Free Republic

Charles Rangel paid parking tickets with campaign moneyRICHARD SISK DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU Tuesday, December 30th 2008, 10:45 PM WASHINGTON - Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) racked up $1,540 in parking tickets on his Chrysler PT Cruiser and paid for them - legally - with campaign money, his office confirmed Tuesday. Rangel, who is fighting off a House ethics committee investigation of his taxes, campaign contributions and four rent-stabilized apartments in New York, was hit for multiple parking violations around the District of Columbia since March 2007, Congressional Quarterly reported. Payments were made from Rangel's campaign committee and his "leadership" political...

Anybody know if its still possible to get a donation back from the McCain campaign? I made a $200 donation on Oct. 30th and want a refund. The reasons are obvious! If you know who I should contact to make this happen let me know. If you think its impossible let me know. Or if there is another thread on this, let me know that too. If you think I was crazy to make this donation in the first place, I would concur with your assessment!

Run, don't walk, to John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign headquarters in Arlington, Va., for an amazing Blowout Sale! Computers, blackberries, televisions, desks, you name it - everything must go. Hurry while the offer lasts! That's right, the failed McCain-Palin campaign is having a fire sale this week on leftover equipment. Everything is on sale at reduced prices. An email sent over the weekend to all campaign staff, which was subsequently forwarded to the Sleuth, reads: "Starting Monday December 8, 2008 the prices will be slashed to 36% of the original price for furniture, office supplies, blackberries, and many campaign computers....

Democrats in Debt Appeal for Obama's Campaign SurplusDemocrats say President-elect Obama is sitting on a pile of cash while some party leaders are broke. AP Saturday, December 06, 2008 WASHINGTON -- Democrats carrying significant campaign debt after winning a string of House and Senate races are grumbling about President-elect Barack Obama's financial reserves, saying the party's leader is sitting on a pile of cash while Democratic leaders are broke. Obama's organization retains some $30 million after his successful presidential bid, but it's unclear how the Democratic president-in-waiting might use the money. Members of his party are doing their best to...

To my Conservative Friends: Hillary is shaking down Obama's donors to pay off her debt.... The woman has no shame... As many of you know, Mz. Hill Shrill is one of my favorite topics for me to cover.... She gives us conservatives countless episodes and quotes and memorable photos that keep our conservatives fires going... So, to that end, here is another tale from the land of Shrill Valley... Madame Secretary has asked our new President to ask his donors to finish off paying her campaign debt to the tune of app. $7 Million, almost $5 Million of that to...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 5, 2008 – The pending deployment of thousands of additional U.S. troops and extra equipment to Afghanistan in tandem with a streamlined command structure will boost the campaign to win the war there, a senior U.S. officer posted in Afghanistan said today. “We are certainly optimistic,” said Army Maj. Gen. Michael S. Tucker, who wears two hats as a senior operations staff officer for both NATO’s International Security Assistance Force and U.S. Forces Afghanistan. “There’s no doubt in our mind that we can win and will win this fight,” Tucker told Pentagon reporters during a satellite-carried news conference....

GOP political consulant Christopher Coffey is telling Fox News that Barack Hussein Obama has not even taken the oath of office, and he is “already distancing himself from his campaign promises.” News reports now claim Obama will focus on providing a huge stimulus package that could cost as much as $700 billion over two years. “There are vague promises of spending cuts to accompany this proposed stimulus. The details of his campaign tax plan are now in flux and earlier promises of a balanced budget seem destined for the back burner,” said Coffey. “In the days leading up to the...

Watch the following YouTube video as renowned British comedian, Eddie Izzard, tells CNN that he made a donation to Barack Obama's Presidential campaign. Izzard says that as a citizen of the UK he couldn't vote for Obama, so he supported his candidacy by making a donation to his campaign. According to the FEC's records, Mr. Izzard donated $2,300 to Obama's campaign - under an LA address...

President-elect Barack Obama's 3 million campaign volunteers got re-enlistment notices this week. Campaign manager David Plouffe, in a mass e-mail sent Wednesday to former workers, asked how much time they can spare for four missions integral to Obama's effort to transform his victory into a broader political movement. The volunteers' options are, Plouffe wrote: -Campaign for progressive state and local candidates -Undertake grassroots local efforts to advance Obama's agenda -Train others in Obama's organizing techniques -Focus on local political issues. "Obama's building a political machine," said Stephen Hess, a presidential scholar at the Brookings Institution, a center-left Washington research group.

HRC campaign sale: Everything must go!By KENNETH P. VOGEL | 11/21/08 4:35 PM EST Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential campaign is wrapping up a fire sale of sorts, in which it dispensed computers, servers, desks and most other office fixtures not bolted down to charities, campaign vendors, politicians and just regular folks — all in the name of raising cash to pay off its debt. Until about three weeks ago, signs in the windows of Clinton’s suburban Washington campaign headquarters advertised a moving sale and offered all kinds of office equipment for purchase, and some equipment is still listed for sale...

A case that challenges President-elect Barack Obama's name on the 2008 election ballot citing questions over his citizenship has been scheduled for a "conference" at the U.S. Supreme Court. Conferences are private meetings of the justices at which they review cases and decide which ones to accept for formal review. This case is set for a conference Dec. 5, just 10 days before the Electoral College is scheduled to meet to make formal the election of Obama as the nation's next president. The Supreme Court's website listed the date for the case brought by Leo C. Donofrio against Nina Wells,...

The hot topic in the blogsphere today is the news that the FEC is going to audit McCains Campaign Finances and that Obama’s will most likely not be audited due to the ridiculous rules currently on the books. The story within the story is about Obama’s campaign pledges about being “open, transparent, and accountable to the American people” and yet Obama refuses to disclose the names of donors under $200. Not only will he not disclose those names his campaign went to extreme lengths to ensure the addresses of all internet donations were not validated ensuring the donors could be...

Indianapolis - Lines were long and tempers flared Wednesday not to vote but to get paid for canvassing for Barack Obama. Several hundred people are still waiting to get their pay for last-minute campaigning. Police were called to the Obama campaign office on North Meridian Street downtown to control the crowd. The line was long and the crowd was angry at times. "I want my money today! It's my money. I want it right now!" yelled one former campaign worker. A former spokesman for the Obama campaign said 375 people were hired as part of the Vote Corps program and...

EXIT POLLS CLAIM 'OBAMA +15' IN PA... DEVELOPING...

Yes, I'm afraid after all the hope poured out onto these pages, John McCain will lose. There are at least two very important reasons for this (and they have nothing to do with media bias). The first is - simply put - that McCain ran a lousy campaign. There was no focus on any one particular message that resounded with voters until Joe The Plumber came along (too little too late?) despite the fact that Obama's own voting record in the Senate said at least as much about his plans to "tax and spend" this country into bankruptcy faster than...

Hi folks. My wife just got back from a trip to Chicago. She had a great time; she prefers it to New York, and she's a New Yorker! Anyway, she asked me to ask you Chicago Freepers a question: Why are there so few campaign signs in the Chicago area? She traveled not just downtown, but out to the suburbs as well, but only saw 3 signs over several days. How come?

During tonight's campaign stop in Manassas Virginia, Sen. Obama says about 911,"they killed "NOT" 3000 Americans. Perhaps another slip of the tongue. It was 3/4 of the way into the speech. It was spoken rather fast and it was not corrected.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain will make an 11th-hour campaign stop in Grand Junction on Tuesday. The Arizona senator’s plane is scheduled to land at Grand Junction Regional Airport around 11:30 a.m. McCain will then speak to supporters at West Star Aviation Hangar No. 2858 at 11:45 a.m... Doors to the hangar will open at 8:30 a.m. Campaign officials say no tickets will be handed out, making it a first-come, first-serve event. Officials are asking those who want to attend to register by visiting McCain’s Web site, www.johnmccain.com, e-mailing colorado@johnmccain.com or calling his Colorado office at 303-952-4670. McCain is expected...

The attenuated election season has come to a close. To me it feels as if we’ve been unwittingly cast in a surreal science fiction flick. - A presidential hopeful runs on a “brother’s keeper” slogan, while his own brother lives in a Kenya shack and his auntie abides in a Boston slum. - The right to choose extends to denying even a Band-Aid for a baby brutalized by a botched abortion, while compassion gets redefined as a tax rebate in every pot. - A citizen plumber gets the Roto-Rooter treatment, while VIP medical records are quarantined and birth certificates are...

The buzz in political-media circles Friday was that reporters from The Dallas Morning News and two other newspapers had been kicked off Barack Obama's campaign plane because the papers endorsed John McCain. Not exactly. Our reporter, Todd J. Gillman, was told a few days ago that there's no space for him after today. We have protested, arguing that a paper of The News' size and stature should be on-board for the final stretch of a historic campaign.

If I shake my head anymore, the hair will fall out of the follicles. No one in recent memory – including the masterfully slick William J. Clinton - has been able to suspend all the parameters of human disbelief as much as Senator Government has. The idea that so many people in this country are poised to vote for Barack Obama in three days - and already have in early balloting – despite the constant stream of forbidding propositions and promises that soar from his campaign-weary sliver tongue onto the worshipping throngs, is enough to make me want to return...

Look what's on their website RIGHT NOW. Please Post if you have been able to make at least 1 call or email, thanks. Phone for McCain-Palin 2008 1. Get out your own home phone its easy and convenient 2. Start up your computer and click on the link above to go to the main campaign site. 3. Click the Start button below to begin the phone bank. Each screen will have one phone number to call. Read over the script a few times before you begin calling so you are comfortable with it. Please do not make any calls before...

2008 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE COMPARISON CHART - UPDATEDWith calls for change in Washington dominating the campaign, both Mr. Obama, the Democrats' presidential nominee, and Mr. McCain, his Republican opponent, have claimed the mantle of bipartisanship.But since 2005, Mr. McCain has led as chief sponsor of 82 bills, on which he had 120 Democratic co-sponsors out of 220 total, for an average of 55 percent of his co-sponsors. He worked with Democrats on 50 of his bills, and of those, 37 times Democrats outnumber Republicans as his co-sponsors.Mr. Obama, meanwhile, sponsored 120 bills, of which Republicans co-sponsored just 26, and on...

CLICK HERE to start http://www.johnmccain.com/phoneBank/?guid=0A517F03-C3ED-4A24-A14A-3BD9D5F32F2F Phone for McCain-Palin 2008 1. Get out your own home phone its easy and convenient 2. Start up your computer and click on the link above to go to the main campaign site. 3. Click the Start button below to begin the phone bank. Each screen will have one phone number to call. Read over the script a few times before you begin calling so you are comfortable with it. Please do not make any calls before 10AM Eastern Time or after 9 PM. There is no time limitation on this script so take your...

The "Fire Breathing Liberal" and chairman of Barack Obama's Florida campaign, Rep. Robert Wexler, is facing a post election investigation by the F.B.I. into the way he invested huge sums of campaign cash. NRO's Mark Hemmingway goes into extensive detail with a three page article on the entire situation. Here's a simple breakdown of the article with a few extra tidbits of information the article left out: -Wexler invested campaign cash with an individual, Roy Amico, that isn't a registered broker. -Roy Amico and his friends/co-workers have a history of burning investors and running off with their cash. -Roy Amico...

I urge FReepers who are not yet working on the McCain campaign in some manner start making phone calls from an online list from the comfort of their home. Using the link below, you register and can make a limited number of calls. They provide the phone numbers and the scripts on your browser. You then have to wait an hour to be able to make more calls. However, once you have made a number of calls, you can request the ability to make unlimited calls by emailing the link on the last page after you finish your calls. http://www.johnmccain.com/PhoneBank/?guid=0A517F03-C3ED-4A24-A14A-3BD9D5F32F2F

Just received word that Sarah Palin will be making a stop at the Jet Center in Colorado Springs on Monday evening, Nov. 3. Probably some time between 5 and 7. It'll be a simple event -- her plain will land, she'll step in front of a podium near the plane and talk to us, and then continue her flight. I'll have more info shortly.

We all know more than a few-- Dems who support 0. Reasoning makes them stubborn. Warning them angers, begging reassures them. But, there may yet be a way to breech the walls. Try this: "So you're voting for Obama?" "Oh yes, (blah blah blah)." "Well, he might win. That's too bad for Hillary." "Why so? " "Well you know, if Obama wins he'll probably get two terms, and then the pendulum will swing back. Or he might get booted after one, it's going to be a rough four years no matter who is in there. If Obama's fixed the economy,...

Click on the links below and see if we can connect the dots (Wright,Retzco,Khalidi,Farrakhan,) and put this election to bed. http://www.ilcampaign.org/sunshine/icpr/icpr_filer.aspx?cycle=2001-2002&id=6406 http://www.ilcampaign.org/sunshine/icpr/icpr_filer.aspx?cycle=2003-2004&id=6406

The thought occurred to me, quite abruptly while reading this piece over at redstate.com, that there is something to be said about the fact that Obama seems to be campaigning pretty hard for someone who is supposed to be sitting quite comfortably on his cushy poll bean bag and sipping on a fresh glass of media bias right out of the Obama tank. Read this little analysis of what really is going on (at least in the opinion of this analyst):

<p>The Los Angeles Times newspaper continued its valiant resistance to demands that it release a video tape showing presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill) praising Rashid Khalidi, a one-time associate of Palestinian terrorist Yassir Arafat.</p> <p>The tape reportedly features speeches and other activities given in honor of Khalidi at a 2003 farewell gala in Chicago. Khalidi was leaving the University of Chicago and heading east to a job at Columbia University, where Obama spent his undergraduate years.</p>

I got this in my email box: pauly -- I want you to be there with me on Election Night when the results come in. We're planning a big event that will include tens of thousands of supporters in Grant Park in downtown Chicago. We're saving some of the best seats in the house for 5 people who make their first donation to the campaign before Sunday at midnight. If you're selected, you can bring a guest, and we'll fly you in and put you up in a hotel for the night. You'll go backstage at the big event and...

Republican turnout was +2 in 2004. Ridiculous oversampling of Dems (Obama ahead with women by 27%). McCain staying in Iowa makes sense!

I’m going to let you in on a few secrets here, and this is not because I enjoy the gossip or the attention directed my way. I’m doing this because I doubt much of you know the true weaknesses of Obama. Another reason for my doing this is that I am lost faith in this campaign, and feel that this choice has been forced on many people in this country. Put simply, you are being manipulated. That was and is our job – to manipulate you (the electorate) and the media (we already had them months ago). Our goal is...

If anyone has good sources for good McCain-Palin graphics (similar to their bumper stickers, and, say, maybe 1024 pixels wide), please post links in this thread. I'd like to print out a few last minute signs & stickers using those graphics.

For quite some time now, I have noticed that whenever I enter "Sarah Palin" on YouTube, I get almost exclusively attack videos against her. It is almost impossible to perform a search and find her speaking at a rally. It is shocking to see how many resources the Obama campaign is throwing into this aspect of the race, to make Sarah Palin look as bad as possible. It also shows that they are very scared of the impact she has and will have on the electorate, both now and after the election (hopefully as Vice President). If any of you...

Open letter to Obama The New York Times carried a story on Saturday, October 4, 2008 that proved you had a significantly closer relationship with Bill Ayers than what you previously admitted. While the issue of your relationship is of concern, the greater concern is that you lied to America about it. The Chicago Sun reported on May 8, 2008 that FBI records showed that you had a significantly closer relationship with Tony Rezko than what you previously admitted. In the interview, you said that you only saw Mr. Rezko a couple of times a year. The FBI files showed...

Last night’s well-edited, technically proficient, dreary prime-time Barack Obama infomercial probably could be expanded into a five disc DVD set, complete with bonus interviews featuring more downtrodden Americans, detailed liner notes, transcripts of old law lectures, his personal revisions to the Constitution, and “never-before” seen footage of Mr. Obama healing the sick, raising the dead, feeding the hungry and personally redistributing wealth door-to-door. “Self indulgent” is far too mild a phrase to describe Obama’s thirty minute excursion into his super-ego – as I continue to hear Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain” playing in my head – so I’ll just say...

THE FUTURE is not always a mystery. My crystal ball channels future TV shows, like this one from Jan. 20, 2009. . . Chris Matthews: "Welcome to this special edition of 'Softball.' We are live at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., where Barack Obama has just been sworn in by Chief Justice John Roberts. The judge was surprised when the 44th US president then gave him a fist-bump, a manly half-hug, and a high-five." Tom Brokaw: "Chris, have you read the advance text of the inaugural address?" Matthews: "Yes. And just reading it sent a tingle up my leg, then...

Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama blanketed the airwaves Wednesday night with an unusual 30-minute advertisement on seven television networks in a splashy demonstration of the extraordinary financial resources at his disposal with less than a week to go before Election Day. There was nothing particularly special about the ad itself — which conjured up images of a country crying out for change against a suitably patriotic background — except for its length. Not since 1992, when independent billionaire Ross Perot self-financed a series of infomercials, has a presidential candidate aired program-length advertisements in prime time. [snip] The campaign hired Davis...

Some people might have done a double-take when they saw an Obama TV ad that aired during primetime television newscasts Oct. 28 suggesting the conservative Heritage Foundation endorsed Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama’s tax proposals. “Even leading conservatives say Obama’s plan is better for the middle class,” the announcer in the ad said, as a quote from an unnamed Heritage Foundation analyst was displayed on the screen, citing the Aug. 15 New York Sun: “…the middle class would likely pay less under Mr. Obama’s plan…” ...more (w/video)...

It’s been the most frequently asked question I’ve gotten from National Review Online readers and conservatives over e-mail and in person since the market chaos and subsequent bailout circus began. My answer these last few months has always been: Turn on MSNBC. Turn on FOX. Google a conservative candidate for Congress. Romney is liable to turn up. And yet, a ridiculous item on the Internet yesterday suggested that he’s been in hiding, keeping a “low profile nationally” and unwilling to help out Republicans who aren’t a sure thing. There are problems with that contention: Why do I keep seeing the...

Republicans, this is directed at you. Hillary’s Army remains strong, and committed to putting McCain/Palin in the White House. Do not listen to the media. Ignore the trolls. Corral your Eeyores and put them on the endangered species list. Because by our most conservative estimate, you’re going to get 4 million Hillocrats on your side next week, with roughly another 3 million Democrats who voted for Kerry staying home or throwing their votes to McKinney or Nader. That’s 7 million votes Obama has lost from lifelong Democrats — because we love this country more than Republicans have ever given us...

THIS IS THE OCTOBER SURPRISE WHICH COULD DERAIL OBAMA! This video explains the October Surprise. This is not a real event; it’s a movement! The October Surprise Project is an opportunity for conservatives to spotlight their talent to America's conservative leadership and help defeat Obama from right at home! We need pamphleteers with webcams and writers to help build on this project! Got a webcam? It could be worth some major bank! First, watch the project's video; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UieuIPecCpg Break out your webcams and make a prudent change! Please invite your friends.

<p>Sen. Joe Biden delivered a red meat policy attack on Sen. John McCain and President Bush Tuesday morning in Marion County.</p> <p>"Now, look folks, I know a lot of people in Marion County voted for George W. Bush four years ago, but look where [his] policies" have gotten us, the Democratic vice presidential candidate told a wildly cheering crowd estimated at 3,500 people at the Dancing Horses Farm, just west of Ocala.</p>

One of the things we in the press try to do is tell politicians how they've screwed up. So it was a rare instance when I told Barack Obama to his face that I was the one who'd made the mistake. Let me explain. For the last year and a half I've covered the presidential race, focusing first on Hillary Clinton, then moving over to Obama. After Clinton's defeat in the Iowa caucuses, she decided she needed an emergency reinvention. She began mixing with reporters, sipping a glass of wine late at night in the aisle of her campaign plane...

... Sarah Palin is in revolt, it’s reported, angry that John McCain’s handlers forced her to wear haute couture; that she’s not been able to be herself before the media; and that Republican campaign strategy -- like the decision to give up on Michigan -- is askew. .... It's all about the political makeover of the Republican Party’s new great hope. For many senior Republicans, Obama appears sure to prevail Nov. 4 ... Advice is already incoming: She should at all costs avoid running for Congress, writes Ron Bonjean, former communications director for Speaker Dennis Hastert and Senate majority leader...

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Republican vice presidential candidate, is holding a campaign rally at Salem Stadium today. Watch here for dispatches from the inside -- and outside -- the event.

UPDATED: 3:36 p.m. Thousands are already in Salem Stadium for Sarah Palin's rally. We're told one grandstand is already full. Doors will stay open until the stadium is full. WDBJ7.COM will live stream the event as soon as Palin enters the stadium.