http://weeklystandard.com/blogs/obama-now-selling-appeals-court-judgeships-health-care-votes

Tonight, Barack Obama will host ten House Democrats who voted against the health care bill in November at the White House; he’s obviously trying to persuade them to switch their votes to yes. One of the ten is Jim Matheson of Utah. The White House just sent out a press release announcing that today President Obama nominated Matheson’s brother Scott M. Matheson, Jr. to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.

Let’s see if Mr. Matheson rubs Barry’s back in return.

They don’t even care how it looks anymore. There’s either some kind of Democrat suicide pact in effect, or the fix is already in and voters won’t matter.

Sometimes I feel like I’m just waiting for Palpatine to dissolve the Senate, now.

According to Harry Reid, Barack Obama’s success stemmed partly from his ability to not sound like such a darkie.

According to the new book "Game Change," Reid "was wowed by Obama’s oratorical gifts and believed that the country was ready to embrace a black presidential candidate, especially one such as Obama — a ‘light-skinned’ African American ‘with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one,’ as he said privately.

Of course, he’s not the first to say so. Vice President Biden is, you’ll remember, is a big fan of clean and articulate blacks, too.

Somehow Democrats get a pass on this kind of stuff. Republicans lose their jobs for less. I guess as long as you vote to keep the welfare and abortions flowing freely, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton will keep their mouths shut.

And if we weren’t living under a socialist tyranny before, well, Merry Christmas, suckers.

WASHINGTON – Senate Democrats won a crucial test vote on President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul, putting them on track for passage before Christmas of the historic legislation to remake the nation’s medical system and cover 30 million uninsured.

All 58 Democrats and the Senate’s two independents held together early Monday against unanimous Republican opposition, providing the exact 60-40 margin needed to shut down a threatened GOP filibuster.

Let’s do away with the idea that there’s no difference between Republican and Democrats. Yes, they’re both generally full of weaselly, myopic, corrupt bastards, but this would not have happened with a President McCain.

The vote came shortly after 1 a.m. with the nation’s capital blanketed in snow, the unusual timing made necessary in order to get to a final vote by Christmas Eve presuming Republicans stretch out the debate as much as the rules allow. Despite the late hour and a harshly partisan atmosphere, Democrats’ spirits were high.

"Today we are closer than we’ve ever been to making Sen. Ted Kennedy’s dream of universal health insurance coverage a reality," Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said ahead of the vote, alluding to the late Massachusetts senator who died of brain cancer in August.

"Vote your hopes, not your fears. Seize the moment," Harkin urged colleagues.

And so, the Ted Kennedy Memorial Health Care Bill shall pass. And those of us who hoped there was a principled member of the Democrat caucus in the Senate now have our fears confirmed. We hoped our taxes wouldn’t go up. We hoped there wouldn’t be an individual mandate. We hoped the federal government wouldn’t fund abortions. We hoped they wouldn’t extend government-enforced health care to tens of millions of people without “creating or saving” a single doctor or nurse. We hoped they wouldn’t complete their framework for a complete government takeover of the economy.

The part that I keep thinking about is that my health care was already pretty good. If it ain’t broke, “fix” it til it is, I guess.

But I’m sure some toga-wearing objector wished he would have at least attempted a little passive-aggressive negotiation before Nero struck his match.

Here’s my latest letter to Senators Murray and Cantwell. I find it grossly incompetent that, by their own Democrat standards, they’ve been such relatively cheap whores when it comes to health care reform. Mary Landrieu got a nice chuck of change before she bent over for Harry. Nelson at least held out for some Astroglide.

Dear Senator,

I am one of the clear majority of Americans who oppose the health care reform bill currently proposed by the Senate. I still oppose it, but since it’s become clear that your Democrat party will pass this monstrosity one way or another, I would expect you to at least stand up for your neighbors and the citizens of your state by demanding that Washington receive the same or similar concessions that were granted to the states of Louisiana and Nebraska to buy their Senators’ votes.

Senator Landrieu of Louisiana proudly claimed that she’d secured $300 billion worth of federal funding for her state in order to secure her vote.

Senator Nelson of Nebraska has apparently secured full federal funding of Medicare for his state.

There may have been more concessions to other Senators, since the full text of the bill that you’ve committed to vote for hasn’t been seen or read by anybody outside of Majority Leader Reid’s office. But I fully expect you, as a Democrat Senator in good standing, to fight for the same kinds of "bonus" dollars for the citizens of the State of Washington that other, less influential Senators received.

Merry Christmas

Senator Murray’s Pigshit

A bill that includes more than $4.5 million in funding for a new waterfront market, new buses and a Wenatchee hospital passed the U.S. House Wednesday.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-WA, said Wednesday that she also expects the final version of the transportation and economic spending bill to pass the U.S. Senate before being sent to President Barack Obama for his signature.

The bill earmarks $1.4 million to help provide for the acquisition and renovation of the Pybus building on Worthen Street. The Pybus building will be home to the regional farmers market and the Wenatchee Food Bank and Distribution Center.

Nearly $2.5 million is included for Link Transit to purchase eight 40-foot, low-floor commuter buses and one 35-foot urban bus. A news release from Murray said the buses would allow Link to expand transit services to seven days per week and expand current operating hours.

Why should federal money (money that comes from people who definitely don’t live in Wenatchee, Washington) be spent on farmers’ markets and commuter buses in Wenatchee, Washington?

If farmers in Wenatchee want a market, shouldn’t farmers and the City of Wenatchee deal with that? Why should people in St. Louis or Miami or even Tacoma be on the hook for commuter buses in Wenatchee?