Columbus?

Honestly, without Columbus, the tomato would have never gotten into the hands of the Italians. Do we really want to live in a world without spaghetti and pizza?

Deem and Pass

It appears that the Democratic leadership has abandoned the so called "Deem and Pass" rule. I think this helps move the Senate bill towards passage. No matter how the Democrats sold this rule strategy it would have meant that they still voted for the bill - they just tried to be dishonest about it. Now the bill isn't good and many in the House don't want to be on record voting for it, but that's what is required to pass ObamaCare. Getting rid of the rule removes some of the stink on the bill.

The best argument the Democrats have now is the damage to the President if HC fails. I assume that's all the fence-sitters are hearing. Well, except their phone calls & e-mails.

I say 50 - 50 are the chances of passage. Up from 40 - 60 against.

A Saner Ross Perot?

David Brooks writes,

"He’s out there — that saner Ross Perot. He’s a-comin’. The country would be better off if it were you [President Obama]."

Dream on, Dave.  This isn't in Obama.

Depressing Report

Steve Hayes produces a depressing report:

We learned that the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Michael Leiter, whose agency is responsible for pulling together pieces of intelligence to prevent attacks, went on vacation the day after the attack. We learned that the top White House counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan, told him to go. We learned that the White House's initial view of the botched attack -- from Janet Napolitano and Robert Gibbs -- was that "the system worked." We learned that President Obama still believed the attempted bombing was the work of "an isolated extremist" three days after the attack, despite a wealth of evidence that Abdulmutallab had been sent by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). We learned that Brennan was surprised that AQAP was capable of attacking the United States. We learned that Napolitano was surprised by al Qaeda's "determination" to hit the U.S. and stunned that they would send an individual -- not a group -- to conduct an attack. We learned that four top U.S. counterterrorism officials -- Leiter, Napolitano, FBI Director Robert Mueller and Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair -- were not consulted about whether to treat Abdulmutallab as an enemy combatant or a criminal. We learned that a proposed "high-value detainee interrogation unit," or HIG, does not exist one year into the Obama administration. We learned that Blair, the nation's top intelligence official, thought that it did. We learned that Abdulmutallab was read his Miranda rights less than twelve hours after he was captured. We learned that the FBI interrogated Abdulmutallab for just 50 minutes before he was told he had the right to remain silent and chose to exercise it.

That's an impressive record of incompetence.

It certainly is.