Quick Hits

I know I haven't been doing my blogging duty lately, but here goes....

- Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee Charlie Rangel is temporarily stepping aside as chair while the House Ethics Committee looks into charges lodged against the 20-term Representative. First off, I'm going to wait for the investigation to complete before I start calling for his impeachment, mainly because his ilk rarely affords the same consideration to Republicans who get in trouble, legal or otherwise. When a Republican gets in trouble, the Left resorts to the "severity of the charges" line to try to shame the Republican into resigning. No such calls from me on this one. Let Rangel deal with the Ethics Committee. Second, Rangel is a 20-term Representative...and Harlem is still like Beirut with more McDonalds franchises? Folks, at some point, you're going to have to let him go because he's not doing anything for Harlem.

- Rangel isn't the only Democrat involved in a scandal, though. More and more Democrats are finding themselves in legal or moral trouble these days, and it reminds me of 2006 when Nancy Pelosi and her cohorts were talking about the Republican "culture of corruption." Well, that perfect scandal storm has swung its way back around and is hitting the party in power. That's the funny thing about politics. No matter what, the pendulum always swings back the other way and will probably whack somebody upside the head.

- With Sarah Palin talking to Mark Burnett about a reality show, I think it's safe to say she's officially jumped the shark.

- Mitt Romney is starting to fire up his Presidential aspirations by attacking the President. It's all well and good, except when you consider his health care reform proposal in Massachusetts isn't too far removed from Obamacare. To the Republicans reading this, are you sure this is a guy you want running the country?

- Speaking of Obamacare, have you noticed that most of the talk surrounding it has been focused on the Senate? Talk of the "nuclear option" and reconciliation has dominated the coverage with only an occasional story coming out of the House talking about how the House will pass health care reform. I'm of a different opinion. I think the reason there isn't much coverage about the impending House vote is because Obamacare isn't going to pass the House in its current form. There are too many differences between the House and Senate versions that will kill it in one house or the other, but I'm leaning towards it being the House that sends Odumbacare to pasture because of how close the first vote on it was. Three votes in the other direction and we wouldn't be having this conversation right now, and I don't think Pelosi or the Obama White House has the political capital left to ensure victory.

- President Obama has been talking up his stimulus package as a measure that saved us from the brink of economic ruin. Obama has set up the seemingly irrefutable argument since no one can say what would have happened if the stimulus package hadn't been passed. However, it's in that uncertainty that an argument can be made that the stimulus package had no impact on the economy. All it takes is someone smart enough to make that argument...oh wait. Someone smart enough just did.

Finally...

- John McCain's campaign fired back at challenger J. D. Hayworth's latest ad with McCain in face paint. McCain's campaign manager demanded Hayworth apologize for possibly offending Native Americans because of the face paint. Of course, it might actually be a valid criticism...if it wasn't a play on the popular movie "Avatar." Even I knew that, and I've never seen "Avatar." Then again, when you're as out of touch as McCain is, it's not surprising that he'd pick staff equally as clueless.