Big Dance, Big Government?

The basketball fan-in-chief starred in ESPN's "Barack-etology" Wednesday. Yet even as President Obama revealed his NCAA tournament bracket, a game for higher stakes was on his mind. Asked about the "menacing glare" Kansas State coach Frank Martin routinely aims at players and officials, the president replied: "He's a scary dude. I could use him. I could send him up to Congress to vote for health care."

Somebody tell Nancy Pelosi the president was kidding.

He's serious, however, about basketball. He picked Kansas to beat Kentucky for the title (Kansas State and Villanova round out his Final Four). Maybe that bodes well for the Jayhawks: He correctly picked North Carolina to win it all last year.

Then again, the president incorrectly picked Clemson to beat Michigan in last year's first round. So maybe that bodes well for Clemson Friday: He picked Missouri to win the battle of Tigers in Buffalo, N.Y.

Gov. Mark Sanford issued his own "March Madness" bracket Wednesday, with only two teams: "Big Government" has already beaten "Taxpayers" in the "Bank Bailout," "Stimulus" and "Auto Bailout" regionals. A question mark fills the winner's slot in the "Health Care" regional.

In a statement, the governor warned that Big Government "is claiming home court advantage in the traditionally free-market realm of personal health care and quality of life" and that ObamaCare's Medicaid changes would "cost the state at minimum an addition $687 million over the next decade." He added that he would "once again urge all taxpayers to put on a full-court press against this unwieldy and unwise health care legislation."

We urge all voters to guard against illusory Big Government promises that have advanced America several rounds toward fiscal ruin.

And we urge all politicians to call a basketball-analogy timeout.