Inside the Beltway

KILL BILL

The floor show begins promptly at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, just outside the House Cannon Office Building. Pro-life activist Randall Terry and a cast of costumed supporters from seven states will gather to make a big noise against health care legislation for the benefit of passing lawmakers and staffers. The group will also put in an appearance at the White House and expect “confrontation” in a rally against “Obama’s death care” - which they say provides taxpayer money to fund abortions.

“This is one case where I believe in euthanasia. We need to kill this bill,” Mr. Terry tells Inside the Beltway.

But it’s a crowded stage. The National Center for Policy Analysis will deliver an anti-health care reform petition with 1.3 million signatures to Congress in the early afternoon, in an event scheduled to be attended by Republican Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas and Jim DeMint of South Carolina, among many lawmakers. The policy petition is Guinness-worthy, rumored to be the largest on record - requiring 30 boxes, he-men to tote them and quite possibly many stage props: umbrellas, lots of umbrellas.

SCREEN GEMS

In a floor show of a different nature, the networks remain true blue to the White House. Though it will cost them an estimated $1 million in lost advertising income, ABC, NBC and CBS will dutifully carry President Obama’s prime-time health care address to Congress on Wednesday night, with all the trimmings. PBS, the Fox News Channel, C-SPAN, CNN, MSNBC, Fox Business Channel and CNBC are also along for the ride.

Only Fox’s entertainment network has refused to carry the presidential soliloquy, opting to air the debut of “So You Think You Can Dance” instead.

Will the nation pay attention to Mr. Obama’s fifth prime-time speech? Maybe. A Pew Research Center news analysis released Tuesday found that 56 percent of respondents plan to watch the speech. But the siren call of the Fox amateur hour beckons. When the network refused to air the last televised speech, in July - again to broadcast the same exuberant dance show - the program won the ratings race that night, drawing over 7 million viewers.

The combined audience for the big three networks was 16 million - down from 19 million who tuned in for a speech in April, and 30 million who watched in March, according to Nielsen. And this time around? The ratings troll here on the Beltway Desk predicts Mr. Obama will draw about 20 million.

ARMS RACE

Enough already. Close to 400 stories appeared Tuesday based on the hubbub in Women’s Health magazine over Michelle Obama’s exercise routine - the hammer curls and tricep pulldowns that have given the first lady her beautifully toned arms. The workout details are, NBC noted, “the fitness scoop of the century.” But we can’t get too snarky about this. Mrs. Obama sets a very good example.

In a companion interview with Men’s Health magazine, meanwhile, Mr. Obama chatted about health care reform, combating obesity, a “sin tax” on snacks and his own workout routines. He also weighed in on the now-famous wooden bowl of perfect apples that has appeared time and again in official White House photographs.

“It was our first step toward health reform,” the president observed.

BIRTHER ORDER

Only in America, perhaps. With the help of Texas attorney Orly Taitz, U.S. Army Capt. Connie Rhodes has filed a federal complaint in the U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, Calif. The medical doctor and flight surgeon is refusing a one-year deployment to Iraq and has based her case on President Obama’s Hawaiian birth certificate, which some critics claim offers no proof of his U.S. citizenship.

“Plaintiff … submits and charges that the current de facto president is an illegal usurper, an unlawful pretender, an unqualified imposter,” the complaint states, later noting that Capt. Rhodes “cannot lawfully act under his authority, but that she is being forced to do so without any opportunity or remedial avenue whatsoever.”

Capt. Rhodes is now seeking status as a conscientious objector.

POPULARITY PARADE

The good news: 81 percent of Americans visited a government Web site during the month of July - that’s 42 percent of the entire Internet audience, according to Comscore, which tracks such things. The bad news: The White House received the least attention. Maybe first dog Bo Obama needs a greater presence online.

The Department of Commerce, with 7 million visitors, leads the pack of 21 federal agencies, followed by the Department of Education, the National Institutes of Health, the Internal Revenue Service, the Social Security Administration, NASA, the Office of Personnel Management and the Centers for Disease Control - with the White House last with 1.1 million.

POLL DU JOUR

• 10 percent of Republicans want their congressional representative to vote in favor of the health care reform bill.

• 72 percent want their lawmaker to vote against it.

• 68 percent of Democrats want a “yes” vote.

• 9 percent want a “no” vote.

• 37 percent of Americans overall want a vote for the reform, 39 percent want a vote against it.

Source: A Gallup Poll of 1,026 adults conducted Aug. 31-Sept. 2

• Astute observations and random feedback to jharper@washingtontimes.com or 202/636-3085.