Free Republic

For much of last year, a standard trope of President Obama's speechwriters was that there were certain things only government could do. "That's how we built this country — together," he declared. "We constructed railroads and highways, the Hoover Dam and the Golden Gate Bridge. We did those things together." As some of us pointed out, for the cost of Obama's 2009 stimulus bill alone, you could have built 1,567 Golden Gate Bridges ... [snip] For the last half-century, Obama has simply had to be. Just being Obama was enough to waft him onwards and upwards: He was the Harvard...

The latest wound is largely self-inflicted. Medicaid and the new Obamacare exchanges are competing for the same young and healthy customers that Obamacare needs to survive -- and Medicaid's winning. President Obama and the entire Democratic Party have nobody else but themselves to blame. In its hubris, the Democratic Party members assured the country again and again in 2009 and 2010 that it knew enough to be able to forcibly reorganize one-sixth of the American economy without causing millions to lose their current health insurance coverage, without triggering skyrocketing costs and without causing a host of terrible unintended consequences. The...

This Friday, November 15, may be a major turning point for the Obama Presidency. On Friday there will be a key vote on Chairman Fred Upton's bill, the Keep You Health Plan Act. It’s beginning to look as though a large number of House Democrats are going to break with the President and vote for the Upton bill. Ominously for the President, the House Democrat rebellion is matched by an even more visible desertion among Senate Democrats. When Senator Kay Hagan, a North Carolina Democrat, lost her ten-point advantage for reelection since the Obamacare website failed, she had a clear...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLQebqVQKcc The Senate, by not passing a budget, and by saying fund all or nothing, has taken away the House's power of the purse to defund courts or an other agency that goes beyond its power. If the House impeaches a judge, the current senate would neither try nor convict and remove from office. If the House abolished a court, or limited its jurisdiction, that law would never get through the senate. Every means by which the people can rein in a courts power would be halted by the US Senate and then by former Senator Barack Obama. Therefore, we...

et's suppose for a moment that you actually could buy health insurance through Obamacare's state and federal government-run exchanges. How high would your health care expenses have to be to really justify buying that kind of insurance? Previously, when we asked if you even need health insurance, we identified a number of situations where having health insurance would be most beneficial to you (Sean Parnell adds to that discussion here). All the scenarios came down to one basic reality: buying health insurance is most worth doing when you can reasonably expect to have high health care expenses in the next...

Former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich fired back at conservative author and columnist Ann Coulter for remarks she made about him on “Hannity” Monday. -snip- “That’s kind of weird. I helped lead us to the first Republican majority in the House in 40 years. I helped develop with Bill Clinton the first four – the only four – balanced budgets in her lifetime. We helped pass welfare reform. I would’ve thought all those would have counted against the number of books she’s sold. But, you know, people have got to go out and say something to sell books and she’s...

Former Speaker and former presidential candidate Newt Gingrich took to Twitter to blast the Obama administration for its absurd shutdown actions. "DC Tourists frustrated by shutdown Smithsonian should visit Mount Vernon. Ladies of Mount Vernon have NEVER taken govt money. Still open" Gingrich and wife had paid a visit to Mount Vernon. And he noticed a little something on the bus turnaround. "The tour bus turnaround at Mount Vernon closed by Park Police. Zero maintenance required." A response from a lib: "Zero maintenance. However, if someone gets lost in there, a staff would be required. Are you really that damn...

(CNN) -- The worst possible outcome for the country from the impasse over the continuing resolution that would prevent a government shutdown would be for House Republicans to cave. This is a pivotal conflict that will define the relationship between Congress and the executive branch for the next three years. The country will be much better off if Congress does not abdicate its constitutional role and if the president cannot ignore that role. When President Barack Obama is willing to negotiate with Russian, Syrian and Iranian leaders but unwilling to negotiate with the U.S. House of Representatives, it is time...

Former Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich on Sunday blasted President Barack Obama's diplomatic strategy with Russia President Vladimir Putin regarding Syria's use of chemical weapons, saying Obama is now "following from behind." "You have Putin playing chess and Obama playing, frankly, a very lucky game of tic-tac-toe," Gingrich said on CNN's "State of the Union." "Putin stepped in to maximize Russian influence in the Middle East. That is a strategically defeat for the United States." "We are now relying on the Russians," said Gingrich, now a host of CNN's 'Crossfire." We're now following from behind -- not leading from behind....

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich urged Congress Tuesday to "vote no" on a military strike against Syria and instead begin debate on what he described as even bigger strategic challenges for the United States and the world. "The most powerful nation in the world does not need a three- or four-week debate about a limited, symbolic, tactical use of power," the Georgia Republican wrote Tuesday in an opinion piece for CNN, as he urged Congress to "vote no on a meaningless public relations use of military force against [Syrian President Bashar Assad]. "What we do need are three debates about...

Saturday, August 31, 2013 George Zimmerman Cures Cancer Posted by Daniel Greenfield @ the Sultan Knish blog George Zimmerman, the Florida man at the center of the controversial Trayvon Martin case, claims to have cured cancer. The announcement was first made on Twitter by his brother Robert and was then followed by a demonstration of the new Zimmerman cure by the man formerly on trial for the shooting of a Florida teenager during which he demonstrated the cancer cure and introduced reporters to several former cancer patients cured by his method. Zimmerman, who claims to have come up with the...

News that the United States is considering a military strike on Syria in response to the Bashar al-Assad regime's suspected use of chemical weapons suggests we could soon see an American bombing campaign on the war-torn country. The atrocities that took place in Syria recently, such as those that have been taking place there for almost two years, are deplorable and inhuman. Before bombing Syria over the regime's latest crimes, however, we should stand back and ask, "And then what?"....

And almost a third of respondents still say they’re unfamiliar with ObamaCare, even as we approach T-minus one month for the individual exchanges.  Among those familiar with the Affordable Care Act, though, a majority disapproves, according to Gallup’s latest poll: Less than two months before the health insurance exchanges open nationwide, more Americans disapprove (49%) than approve (41%) of the Affordable Care Act. An additional 11% have no opinion. As this landmark legislation enters the next phase in its implementation process, it remains divisive. With the exception of a bounce likely caused by President Barack Obama’s re-election in November 2012,...

George Santayana, and before him the 18th-century British philosopher-politician Edmund Burke, had history in mind in observing that those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it. Events five years ago hardly qualify as "history," yet the evidence is mounting that many supposedly well-informed people have forgotten what got the U.S. into—and out of—the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. How else to describe the common attitude toward the Federal Reserve and its chairman, Ben Bernanke? The Fed and Mr. Bernanke were instrumental in pulling the country—and ultimately the world economy—back from the abyss. Yet the heroic effort...

I belong to the stupid party. I’m a Republican. We specialize in self-destruction. The latest example is the recent decision by the Republican National Committee to ban CNN and NBC from covering any debates during the next GOP presidential primaries. Somehow, in head-up-your-butt land, that makes sense. But out here, in the real world, it’s insane. And petty, and one more sign that the people running this party are, in scientific terms, frigging idiots. Here’s the story. Apparently there is this she-devil named Hillary Clinton who wants to run for president. She’s the one who said we didn’t need more...

Former U.S. House speaker Newt Gingrich told a meeting of the Republican National Committee that his party needs to move beyond its image of steadfast opposition to President Barack Obama and convince voters its goal is to improve the country. “We have to get beyond being anti-Obama and we have to convince people you can have hope in America,” Gingrich said on Wednesday. “What we have to do, in a sense, is be a party of optimism and a party of hope and show actual cases of how it can work.” Speaking at a Boston hotel adjacent to where Republican...

Last summer, California highway police pulled over pop star Justin Bieber as he sped through Los Angeles in an attempt to shake the paparazzi. He was driving a hybrid electric car—not just any hybrid, mind you, but a chrome-plated Fisker Karma, a US $100 000 plug-in hybrid sports sedan he’d received as an 18th-birthday gift from his manager, Scooter Braun, and fellow singer Usher. During an on-camera surprise presentation, Braun remarked, “We wanted to make sure, since you love cars, that when you are on the road you are always looking environmentally friendly, and we decided to get you a...

'Much worse than Watergate' Newt says. The Obama Adm. "methodically, systematically say whatever they need to say to manipulate the American people... This is an administration that refuses to be honest about who our enemies are but they're gathering up huge amounts of data on innocent Americans"

had read headlines about this speech by Ted Cruz, but watching it finally was even better. As background, Sean Sullivan at WaPo’s The Fix points out our house is divided, Ted Cruz vs. John McCain: Welcome to the new normal in the Senate:Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) feuded this week. Then they feuded some more. It wasn’t the first time tensions between the longtime senator and the freshman tea party favorite flared up. And it’s a pretty safe bet that it won’t be the last. The dispute between McCain and his allies and Cruz and his...

Former House Speaker and presidential candidate Newt Gingrich made two points Monday on “Morning Joe” that Americans should hear and heed. Referring to the still developing IRS scandal involving its targeting of tea party-like, conservative political groups, Gingrich asked, “How can you put Obamacare under the Internal Revenue Service?” Gingrich said President Obama “has a huge problem because Obamacare relies very heavily on the IRS.” Although not in the segment of the video below, Politico reported Gingrich also said during the interview: Why would you trust the bureaucracy with your health if you can’t trust the bureaucracy with your politics?...