Tuesday in Crazy Town

Run, Mike, Run! Michael Steele is running again for head of the RNC.

It's sad day when any President declares victory because the Senate voted to bring a bill to the floor. That's what we've come to. By 83-15, the tax bill will be voted on. Probably it will happen tomorrow because Senate rules mean you have 30 hours after the cloture vote for the floor vote. This can be waved. But if one Senator objects, then you can't. Progressives really shouldn't feel bad. The rich don't pay taxes anyway. And would we be concerned about the wealthy if the economy was humming along with low unemployment?

The Administration says that it has the votes for the New Start Treaty. Here the Senate can't filibuster because it's a treaty.

Steny Hoyer is readying a stand-alone repeal of DADT for the House. They've already repealed it but it looks like the Senate will only entertain their own stand alone. Maybe because people are saying time is running out and no one wants to stick around. However yesterday those soldiers discharged for being gay filed suit to be reinstated which brings home Gates concern of having this linger forever and be resolved by the Courts.

Speaking of courts, Virginia Judge Henry Hudson appeared to have a conflict of interest problem on the healthcare bill since he owned shares in a consulting company which lobbied against the bill. The Obama Administration downplayed yesterday's ruling, pointing to some 22 challenges of the healthcare bill, which have either been dismissed or ruled against. Ricky Cantor agrees with the Cooch that this case--the only one they won so far--should be short-circuited to the Roberts Court, Limited immediately.

But problemo--conservative law professors who analyzed Hudson's opinion says the judge committed a big Whopper--he basically over-ruled the Commerce Clause in the Constitution. They claim he didn't heed the "Necessary and Proper Clause" of the Constitution and say that opinion has to be thrown out as a matter of course. Interesting. Sorry, Charlie. The other trivial part of the opinion is that he upheld the healthcare bill, except for the individual mandate. The individual mandate is the only part of the bill the health insurance industry insisted on because it would brng them 40 million new customers.

Julian Assange's lawyer told David Frost--remember him--on Al-Jeezera that there indeed was a grand jury secretly empaneled in Alexandria to nail Assange. Assange was granted bail this morning in the U.K. Michael Moore chipped into pay the bail.

Richard Holbrooke died after his aorta ruptured. Seen as vital to the Afghanistan War strategy, he reportedly said as his last words," You've got to stop this war." I have a little problem accepting this. Remember Bill Casey's famous last words, "I believed." Casey's widow always denied Woodward's account of this, saying that Casey at that time was brain dead. I tend to believe Sophia.

In the interest of civility, I am abandoning the term "Tan Man" or "Old Swizzle Stick" for John Boehner. Since he showed his sensitivity on 60 Minutes, I'm going to call him Gentleman John Boehner. One slight problem in his interview--he wept when he talked about children having the same opportunity as he did to achieve the American Dream. Then why does he never reflect that attitude when it comes to policy? Boehner did admit Obama was "smart, even brilliant", which is better than Huckabee calling Obama "amateurish". Gentleman John longs to play 18 holes of golf with Obama, since he played some 190 rounds of golf this past legislative year. That should give us hope that the next Congress won't do anything too negative.

So President Obama is going to stay in D.C. and not depart to Hawaii until the Start Treaty is approved. He already gave Michelle her Christmas gift--he signed the Child Nutrition Act.

The Left criticizes that the administration cut food stamps by two billion down the road to pay for the bill. The Administration had already raised the sums spent on food stamps by some $50 billion the previous year. This stuff is just more trivial carping.

The Economist Intelligence Unit put out their Democracy Index for 2010. They rate by full democracy, flawed democracy, hybrid system, and authoritarian regime. We're number 13--I think. Norway is number 1 as a full democracy. So much for American exceptionalism. Remember they hate our freedom.

George W. Bush gave a radio interview yesterday and he wants everyone to stop referring to Bush Tax Cuts. He apparently hates the term.

Mitt Romney has surfaced to denounce the tax deal. He thinks workers should pay for their own unemployment compensation. I guess this is the next permutation of a "compassionate conservatism." Or maybe he suggests all American workers should have golden parachutes. I'll take it.

The recent Bloomberg poll reinforces what all polls have said before and after the election--more Americans trust Democrats , than Republicans on economic issues. So what was the mid-term all about? We will see soon enough the fruits of the voters' labor.

So we're down to tax deal (basically done deal), New Start Treaty (looks good), DADT (iffy) and the Dream Act (I believe dead duck.) Then we will wait for the tsunami of the next Congress.

Gentleman John Boehner says his first vote will be to cut the budget for Congress. Hmmm.