Flying under the radar, with all of the war news and the grilling of Attorney General John Ashcroft (I'd like my Bush administration official blackened, please) is the president winning a crucial vote of fast-track trade authority. The House voted 215-214 to approve the bill. It now goes to the Senate. I haven't heard what the odds of it passing in the Senate are, mainly because no one thought it would pass in the House. On "Special Report with Brit Hume" Wednesday night, the "All-Star" panel was polled on whether Bush would win this one, and they all said "no." So much for the Fox All-Stars. To quote John McLaughlin: "WRONG!"

The CNN story on the bill quotes Minority Whip David Bonior ($-Mich.): "For the American people, fast track will be a bullet train to the unemployment line."

What a load of reindeer droppings ('Tis the season). All fast track authority gives the president is the ability to negotiate trade deals and then have the Congress vote them up or down, without amendment after amendment. If Bush negotiates a stinker of a deal, Bonior and his colleagues can certainly vote it down. It's not as though they're writing Bush a blank check.

How can you tell when a politician is lying? (I'd like to note for my more liberal readers that I used politician and not Democrat) When his lips are moving.