There was a brief sighting of the Senator John McCain who’s been hard to find since entering the Witness Protection Program for politicians seeking to change their identity for election purposes.

It’s the kind of headline that can ruin your day, maybe your life.

Sarah Palin made a rare unpaid appearance in New Orleans before the Southern Republican Leadership Conference, a loss leader that pays for itself by keeping Republicans in her thrall.

In our current political climate of spitting on members of Congress and threatening to kill those you disagree with, revenge served cold looks like democracy at its finest. For this, we have former Mayor Rudy Giuliani to thank.

Bondage clubs, chartered jets, a lavish office re-do, winter meetings in warm places -- such is life at the Republican National Committee since Michael Steele took over as chairman in 2009. In the world of fundraising scandals, this one makes former Vice President Al Gore’s visit to a Buddhist temple look as quaint as tea at Buckingham Palace.

Democrats won their health-care victory ugly, after a yearlong, fractious, uninspiring process filled with rancid deals and worse compromises, redeemed only by the moment when they actually delivered reform to the country.

If I were a member of Congress (I know: God forbid. No letters, please), I would be opposed to any health-care dollars going to subsidize the purchase of Viagra. It’s just not fair that Viagra immediately won insurance coverage while birth-control pills remained largely uncovered.

Republican-on-Democrat malice hardly merits a headline after “You lie” was shouted at the president during a joint address to Congress.

You be the judge: Which was a worse example of the U.S. Congress at work this week?

It “could be pure theater,” Vice President Joe Biden said the day before the health-care summit at the White House debuted.