Notepad

The ban on federal funding for ACORN adopted by the House Thursday almost certainly would have been ruled out of order -- if Democrats had cared to stand in the way.

The Republican-written amendment exceeded the jurisdiction of the committee that wrote the bill and had nothing to do with the legislation at hand, giving ample opportunity for any Democrat to raise a point of order against it because it was not germane to the underlying student-loan bill.

Some Republicans expected Democrats to object and kill the "motion to recommit" that triggered the amendment. But none did. Instead, the whole House voted, 345-75, to prevent the beleaguered catchall community-organizing outfit from getting federal funding.

So even the 75 Democrats who voted with ACORN already had silently assented to the federal-funding ban. After these videos surfaced, it's not hard to understand why.