SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 10:42 P.M. ET:

REPEAL VOTE COMING – House Majority Leader Eric Cantor has announced that the House will vote to repeal Obamacare on July 11th.  The vote, of course, is symbolic, as neither the Senate nor the president will go along.  But it will signal that the fight for reform of the measure is just beginning.  It is important, though, that Republicans not only oppose the law, but come up with a detailed substitute that will win the favor of the American people.

ON SECOND THOUGHT – The media, and that includes us, reported Wednesday morning that Charlie Rangel, who's served in the House since the world was created, won a narrow primary victory and will once more be going back to Washington, since triumph in the Democratic primary in his district is tantamount to being elected.  But not so fast.  The vote count is still continuing, and, with 94% of votes in, Rangel's lead has shrunk to about 1,032 votes over Adriano Espaillat, the second-place finisher, who actually conceded defeat Tuesday night, but is now silent.  There are calls for investigation over the slow count.  No official winner has been named.

AND ELSEWHERE – A crisis summit to save the Euro has broken up in confusion after Italy and Spain threatened to "block everything" unless they got the aid they requested.  We tend to forget that Europe is still going through a financial crisis that could affect us here in the months before the election.  There are major divisions among the Europeans, a rising tension, and rising anger.  Europe is not out of the woods, and this is one area where the United States cannot and will not be helpful.  Europeans actually know that desperate steps must be taken to rescue their countries from their welfare-state economies, but the courage to do so is lacking. 

June 28, 2012