Pelosi, Slaughter went to court against GOP's self-executing rule in 2005  —  You've been hearing a lot this week about the Slaughter Solution, the rule devised by House Rules Committee Chairman Louise Slaughter of New York whereby the House would pass an Obamacare reconcilliation bill via a rule that …

Slaughter House Rules  —  How Democrats may ‘deem’ ObamaCare into law, without voting.  —  We're not sure American schools teach civics any more, but once upon a time they taught that under the U.S. Constitution a bill had to pass both the House and Senate to become law.

THE IOKIYAR RULE, PROCEDURAL EDITION.... For a while, Republicans were awfully worked up about using the reconciliation process to pass a health-care related budget fix, despite the GOP's repeated use of the same procedure.  Now Republicans are headed for the fainting couch over use of the self-executing rule …

The Spirit of Sympathy  —  Human beings, the philosophers tell us, are social animals.  We emerge into the world ready to connect with mom and dad.  We go through life jibbering and jabbering with each other, grouping and regrouping.  When you get a crowd of people in a room …

David Brooks At His David Brooksiest  —  Today David Brooks has written the platonic ideal of a David Brooks column.  It is in some sense the template for nearly every David Brooks column, but it captured the major elements so perfectly that it almost feels as if every previous David Brooks column has been an homage to this one.

Silly Process Objections  —  Truly the last refuge of the damned is to complain about the nature of the congressional procedure that the majority is using to pass its agenda.  Everyone knows that 100 percent of the people who like the underlying health care bill will approve of the use …

Democrats begin to criticize Obama on Israel  —  Pro-Israel Democrats have begun to criticize the Obama administration's stern stance toward Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.  —  Congressional Democrats, with the lone exception of Nevada's Shelley Berkley, held their tongues over the weekend …

Erickson joins the Best Political Team  —  (CNN) - Prominent conservative commentator and RedState.com editor Erick Erickson will join CNN as a political contributor, appearing primarily on CNN's new show John King, USA¸ the network announced Tuesday.  —  Erickson, a self described …