As usual, subscribe, subscribe, subscribe . . . Selected highlights from this morning’s Jolt:

Speaker of the Devil
222 House Democrats signed on for the Demonpass. Multiply that by three. No wonder this legislative penta-debacle is heading to committee for the Markup of the Beast. It’s not like we weren’t warned; they’ve been telling us the devil is in the details since day one. Now there’s higher premiums and hell to pay . . .
Indo-Amnesia
An ironic quote over in Foreign Policy: “In many ways, America has been somewhat absent from the region over the last several years and we are committed to restoring that leadership,” said National Security Council communications director Ben Rhodes on Monday, calling the trip an “important opportunity to advance American interests in this vitally important part of the world.” Boy, nothing dispels a sense of being absent from the region like putting long-promised, long-expected trips on the Wimpy hamburger reimbursement schedule.
By the way, think the Aussies are cool with getting stood up to the Pan-Pacific prom? Headline in the Sydney Morning Herald: “Obama ditches Indonesia, Australia trip over health care.” I suppose we should be glad the words “DROP DEAD” weren’t used . . .
Is This Israel Policy Real?
I know, it’s Day Three of Jim Callously Dismissing Palestinian Suffering, and you’re probably tiring of this topic. (Of course, compared to health care, it feels new and fresh. I don’t mean the recent diplomatic brouhaha, I mean the health care debate feels like it’s been going on longer than the Arab-Israeli conflict.) But each day there’s some new “what the hell is this schvitz” moment that illustrates how wildly off-course we’ve gone. Fox News: “President Obama has delayed his trip to Indonesia and Australia to deal with health care, but has not committed to any meetings with Israeli leaders who are scheduled to be in Washington next week and are perhaps hoping to repair what many observers are calling a mis-step between the U.S. and Israel over settlements and a trip to the region by the Vice President.”
My first thought when Obama refuses to meet with a foreign leader is that the Chinese must object. But no, this is apparently a continuation of our temper tantrum from earlier last week. Recall, the offer to meet with Ahmadinejad without preconditions has never been off the table, but the head of state who’s an ally is not welcome. With his absolute inability to get a face-to-face meeting with the president, you would think Bibi was Stanley McChrystal or something.