None of the funds provided by this Act may be made available to the State of Illinois, or any agency of the State, unless (1) the use of such funds by the State is approved in legislation enacted by the State after the date of the enactment of this Act, or (2) Rod R. Blagojevich no longer holds the office of Governor of the State of Illinois.

I’m unaware of any previous case of the Congress dangling a bag of money over state legislators’ heads like this before. I’d also be surprised if it fails, no matter how commanding Blagojevich looks on “The View.” Illinois is not really in the position to turn down cash right now.

Degeneres gave Obama a chance to “rebut” allegations from a recent show, when Michelle Obama disparaged her husband’s dancing ability, by playing music for him to groove to. He danced a bit, according to the pool report — “mostly with his arms” — and told Degeneres that he was definitely a “a better dancer than John McCain.”

Obama dances on a previous appearance on Ellen.

Obama’s previous dancing stint on “Ellen,” regardless of the quality, was an Internet sensation. It remains his second most viewed video on YouTube, trailing only the speech on race.

Degeneres also asked Obama to help her quest to book the actor-director George Clooney, apparently a bigger “get” than presidential nominees. Obama gamely said this could be an issue for his administration to tackle. “We would have you and [Clooney] sit down without preconditions,” Obama joked, and “resolve any differences you may have.”

The McCain campaign often complains about a pro-Obama bias in The New York Times and other allegedly “liberal” newspapers. The greatest disparity in media treatment of these nominees, however, probably occurs on these widely viewed afternoon talk-shows. Between “Oprah,” “Ellen” and “The View” — where McCain got ripped apart — it really is an Obama love fest out there.

His appearance on “The View,” which has emerged as the spot to reach swing voters this election cycle, offered more analysis than advocacy for Obama. Clinton even took the opportunity to share unprovoked praise for Sen. John McCain — noting that the Arizona senator was crucial for the Clinton administration’s bid to normalize trade relations with Vietnam.

“It’s striking how one of the world’s great political salesman is acting as an analyst, and not a surrogate,” observed Politico’s Ben Smith after watching the segment, “and making no real effort to boost Obama.”

Chris Rock was even sharper, slamming Clinton for talking about anything but Obama on David Letterman. “Is it me or he didn’t want to say the name Barack Obama?” Rock asked. “I love Hillary but she lost,” he continued, “she got a lot of votes, but she lost. The Patriots got a lot of points too, but they lost to the Giants.” Rock added, “It’s not sexism — the reason she lost — she lost to a black guy nobody heard of! She didn’t lose to ‘The Power.’”

Clinton is still scheduled to stump for Obama in Florida next week. Maybe he’ll ease up on the McCain praise then.

Alas, ‘The View’ has already aired in much of the country, but as I write this, I have yet to see Sen. John McCain’s appearance. However, thanks to the magic of the Internets, I can have a taste of what appears to be a contentious dialogue between the Arizona senator and the women who host the show. The Page posted this clip, in which Joy Behar and Barbara Walters call McCain out on the well-documented lies in some of his campaign ads. Unfortunately, I can’t embed the clip into this post, but I encourage you to watch it.

For his part, McCain stands by the ads, saying “they are not lies” and falls back on his justification for them because “this is a tough campaign.”

So, to those who say that McCain is “too honorable” to have approved these ads, I guess we know the truth, from the horse’s mouth.