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How many flavors of crazy is it for President Obama and Democrat leaders to continue the forced march toward a vote on a health care bill despised by the majority of Americans?  The New York Times lays out what's happening:

Leaving a meeting of the House Democratic Caucus, lawmakers said they had received few details about what would be in the [health care] legislation, on which they may be asked to vote in the next week or two.

Got that?  This is legislation that would remake fully 1/6 of the US economy, and the people who are being pushed to vote on it aren't even sure about what's in it.  How, under any circumstances, can voting in favor of this -- given the rush, the uncertainty about the bill's contents, not to mention its effects (and including the widespread, fierce opposition to it) -- be anything other than a dereliction of duty?

Pat Caddell and Doug Schoen warn that passing the legislation will be a political disaster for the Democrats.  Frankly, the point is so obvious that it's frightening that it needs to be made.

But the bigger problem now, for Democrats, is that their interests and President Obama's diverge.  Many Blue Dogs can save themselves (and their party) if they take a principled stand against ObamaCare.  But the President needs this victory -- in a sense, just to stay in the game.  Without it, he's revealed as politically impotent.  With it, he can at least comfort himself with his "historic" expansion of the welfare state.

Overall, though, the President's in trouble either way this goes.  Even if he wins, he's paid a heavy price.  First, he's lost the trust of the American people by his willingness to say anythign to get the bill passed; second, he's shown himself willing to ignore the expressed wishes of those he governs; and third, he's revealed himself as arrogant enough to believe that opponents are too stupid to understand what's in the bill -- but once ObamaCare is foisted upon them by the "platonic guardians" in The White House and on Capitol Hill, the ignorant rubes will love it.

A President can come back from political defeat.  Recovering after losing the trust of the people is much more difficult.

It's come to this, but the race card appears to be losing a foothold. HT: Lee Habeeb

The handling by House leadership of former Congressman Massa’s alleged actions and subsequent resignation proves first and foremost that Speaker Pelosi's promise of "the most open and ethical" Congress in our country's history was nothing more than campaign rhetoric.

There is something seriously wrong with the level of corruption and the number of questionable actions taking place in our nation's capitol these days. And the House vote today agreeing to an investigation to examine what House Democratic leaders and staff knew about the allegations against former Rep. Eric Massa and what actions they took after learning of those allegations couldn't come soon enough.

This is not the "change" people voted for and it’s most certainly not the "most open and ethical" Congress Nancy Pelosi promised when she received the Speaker's gavel.

President Obama today announced which charities will be receiving portions of his $1.4 million Nobel Peace Prize award:

• Fisher House: $250,000
• Clinton-Bush Haiti Fund: $200,000
• College Summit: $125,000
• Posse Foundation: $125,000
• United Negro College Fund: $125,000
• Hispanic Scholarship Fund: $125,000
• Appalachian Leadership and Education Foundation: $125,000
• American Indian College Fund: $125,000
• AfriCare: $100,000
• Central Asia Institute: $100,000

“These organizations do extraordinary work in the United States and abroad helping students, veterans and countless others in need,” Obama said. “I'm proud to support their work.”

The latest reports out today suggest ACORN antagonist and conservative filmmaker James O'Keefe has another bombshell of an investigation to drop.  This time, however, his focus will be exposing corruption in the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).  Noah Shachtman of Wired.com writes:

Late last year, O’Keefe and fellow activist Joe Basel went into the Detroit and Chicago offices of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) with a hidden camera. They pretended to be scam artists, asking employees there to participate in a complex kickback scheme involving federal incentives for first-time home buyers. In the excerpted footage shown to me by O’Keefe, the staffers seemed only to happy to comply.

The law says that the tax credit maxes out at $8,000 for an $80,000 home. On the tape, O’Keefe asked a staffer, “What if I bought a place for $50,000, but the seller and I agreed to write down $80,000 as the purchase price?”

“Flip it any way you want,” the staffer replied.

What if the place is worth much less — like only $6,000?

“Yup, you can do that.”

Hmmm... sounds like another juicy corruption-exposing nugget coming our way in the near future.  In fact, Andrew Breitbart has recently exclaimed that in the next year there will be much more video of O'Keefe's investigations released.  "More than we all can handle," he says.