President Obama's Desperate Measures

The news that is not White House approved...

Horse Trading?

The president may have seemed confident about passing a health care bill in Wednesday's big speech, but it appears that behind the scenes he is resorting to desperate measures.

That night he invited 10 House Democrats to the White House who previously voted against the health care bill to try to get them to change course. One was the attendees was Utah Congressman Jim Matheson. It just so happens that right before the meeting the president nominated Matheson's brother, Scott Matheson, to the federal bench of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.

White House propaganda minister Robert Gibbs, by the way, says allegations of vote-trading are "silly."

Hey, Robert, so is the Louisiana Purchase, the Cornhusker Kickback and those special exemptions for the unions that supported the president.

There She Goes Again

President Obama's approval rating is dropping and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's is almost nonexistent, but that is not stopping Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter from campaigning for their rubber stamp.

Here's what she told a group of her constituents back in January:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. CAROL SHEA-PORTER, D-N.H., JAN. 23: I'm not going to pretend that I'm voting with the opposite party half the time. I'm not. I'm not. I think I have about a 90 percent rating with the president. And maybe —

(CROSSTALK)

SHEA-PORTER: I'm just getting full disclosure here. OK? Ninety-three percent with the House.

(CROSSTALK)

SHEA-PORTER: And all along I have said, you know, this is what I believe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

I love town halls.

If you think the congresswoman learned anything from this experience you'd be wrong. According to HotAir.com and the Union Leader newspaper, Shea-Porter plans on campaigning this week with none other than Speaker Pelosi.

Now all the Republicans need is for the president to campaign for her. That will totally sink that campaign for good.

Off Message

An Internet spoof that reunited several "Saturday Night Live" comedians is making the rounds. They came together to make a blatant push for more financial regulation, in particular the Consumer Finance Protection Agency known as the CFPA:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ACTOR DANA CARVEY AS FORMER PRESIDENT GEORGE H.W. BUSH: Now listen, Borat.

ACTOR FRED ARMISEN AS PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: It's Barack.

CARVEY: Sorry. But you got to listen to these fellas, Babar. What you've got to understand is that we got a regulatory issue, here. We got to regulate that or we're going to get more bubbles. Gonna get bigger, larger, then pop — money goes to the weasels.

ACTOR DAN AYKROYD AS FORMER PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER: Mr. President, you've got to establish the Consumer Finance Protection Agency. People are tired of being ripped off by credit card companies and banks.

Never could get this right.

ACTOR JIM CARREY AS FORMER PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN: There you go again.

ACTOR CHEVY CHASE AS FORMER PRESIDENT GERALD FORD: The only way to stop these corrupt banks and credit card companies is to pardon Richard Nixon.

AYKROYD: He means you better get that Consumer Protection Act through Congress.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Hollywood and the Democrats claim that if you oppose more financial regulation, you're in Wall Street's pocket. That could not be further from the truth. In fact, Wall Street doesn't even oppose the regulation. Small banks do because it's going to hurt small banks.

Wall Street Journal explains that the CFPA has "stirred opposition from small town bankers and skeptical taxpayers… smaller competitors will have a tougher time affording the lawyers and lobbyists to guide them through all the new red tape" that the CFPA will create.

I don't know about you, but I think I'll take the word of small banks over that of a bunch of Hollywood actors.

Bashing Bush

Vice President Joe Biden recently predicted that Iraq would be one of the Obama administration's greatest achievements. And now the mainstream Obama-mania media is doing their part to make that prediction come true.

Take a look at the screen grab from MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program. It shows only a portion of the cover of Newsweek magazine. What it does not show is President Bush's face which was completely cropped off by MSNBC. Compare that to the actual cover of Newsweek which shows nearly all of President Bush's face.

Pretty unbelievable. I guess the folks over at "Morning Joe" didn't want to remind viewers that it was President Bush's surge — not Obama's — that helped win the war in Iraq.

— Watch "Hannity" weekdays at 9 p.m. ET on Fox News Channel