Inside the Beltway

DIAMONDS AND RUBIOS?

The dynamic public presence of Sarah Palin charms her fans and fixates critics, who can’t take their eyes off her no matter how hard they try. Her best-seller has sold 2.2 million copies, there’s a new book in progress - this one on values and faith - and Mrs. Palin continues to polish her image on the Fox News Channel, talk shows and through select speaking engagements. Then there’s the sparkling “Sarah” lapel pin, created by Washington jewelry maven Ann Hand, set with Swarovski crystals and reasonably priced at $25 in her shop on MacArthur Boulevard Northwest or online (www.annhand.com).

“Though we are totally nonpolitical here, we base our choices for these pins on prevailing public sentiment. There’s really an audience who are just so devoted to Sarah Palin,” Mrs. Hand tells Inside the Beltway, noting that her shop also created pins for such namesakes as President Obama, former President GeorgeW. Bush and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, among other luminaries.

“In the past, our pins have been a pretty good gauge of who wins and who doesn’t. We’ve already gotten an inquiry from a customer wondering if we’ve got any pins for Marco Rubio,” she adds, referring to the conservative Republican candidate for U.S. senator in Florida.

SHUFFLE BOARD

“Old person replaces sick person as corrupt person steps aside.” (Gawker.com)

A Democratic shuffle: Summarization of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s selection of Rep. Sander M. Levin of Michigan over Rep. Pete Stark of California to “temporarily” replace Rep. Charles B. Rangel of New York as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.

“One of the big problems with congressional Democrats is their fanatical devotion to the seniority system, which is how you end up with dudes like Max Baucus in charge of the Senate Finance Committee and Kent Conrad in charge of the Budget Committee,” says Gawker political writer Alex Pareene.

NOT RECONCILED

Some observers say President Obama has jettisoned his carefully crafted nonpartisan demeanor and gone “Chicago-style” aggressive to get health care reform through all the baroque convolutions on Capitol Hill, like, by Monday. The switch is getting to some people.

“We’re hearing a lot of pent-up anger over this brazen last-ditch effort to take over health care,” says Matt Kibbe, president of FreedomWorks, a grass-roots group founded by former House Majority Leader Dick Armey. “These arrogant procedural games simply will not be tolerated by the American people.”

Says Mr. Armey himself, “This is an exercise in using a sledge hammer to achieve a short-term political goal instead of taking the time to create good public policy.”

The group has launched a kind of online sympathy site for the angst-ridden that includes a “war room” and protest petition, advising visitors, “The reconciliation process was created in 1974 so that Congress could move quickly on budget matters. But the Left wants to use it to pass their big-government agenda, starting with ObamaCare.”

See it here at www.NoHealth CareReconciliation.com.

JUST SO YOU KNOW

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