also needs to be an ability to smooth over differences and get massive egos to work together. Emanuel isn’t that kind of guy.

2. Centrist Democrats – especially those in GOP districts – are getting increasingly frightened about November. Its all well and good for party liberals to say, “lets do this, win or lose”, but when you’re the guy who will almost certainly lose if it happens, its not quite as cut and dried as all that.

3. The liberal netroots was out there fighting hard for a very leftist candidate in 2008. Given the way that netroots is a gigantic, mindless echo-chamber, it probably didn’t (and doesn’t) occur to them that while they knew Obama was far left, Obama was running as a centrist. The American people did not vote for what the liberal base was fighting for. Now the liberal base – still entirely clueless about the realities of American politics – is getting furious that what they fought for is not being enacted. Even simple – in liberal-think, at least – things such as closing Gitmo and repealing “don’t ask, don’t tell” aren’t being moved on.

4. Obama is proving to be that worst sort of leader imaginable – a weak yet stubborn man. He’s not got the raw courage to either tell his base to shut up or tell the GOP to jump in a lake, but he’s also blind to realities and simply will not retreat from a position, once taken. He doesn’t know how to lose gracefully, or even beat a tactical retreat in preparation for a renewed offensive at a more propitious time.

5. The various corrupt elements of the Democrat party complicate things a thousand different ways – no matter what happens, they want their usual piece of the pie and as they do their normal looting of the Treasury for personal gain, its causing all sorts of headaches for Democrats who want to get things done. Used to be, this sort of thing never came up as the MSM could be relied upon to cover up things – but with the New Media, its become impossible to keep a lid on it.

This has all resulted in a complete breakdown on message and, resulting from that, a sort of “you first” attitude where everyone is waiting for everyone else to walk the plank, first. Untangling the knot is still possible, but only if the corrupt give up their payoffs, liberals give up their more leftwing dreams and Obama learns how to ruthlessly take charge and give clear, crisp orders to be obeyed or get out.

I don’t think they can do it. Disaster impends for the Democrats. I’m quite happy about that.

BREAKING NEWS:

Well, our liberals immediately jumped to his defense and were quite angry with us for being so mean to this poor, innocent man who was only leaving office because he’s dying of cancer.

Well, not quite:

Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY) will resign Monday at 5pm, a source close to the embattled incumbent tells Hotline OnCall.

Massa has been pressured by House Dems to step aside amid an ethics controversy that caused him to announce earlier this week he would not run for a second term.

Earlier this week, the House ethics committee confirmed it was looking in to allegations against Massa. Those allegations reportedly include sexual harassment of a member of the Congressman’s staff.

Massa’s decision to retire came as a surprise to both parties. While he said his decision was based on a recurrence of cancer, the ethics committee investigation made Dems push him out the door.

If his fellow Democrats are pushing him out the door then it means that this is a very serious case. A few off-color remarks would not have done this.

If you liberals will just read Caucus of Corruption you’ll understand how these things work – and you wouldn’t have fallen for the cover story.

This Democrat-run government really is starting to be like a Greek tragedy:

First-term Rep. Eric Massa announced Wednesday that he will not seek reelection, saying his doctors have told him that he can’t continue to “run at 100 miles an hour.”

But several House aides told POLITICO that the House ethics committee has been informed of allegations that the New York Democrat, who is married with two children, made unwanted advances toward a junior male staffer.

A more senior staffer — Ronald Hikel, Massa’s former deputy chief of staff and legislative director — took the complaints to the ethics committee and was interviewed about them twice.

Hikel declined to comment about the situation, but House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) confirmed that the Democratic leadership had been informed of the allegations before the news broke.

It took the GOP more than ten years to get this caught up in hubris – its taken the Democrats less than four.

I wanted to do it, but that was back when Democrats seemed invincible and it looked for a while like no GOPer would seriously challenge Harry Reid. What a difference a year makes, huh? We’ve got a lot of people who want Harry’s job. Here are the three front-runners:

Sue Lowden. A 30 year Nevada resident (and thus, by local standards, almost a native), Lowden has been a television anchorwoman, businesswoman, philanthropist and Chair of the Nevada GOP. Lowden currently leads the crowded GOP field and, in polling, would handily defeat Reid in November.

In health care, Lowden favors the common-sense approach to reform which must include such things as tort reform and insurance portability. Low taxes and spending cuts are favored over the Democrats tax-and-spend insanity. On social issues, Lowden is a pro-life Catholic and a defender of marriage. On national defense, Lowden believes that a strong military is good for America and the world.

Danny Tarkanian. College hoops fans might find that name familiar – Danny is the son of legendary UNLV basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian. A resident of Nevada for 37 years, Danny played college basketball and is an attorney, businessman and has parlayed his family name in to the Tarkanian Basketball Academy which teaches kids the values of hard work, team spirit and good sportsmanship.

Tarkanian has actually provided a list of federal budget items ripe for cutting, thus taking the normal GOP program of tax and spending cuts a big step further. Tarkanian is also a supporter of the move to audit the Federal Reserve. Pledged to tax reductions, Tarkanian also favors tort reform, portability and inter-state purchases to help bring health care costs down. Tarkanian is pro-life, strong on the 2nd Amendment and figures that immigrants should present themselves at a US Embassy rather than just waltzing across the border.

Sharron Angle. A resident of Nevada since she was 3, and spent her career in education – including running a small, K-12 Christian school – until politics started to call her in the 1990’s.

A fierce defender of constitutional principle, Angle once sued the Governor of Nevada over his attempts to unconstitutionally raise taxes without the mandated 2/3 majority in the legislature. While that case was lost – thanks to activist judges who simply ignored the law – it marked Angle out as someone to be relied upon whenever government decides to take a short cut. Concerned not so much with the nuts and bolts of what is, after all, an unconstitutional power-grab by Reid’s ObamaCare, Angle is determined to see that the laws – all of them – be enforced in accordance our deepest constitutional principles.

So, there are the top three – I in no way wish to downplay the rest of the candidates, but space only allows a certain number. Any supporters of those candidates are welcome to state their case in the comments. Given that the primary isn’t until June, there is plenty of time for a savvy person to rise – and as such happens, we’ll take a closer look. Meanwhile, any of these three fine Republicans would be massive improvement over Harry Reid – and that is the most important thing: getting rid of Reid.

A Republican dares not sin in the least, while a Democrat…

Now, I don’t know much about the specifics of the allegations leveled against outgoing Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY), save that House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer knew about them before Massa’s announcement yesterday. So, it seems they are pretty serious. One thing I do know–or pretty much can assume based upon reaction to past such scandals–is that should this Democrat indeed have sexually harassed a male staff member, gay groups will dismiss it, perhaps even celebrate him as some kind of victim.

Yet, if he had had a (R) after his name, well, he’d be defined as some kind of self-hating pervert.

Remember Gerry Studds, the late Massachusetts Congressman who had had in 1973, while a member of the House of Representatives, a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old male page? Or Barney Frank who let his lover run a brothel out of his home while he signed off on that pimp’s parking tickets? Or Jim McGreevey? Or Kevin Jennings? They do get a bit better treatment from the gay groups than say do folks like Mark Foley.

It’s not about the behavior, it’s about the partisan affiliation.

And not just on matters sexual – on each and every thing a person can do wrong, a properly liberal person will get a pass from fellow liberals provided he makes the right noises about “social justice” or whatever claptrap it is the left is selling at the moment.

As noted above, Studds was caught abusing a young boy – and was hailed as a hero on the left because he came “out” and became an openly gay Congressman. But also think of Tom DeLay – supposed connections with someone else who broke the law and there are demands for his immediate ouster from Congress…William Jefferson, Democrat, gets caught with the bribe money in his ‘fridge and gets re-elected, without a peep from Democrats about the need to force him out.

As readers of Caucus of Corruption know, this is par for the course with Democrats. And it is why corruption is endemic to the Democrat party, at the moment. For decades the rank-and-file have given their leaders a pass no matter what they did – and so the leaders have just gotten worse and worse, confident that it won’t cost them at the polls.

This is not about Massa. He’s just one in a long line, and is ultimately trivial. What is crucial here is the need to severely punish the Democrats, as a party, for their malfeasance – to take away that which they care most about: their power. If it can be driven home that the actions of people like Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Charlie Rangel – and Eric Massa – played a big role in costing them their majority, it will be good for the Democrats and good for America.

America needs a government which can be at least mostly relied upon to do the right thing for the people. As it stands right now, the only thing we can rely upon with our Democrats is that they’ll sell any thing to any one and to heck with the people. It is time for real change – and November is coming fast.

Its just “time for a change”…after 40 years in politics:

Representative William Delahunt will not seek re-election to Congress, the seven-term Democrat will announce tomorrow, ending a nearly 40-year career in elected office and giving Republicans hope of capturing the seat, which stretches from Cape Cod to the South Shore.

“It’s got nothing to do with politics,” the Quincy Democrat said today. “Life is about change. I think it’s healthy. It’s time.”

Didn’t want to get healthy 20 years ago, huh?

The DemocRats are abandoning the sinking ship…

Makes me wonder just how long it has been since someone advised her of the difference between truth and lies:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) insisted on Friday that the Senate health care bill does not allow tax-funding of abortion, and added that she had spoken with “Catholic bishops” about the issue. However, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops told CNSNews.com that anyone who had spoken to the bishops about the legislation should know that it does fund abortion and that the bishops oppose the bill.

Dishonesty, thy name is Nancy.

Who is she trying to impress? The folks back home? I doubt that pleasing Catholics is high on the San Francisco agenda. I can only guess that she’s hoping to limit Catholic voter defections in November – as the Church has gotten ever more forthright on the moral duties of politicians who claim to be Catholic, it has become ever harder for such politicians to try and split the moral difference. The days of Ted Kennedy getting away with it for decades are over.

In addition to that, I do wonder why liberals are so determined to insert at least some sort of abortion funding in to ObamaCare? Is the bill not quite unpopular enough? I know the abortion industry lavishes money on the Democrats, but is pleasing them worth angering political moderates who are opposed to federal funding for abortion?

Or, is it that they are just insane? So convinced that they deserve their power and can’t lose it that they just don’t care? I guess time will tell on that.

He’s keeping his gavel:

When campaigning in 2006, Nancy Pelosi said that a vote for Democratic control of Congress would bring the “most ethical Congress ever.” Now that one of their leadership has been caught violating ethics rules about accepting travel from lobbyists — precisely the kind of scandal Pelosi exploited in 2006 in the Jack Abramoff debacle — what does she plan to do about it? Er … nothing:

The House ethics committee decision to admonish Rangel for taking two corporate-sponsored trips to the Caribbean has turned up the heat on the powerful Ways and Means Committee chairman — with even House Speaker Nancy Pelosi saying that Rangel’s actions don’t pass the “smell test.”…

…But the speaker also said that Rangel’s participation in the corporate-sponsored trips wasn’t something that had “jeopardized our country in any way,” and she made it clear that she has no intention of taking away Rangel’s chairmanship…

Because Nancy Pelosi rose to power by being corrupt. Because Rangel simply will not be punished by his constituents – and, ultimately, because liberals do not hold their own to account. As Matt and I pointed out in Caucus of Corruption, the only thing which makes Democrats move against one of their own is if there is a risk of electoral loss. Absent that, and Democrats will stand by their corrupt members.

And the rank and file will never abandon their liberal leaders – because they do as they’re told. Servile in mind and spirit and lacking skill in independent thinking, liberals just swallow whatever feces their bosses shove at them.

We will put an end to this – Rangel can keep his dirty mitts on that gavel, for now. But the day of reckoning is coming.

Because its becoming a nightmare for the Democrats:

Kent Hancock can’t remember tougher economic times in the two decades he’s sold used cars in California’s Central Valley.

He brings home less than half the money he cleared a few years ago and has dipped into savings to keep his business open. Hancock, 41, blames politicians for doing too little to get the economy back on track and hopes they are “sweating it a little bit. They should. It shouldn’t be a guaranteed job.”

Hancock’s frustration is evident throughout the nation’s most populous state. Just a year ago, the Democratic Party looked at California as a base for adding to its majorities in Congress. Now, it could be a the place where it loses them.

Even Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, widely viewed just six weeks ago as a shoo-in for re-election to a fourth term, now faces the toughest race in her 28 years representing California in Congress…

…Republicans…have expanded their takeover list.

Rep. Kevin McCarthy, who’s recruiting Republicans to challenge incumbent California Democrats, said he has no worries that the GOP will lose any of the House seats it now holds in the state. Democrats, he said, will have to focus on keeping seats in perennially competitive districts in other states.

“They have too many of their own members playing defense and needing money,” McCarthy said.

Democrats were, of course, working from the assumption that their wins in 2006 and 2008 were a positive vote in favor of Democrat policies. The truth is they were a negative vote against President Bush and, far more importantly, against business as usual in Washington. Now that Bush is gone, the only thing people have to vote against is business as usual – Democrats had about a 6 month window of opportunity in 2009 to show they were going to change things.

They didn’t. All they did was show that they are even worse than the Republicans who were rejected. It is not now a matter of can the Democrats win in 2010, but whether or not they can limit their losses to something manageable – limit them to keeping a narrow Congressional majority, that is. It is getting ever more questionable that they’ll be able to do this in the House, and there are starting to be some road maps to a GOP Senate majority, though that is still a 10-1 against prospect (much better than the 1000-1 prospect it was even 6 months ago).

As I said, 2010 is all about The People vs The Powerful – or, to use Senator Brown’s better formulation, The People vs The Machine. Anyone who can cast themselves as the agent of reform in 2010 will win unless running against the most entrenched liberals in the most overwhelmingly liberal districts in the nation – the vote for the PATRIOT Act reauthorization told the tale on how many such there are: less than 100 votes against.

2010 is getting to be very fun…

The toothless Ethics Committee has stated the obvious:

Democrat Charles Rangel, the top tax writer in the U.S. Congress, was admonished on Thursday by a congressional ethics committee for taking corporate-funded trips to the Caribbean, a finding he said defied “common sense.”

The House of Representatives ethics committee concluded that Rangel broke the chamber’s gift rules in taking the trips but it did not immediately release its report. Rangel called a news conference after news accounts disclosed the findings.

Quoting from his copy of the report, Rangel said it found he did not know the trips in 2007 and 2008 were underwritten by corporations, but that two of his staffers did.

“Common sense dictates that members of Congress should not be held responsible for what could be the wrongdoing or errors of staff, unless there’s reason to believe that the member knew or should have known — and there’s nothing in the record to indicate the latter,” Rangel told reporters on Capitol Hill.

“I think right now I have to let the general community make its own judgment,” Rangel said.

Rangel now wants to pretend he’s been vindicated – its just his stupid staffers who messed up! Problem is that the people are on to this scam – and the longer barnacles like Rangel hang around, the worse it will be for Democrats, as a whole.

Rangel, himself, is almost certainly going to be re-elected – and re-elected by a rather thumping margin, in to the bargain. But the odor of corruption around the Democrats grows stronger by the day and it is going to poison the well for other Democrats not in such safe districts.

If the Democrats were smart, they’d dump Rangel – force him off Ways and Means and gin up a primary challenger for him, if he refused to quit. They won’t do it, though, because for decades they’ve gotten away with it and think they’ll get away with it, again.

November will come as quite a rude shock…

Toyota – known far and wide for its excellent quality – suddenly has a spate of alleged quality break downs. Then the executives get hauled before a Congressional committee to be grilled by…well, paid tools of the United Auto Workers, which has never been able to unionize Toyota’s factories:

Thirty-one House Dems quizzing Toyota execs got UAW campaign cash

Two committees in the U.S. House of Representatives are holding hearings this week concerning allegations of sudden acceleration problems in Toyota cars and trucks sold in this country.

Among the witnesses appearing today at the hearing of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform was Toyota CEO Akido Toyoda, grandson of the company founder. On Tuesday, James E. Lentz, Toyota USA’s top sales executive, appeared before the Committee on Energy and Commerce.

There is a combined total of 59 Democrats serving on these two panels, which hold potentially life-and-death power over Toyota’s ability to continue offering its products to American consumers. So far this year, 31 of the 59 have received re-election campaign contributions ranging from as low as $500 to as high as $10,000 from the United Auto Workers union.

And, of course, the stories of Toyota failing in quality is making that company out to be as bad in quality as General Motors – now partly owned by the UAW.

Anyone else smell a democRAT here?

From Rasmussen:

For the second straight week, Republican candidates lead Democrats by nine points in the latest edition of the Generic Congressional Ballot.

The new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 44% would vote for their district’s Republican congressional candidate while 35% would opt for his or her Democratic opponent.

Democrats haven’t led the “generic ballot” at Rasmussen since June 21st, 2009. If this holds true though November, then it will be a very fun and interesting election night.

Democrats still can turn this around – at least to the point where GOP gains are kept to the “first midterm” norm, which would not be enough for the GOP to capture either house. To turn it around, however, would require an abandonment of ObamaCare as well as a clear move on the part of Democrats to clean up government.

You see, its not just ObamaCare and the economy driving this. What is turning the usual weakness of the “in” party in to a potential meltdown is the perception among the populace that the government is corrupt and only out for itself and the well-connected. Pelosi promised the most ethical Congress in history while Obama promised transparency and a new bi-partisanship. Not only have they not delivered on their promises, but they’ve actually made corruption and partisanship worse than before.

Trouble is, they can’t really do it – as Pelosi and Reid are hip deep in the corruption and influence peddling of DC, while Obama simply doesn’t recognize that there is actually another party out there he has to work with (Chicago has been under one-party rule for many decades, and that is where Obama learned politics). To do the things necessary to save the Democrat’s day is beyond the capability of the Democrat leadership – and thus the hocus-pocus about “party of no” and other such political tricks. They can’t change and thus earn renewed power, so they are hoping to bamboozle the people.

It won’t work – the people are awake.

As I’ve said, it is endemic to the Democrat party:

Rep. Solomon Ortiz (D-Texas) has accepted tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of trips to China from a development corporation in his hometown that he aided by securing earmarks and other federal assistance worth millions of dollars.

Ortiz has also traveled on at least one of these trips with his former chief of staff, Lencho Rendon, who was working for Ortiz when he secured a $5 million earmark for the Robstown Improvement Development Corp. The corporation has now hired Rendon as a consultant. Robstown Improvement is a nonprofit, city-chartered corporation that uses sales tax revenue to try to spur economic development in the city.

Just more of the usual back-and-forth. Ortiz claims he’s just being helpful – in which case, he wouldn’t have had money spent on himself to go to China. But, hey, a vacation is a vacation and who could pass up the opportunity to have one paid for by the organization you lavished taxpayer funds on? This more fun than a traditional bribe as you’re essentially bribing yourself – and with taxpayer money!

In an era of growing public anger over earmarks and lavish travel for Congressmen, that Ortiz would even think of doing this sort of thing indicates both how out of touch Democrats are as well as their supreme confidence that the rank-and-file Democrats will not punish them for it. Is there to be a primary challenger to Ortiz? Extraordinarily doubtful. The almost-certain outcome of this is that Ortiz will be re-elected and continue to do this sort of thing – and provide an example for all other Democrats on just what you can get away with if you have a “D” after your name and will make noises about social justice and such nonsense from time to time.

Its a taxpayer funded bonanza and the Democrats are living it up. We do, of course, have a chance to change this in November.