_This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts._ One false move and the press secretary gets it! OBAMA’S

chief media spokesman ROBERT GIBBS on Sunday: > There’s no doubt there are enough seats in play that could cause > Republicans to gain control’ (of the House of Representatives). Same

guy, same job, three days later in the White House briefing: > Q: On politics, the Speaker of the House apparently didn’t think > you were stating the obvious when you talked about 

there being > enough seats in play for Republicans to potentially win control. And > she -- several reports, including her own [say] that she’s lashed > out at you for those 

votes, and in > passing the agenda of this President, have been monumental. I have > not spoken with the Speaker. I -- Q: Would you like to?MR. GIBBS: If > there’s an occasion to 

speak, of course. But I don’t have a > whole lot to add to what I’ve said the last couple days on this, > Ben, except to say that, as I said on Sunday, in three and a half > months 

or so we’re going to have an election that will be based on > a very clear choice....we are going to do very well. And as I have > said throughout this, I think we will retain the 

House and the > Senate. In other words, when he said Republicans could win the House, Gibbs really meant he was pretty certain Dems would keep both. Here’s the unacknowledged problem for

Gibbs in the new post-partisan Washington that.... ...his Chicago boss so earnestly promised to create last year: Gibbs told the truth. Not about what he’s been saying; that’s a fudge. But

Democrats _could_ lose the House this fall. And have a real good shot at dropping five or six of those nine seats in their crumbling Senate majority. Truth-telling is a risky bipartisan

business in the perversely upside-down world of D.C. morals. Truth-tellers there often must explain away their non-fib, even apologize. Although everyone knows it’s true. It’s just not

helpful. So veracity goes under the bus while everyone looks the other way because they’ll likely need the same convenient courtesy someday too. Speaking of telling the truth, everybody --

even proud House Speaker NANCY PELOSI -- knows that, barring the unforeseen, numerous Democrats are going to get their liberal Bidens shot off in midterm House races on Nov. 2. Wednesday

night in one of those frank and candid -- meaning noisy -- White House meetings with Pelosi and aides, Obama promised to help House members as he has campaigned for the far more important

Senate candidates, presumably more effectively than he did for MARTHA COAKLEY in Massachusetts last winter. JOE BIDEN himself told a Baltimore fundraiser earlier this year that thanks to

2006 and 2008 election successes, his Democrats now hold many once-Republican House seats they had no business winning without the anti-Bush rancor and hopey-changey stuff. And those

districts’ voters, now frightened and disappointed, could well forsake their new Dem reps after enduring the first 22 of Obama’s 48 months of spending, oil-spill-watching, Guantanamo

promise-breaking, border-securing, Don’t Ask-Don’t Tell non-ending and golfing. Obama himself told a Boston fundraiser that 2010 was going to be a hard year. That’s politician for: ‘We need

a lot more of your money again this time.’ But the hidden code really is: ‘It’s been great knowing some of you.’ Obama, of course, is in no danger; in fact, losing the House to Republicans

this fall would be a scapegoat-providing boon for his long-term 2012 plans. But RAHM EMANUEL, a chief architect of the 2006 successes, and the rest of the Windy City White House crew knew

they had these overwhelming Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress for only so long. Why do you think the Real Good Talker’s beloved healthcare takeover was jumped to the front of

the legislative line last year ahead of such minor issues as the economy, millions of lost jobs and something called deficits? Because they knew a lot of these gullible House Democrats were

going to join the unemployment line this fall. So, use ‘em while you got ‘em. Current prognostications, district by district, have Democrats losing seats somewhere in the high 20s. That’s

well above the historical average for first midterms and getting close to the magic 39 lost chairs that turn Pelosi into an ex-speaker pumpkin at midnight. And recent polls, mentioned on The

Ticket here and here and here, indicate that the momentum of voter unhappiness, dissatisfaction and downright anger is moving in the GOP’s direction with 16 weeks of more disappointing

economic numbers to come. Now, here’s the crucial part of Gibbs’ political gaffe: His words hurt the political money business. As eager as every working American is to don a tux and chew

hotel chicken in a ballroom where the keynote speaker is the size of a red ant without the immense video screen and fork over around 30-grand for the privilege of going through metal

detectors to eat cold asparagus while hearing the same yada-yada they could read here for free an hour later, how likely are you to place that kind of folding money in a toilet that the

president’s chief spokesman hints is about to be flushed? -- Andrew Malcolm Get Twitter alerts of each new Ticket item, by clicking here. Follow us @latimestot Or Like our Facebook page

right here. Go here for a Kindle subscription to The Ticket, with a free trial.