Busy. But in the 15 months I've been away, the prez has been spinning and lying and doing end runs.

SOTU last night.......Backpedals? Well, does the failure to mention Gitmo count?

This comes on the heels, in the last couple of months, of the president's abandonment of his multi-promise to put health care negotiations on C-Span, so the American people can see who's saying what and making what deals. The irony of this is that, when the president made this promise repeatedly, he made it with the implied threat that such public airing would expose those scoundrels who were making backroom deals out of view of the American people. At the time, he assumed the backroom sleazeballs would be Republicans flacking for the insurance industry, so it was a good way to score cheap points. As it turns out, the sleazeballs making high-handed deals have been Congressional Democrats and the president himself. Hmmm. Exposing these people is not what the president had in mind. Reverse course.

The ignoring of this broken promise, by not only the White Hose, but by its allies in the MSM, is breathtaking. What does it say about someone and his moral bankruptcy when he won't keep even a simple-to-keep promise. How much must he fear the shedding of light on his party's healthcare legislation development process? How much must he want to keep hidden both the substance of the bill and messy deals it took to get it?

And while ignoring both these firm promises and the public's current contempt for the bill and the process, Pelosi and Reid remain committed to its passage by whatever means necessary. A view such as theirs ignores newly-raised concerns of Democrat moderates who, having found their voices, apparently in the snowbanks of Massachusetts, are increasingly nervous about being put to the test on a bill for which voters appear willing to put them to the sword. But Democrat leadership approaches this bill with Stalinesque singlemindedness and an arrogance of power that is impressive -- and well may lead to a devastating political autumn for Democrats.

It's all quite a gamble. Zealots are willing to take such risks, though, even if they correctly perceive the potential political harm. The ideology is what matters, even if it kills them politically. And it very well may.